This Is Big Audio Dynamite

Editors’ Notes As Mick Jones was cast away from the Clash and Joe Strummer hung on to the group trying to recreate the glory days of 1977, Jones picked up with filmmaker Don Letts and went about further exploring the creative reaches of The Clash’s Sandinista! and Combat Rock. By incorporating dance rhythms and acknowledging the growing influence of rap music, B.A.D. were very much a part of their time in 1985 and yet in some ways still beyond much of the formulaic music that has come in its wake. “Medicine Show” is an immediate classic, with movie music samples and dialogue laced into its Dancehall grooves. “Sony” rattles along with a bold, impressionistic, polyrhythmic weave. “E=MC2” adds ‘80s synths and features ensemble vocals that blend with the spoken word clips and other found sounds. An essential document of the era.