The Clash - Give 'em Enough Rope

Despite the tepid production by metal guru Sandy Pearlman, the Clash's sophomore album, Give 'Em Enough Rope, manages to burn with white-hot intensity. Though not as amateurish or snarling as their debut album, Rope finds the boys flexing their songwriting muscles. The first three songs ("Safe European Home," "English Civil War," and "Tommy Gun") stand among their most powerful and leap from the record with brute force. Though they hit a few clunkers ("Cheapskates"), this album is a near classic and gives a hint of the band to come that would light up the world with London Calling. --Tod Nelson Amazon.com

On top of their game

I know that their 1977 debut and London Calling seem to get all of the ink but Give 'em Enough Rope is a masterpiece in it's own right. The album may not boast too many radio friendly songs but doin't let that dissuade you. In this album the trademark chainsaw guitars of early Clash are subtly blended with hints of the world influences that would play out so prominently on London Calling and Sandinista.
Strummer and co. even skewer many of their own fans in the album's final song. "All the Young Punks" was the best send-up of an artist's own fan base until Nirvana released "In Bloom". If you are even a casual fan of the Clash or 70's punk get this album. November 10, 2008

Still Underwhelming After All These Years

After hearing all the hype about the Clash I bought this when it came out. After all these years I'm still monumentally underwhelmed. I'm glad I persisted and before long picked up their first album, but once you get past the first song here, the powerful "Safe European Home", the remainder ranges from adequate to unremarkable. The best of the rest might be "Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad" which was catchy enough and helped to break the redundancy of the band's sound.

A complete Clash library could be assembled from some combination of the first album "The Clash", the CD "Super Black Market Clash", and one of the best of's that cherry picks the highlights from the rest of the band's career. You know, those 80s years when they pandered their sound in pursuit of gaining the favor of the mainstream American teenager. If you're downloading tracks, just grab "Safe European Home"; that one number blasts out of the box like a prize horse leaving the gate. The rest of this album is as moribund as the dead cowboy on the cover.
October 2, 2008

The unsung hero of the Clash catalog

Sandwiched between their two classic albums, their self-titled debut and London Calling respectively, The Clash's second album, Give `Em Enough Rope, often doesn't receive the credit it deserves. This is unfortunate as Give `Em Enough Rope contains many of their best songs. Musically, the album is closer to hard rock than punk in spirit as the guitars are louder and the songs are longer. Their lyrics are still razor sharp, particularly attacking drugs and terrorism. The opening "Safe European Home" is one of their best and features a great fade out and fade in (similar to Kiss' "I Love It Loud") that is very cool. "Tommy Gun" is even better and the band gives a spirited performance driven by the song's loud riffs and Topper Headon's furious drumming. The anthem "Drug Stabbing Time" and the slower tunes, "Last Gang in Town" and "All the Young Punks" are great tracks as well. Other strong tunes include the melodic "Stay Free", the sarcastic shuffle of "Julie's Been Working for the Drug Squad", and the angry "English Civil War." The remaining tracks, "Guns on the Roof" and "Cheapskates" are decent but don't touch the rest of the album even though the lyrics on the former are very good. All told, while not quite a classic, Give `Em Enough Rope is pretty darn close and should be a part of your Clash collection. August 17, 2008

the best clash ...

i have never understood why his album gets flack, and london calling, filler full, doesn/t. yes, the production is a bit heavy metal, but the les pauls rule ! and the songs ! and strummer and jones ...well, if you want to hear the clash as a punk band, here is where you go. (old man. was there, did that...) August 7, 2008

A strong album, outshined by an even better album on either side

Lets face it, most people agree that outside of the first three songs, this album just doesnt match up to either The Clash (Debut album) or London's Calling. I concur with that opinion (although Stay Free has a charm of its own) and would just add a few comments.

While the first album has a very unique feel, here the songs tend to blur together. It is the general sameness of the songs which is its letdown.
London Calling is a spralling epic of a record. Give em Enough rope is ten fairly similar sounding songs. Sure, compared to Cut the Crap its a masterpiece, and still a good album overall, just not up there with the other 4 solid albums (The Clash, London Calling, Sandinista, Combat Rock).

I think also that even the lyricism of the first few songs has dated somewhat. It gives too much of an old British Empire / 1970s Europe feel which although appropriate at the time, wasn't really breaking new ground.

Looking back on this, I seem to have written some fairly damning comments about a critically acclaimed album. However, I seriously would get the other four I mentioned before tackling this one. July 20, 2008

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