The Clash - Westway to the World
by Don Letts
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DVD details
Actor: Jordan, Mick Jones, Terence Dackombe, Terry Chimes, Topper HeadonDirector: Don Letts
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), PCM Stereo; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Color, Director's Cut, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 60 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-04-09
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Sony
DVD Reviews of The Clash - Westway to the World
DVD Review: Just OK
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a big fan of The Clash. I can't wait for the new Joe Strummer documentary to come out. That said I watched The Ramones:The End Of the Century documentary and then this one right after. The Ramones doc was GREAT. The Clash one was just ok. I just didn't think it had enough interviews and it had annoying graphics in between each subject that were visually ok but that were left on the screen for what seemed like 30 seconds each before they began talking again.
Not a great rock documentary but an ok one.
DVD Review: Excellent overview of a great rock band
Summary: 4 Stars
4.5 stars
The Clash became great once they transcended their punk beginnings and started writing songs with memorable melodies. Name another punk band that turned into a singles machine. You can't, because the Clash broke the mold. Most punk bands sucked because they couldn't play, and once the anger was gone, so was the edge. The Clash had two great songwriters who were willing to grow, and who also loved reggae, country, and many other styles, so they morphed into real musicians.
Hence London Calling, one of the best records of its time, and miles advanced from their first album of only two years before. The intelligence contained in that advance is clearly on display here. Now that Strummer's dead, this will be the final word on their history, and that's no shame. It's a great doc that moves a little too quick past the early successes but all the interviews are good and it's easy to see why these guys were great: they had brains and focus. Topper was the least brilliant of the mob but he was a hell of a drummer, and that was the push over the top. When he left, forget it.
The Broadway film extra is also excellent.
All we need now is a film that focusses entirely on '76 to '81 and forgets the rest; Combat Rock made money but their genius peaked on London Calling and to a (much) lesser extent on Sandinista. Once a punk band gets rich, things start getting painfully ironic, and fast...
There's a sweet soundboard recording of a show from NYC, 6/13/81, available for free on various live music torrent sites, that shows just how musical and yet full-throttle these guys could be. Seek it out if you like intense music.
DVD Review: The Only Band That Matters
Summary: 4 Stars
This DVD could be 2 hours of Joe Strummer farting into a telephone and it would still be immensly more interesting and entertaining than anything by today's "punks". Sure, I'd rather have some full song clips, but Strummer (and Topper, Paul and Mick for that matter) make up for it. Don't watch this if you're not already fairly knowledgeable about the band and the culture at the time...many of the soundbites, without context, may seem a little confusing. But even with the abbreviated live clips, you can get an idea of what this band meant at the time. I saw them 4 times between 1979 and 1981...best 4 concerts of my life. DVD Review: Way, way less than what it could have been
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm a huge Clash fan. I've been one since 1978, and I can't begin to tell you how much I've been wanting to get a documentary dvd on the only band that matters. So, I was excited to see this available, as well as the other dvd that highlights their videos. I bought both at the same time. Westway to the World could have been so much more. So very, very much more. While I really liked the interviews with the band members and the documentary itself, it was just too short. The lack of adequate live footage of them performing was very irritating. I kept waiting to be blown away, but it didn't happen. I was also disappointed that there weren't more "outside" sources commenting on the band. Surely the producers could have found ten to fifteen people who were associated with the band that could have rounded out what they had. I found myself going to the extra features, but they were pretty lame, as well. It's too bad that this piece may become the definitive dvd on the band, as it is just not enough. They deserve more. Joe deserves more. I find this dvd to smack of commercialism, something Epic records put out to take our money and cash in on the band.DVD Review: "Either you became a power or you were crushed"
Summary: 4 Stars
So says the ever-sagely punk rock poet Joe Strummer, the featured player in this high-quality documentary about his legendary, incendiary and influential band, The Clash.
Don Letts, a one-time DJ at the band's favorite club, the Roxy (and subsequent member of Mick Jones' post-Clash project, Big Audio Dynamite), culls from his catalog of amazing archival footage and draws upon his unparalleled access to the band to show us just how the Clash rose to the be the powers they were (and, to some extent, how crushed they became).
The film starts out as an almost standard, run-of-the-mill rockumentary, with two exceptions: 1) this particular rock-doc is about one of the greatest bands of all time, so the music clips, although short, are stunning. And 2) Joe Strummer was one of the world's more interesting and compelling narrators in both thought and tone. He's immensely quotable and the timbre and tenor of his voice would no doubt have you captured and enraptured no matter what he was commenting on.
Some great stories are told about the formation of the band and the origins of songs like "I'm So Bored With The USA," "Garageland", "White Riot", and "London's Burning". And it's a real treat to see outtakes of the band in the studio actually recording some of their albums (the shot of Joe, with headphones on, recording the vocal for "All The Young Punks" sends chills down my spine).
But the movie really takes off toward the end, with the descriptions of how the band began to crumble and implode. Letts' history with the band members grants him an access much more important than mere physical access - he has an emotional intimacy with them as well, so he really gets them to open up.
Thus, it is very powerful to hear Strummer's stinging yet bittersweet words about Mick Jones. Because on one hand, he says Jones began behaving like "Elizabeth Taylor in a filthy mood" (ha!) and that "punctuality wasn't one of his talents." But at the same time he adds: "his was a talent worth waiting for." And later, he implores all would-be bands out there: "If it works, don't mess with it - do what you have to do to bring it forward."
In watching the film's captivating conclusion, you get the sense that if just one little thing had gone differently for them (i.e. drummer Topper Headon not doing drugs, or Mick Jones having "a little more self-control") they might have played together for another twenty years.
Such is the fine line between the powerful and the crushed, and Letts does a mostly-excellent job in showing us how this line is drawn, and what happens if it is crossed.
p.s. of the 44 minutes of bonus interview footage, make sure to listen to the 11 minutes with Paul Simonon - he tells some very amusing stories with topics including (but not limited to): a night in a Scottish jail with assorted Clash fans, abusing Legs McNeil, and wearing a rabbit suit. Actually, one of my favorite things about this film is being able to hear more from Paul, because - much as I love them - I'd already heard plenty over the years from Mick and Joe and almost nothing from Paul. (That said, Joe tells a particularly hilarious tale of his own about stealing a mic from 200 ft above the stage of the English National Opera).
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