Sandinista!

The album was recorded over most of 1980, in London, Manchester, Jamaica and New York. It was produced by the band (primarily Mick Jones and Joe Strummer), recorded and mixed by Bill Price, and engineered by Jeremy "Jerry" Green (Wessex Sound Studios), J. P. Nichols (Electric Lady Studios), Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie (Channel One Studios), and Bill Price (Pluto + Power Station Studios). Dub versions of some of the songs and toasting was done by Mikey Dread, who had first worked with the band for their 1980 single "Bankrobber". With Sandinista! the band reached beyond punk and reggae into dub, rhythm and blues, calypso, gospel and other genres. ==Release==

According to Joe Strummer, the decision to release a triple-LP was their way of mocking CBS for resisting their desire to release London Calling as a double album, then releasing Bruce Springsteen's double album The River less than a year later. Strummer took pleasure in the abundance, saying "It was doubly outrageous. Actually, it was triply outrageous." Mick Jones said, "I always saw it as a record for people who were, like, on oil rigs. Or Arctic stations. People that weren't able to get to the record shops regularly." The band's wish to release the album at a low price was also met with resistance, and they had to forgo any royalties on the first 200,000 copies sold in the UK and a 50% cut in royalties elsewhere. Four singles were released from the Sandinista! sessions in the UK: "Bankrobber" (which did not appear on the album), "The Call Up", "Hitsville UK", and "The Magnificent Seven". A single disc promotional sampler called Sandinista Now! was sent to press and radio. The side one track listing was "Police on My Back", "Somebody Got Murdered", "The Call Up", "Washington Bullets", "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" and "Hitsville U.K.". The side two track listing was "Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)", "The Magnificent Seven", "The Leader", "Junco Partner", "One More Time" and "The Sound of Sinners". The original, 3-disc vinyl release of Sandinista! included a tri-fold lyric sheet titled The Armagideon Times, no. 3 (a play on "Armagideon Time", the B-side from the single London Calling.) Armagideon Times, nos. 1 and 2 were Clash fanzines. The lyric sheet featured cartoons credited to Steve Bell, as well as hand-written (but still legible) lyrics of all the original songs. The 2-CD release contains a facsimile of the lyric sheet considerably reduced in size. ==Reception==

In the UK, initial reviews were mostly poor. In the NME Nick Kent wrote that "the record simply perplexes and ultimately depresses". Upset, the Clash approached editor Neil Spencer to have the record re-reviewed. The request was denied. "None of the other reviews in the music press, bar Robbi Millar's in Sounds, thought much of the record, either. The Face magazine mercilessly took the piss out of it." In the US, the story was a bit different. John Piccarella, in a review for Rolling Stone headlined "The Clash Drop the Big One", argued that in effect, the band said "to hell with Clash style, there's a world out there." Some critics have argued that the album would have worked better as a less ambitious, smaller project, while Piccarella (in his Rolling Stone review) and others think of the album as a breakthrough that deserves comparison to the Beatles' "White Album". According to CMJ, Sandinista! was the second most-played album of 1981 on American college radio. Dave Marsh noted that it was a record whose topic was as many years ahead of its time as its sound. Alternative Press included Sandinista! on its 2000 list of the "10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums". In 2018, Sandinista! was ranked at number 144 on Pitchforks list of the 200 best albums of the 1980s. In 2020, the album was ranked at number 323 on Rolling Stones list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The Sandinista! Project, a tribute to the album featuring the Smithereens, Camper Van Beethoven, Jon Langford and Sally Timms (Mekons), Amy Rigby, Katrina Leskanich (of Katrina and the Waves), Wreckless Eric, Willie Nile, Matthew Ryan, Stew, Mark Cutler, Sex Clark Five, Sid Griffin & Coal Porters, Haale, the Blizzard of 78 featuring Mikey Dread, Ruby on the Vine, and many others, was released on 15 May 2007, on the 00:02:59 Records (a label named after a lyric from the Sandinista! song "Hitsville U.K."). The album also features a collaboration by Soul Food and Mickey Gallagher on "Midnight Log". Sandinista! is remembered as an important influence for the Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros. The band members discovered the album in the austral summer of 1981 through a special report in Radio Concierto. Jorge González recalls he found it "advanced" and "Martian" and that "it taught me to do music". ==Track listing==

The compact disc release has the first three sides on the first CD and the latter three sides on the second CD. All lead vocals by Joe Strummer, except where noted. ==Personnel==

The Clash • Joe Strummer – lead and backing vocals, guitar, keyboards • Mick Jones – guitar, keyboards, lead and backing vocals • Paul Simonon – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "The Crooked Beat" • Topper Headon – drums, lead vocals on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", backing vocals on "The Sound of Sinners" Additional musicians • Tymon Dogg (credited as 'Timon Dogg') – vocals and violin on "Lose This Skin", violin on "Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)", "Something About England", "Mensforth Hill", "Junco Partner" and "The Equaliser", keyboard on "The Sound of Sinners" • Mickey Gallagher (Blockheads) – keyboards • Norman Watt-Roy (Blockheads) – bass guitar on "The Magnificent Seven", "Hitsville UK", "One More Time", "Look Here", "Something About England", "The Call Up", "Lose This Skin", "Charlie Don't Surf", and "Lightning Strikes (Not Once but Twice)" • J.P. Nicholson – bass guitar • Ellen Foley – co-lead vocal on "Hitsville U.K.", backing vocals on "Corner Soul" and "Washington Bullets" • Davey Payne (Blockheads) – saxophone on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", "Something About England", "The Crooked Beat", "If Music Could Talk", "Lose This Skin" and "Mensforth Hill" • Rick Gascoigne – trombone on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", "Something About England", "Lose This Skin", "Mensforth Hill" and "The Street Parade" • Band Sgt. Dave Yates – drill sergeant on "The Call Up" • Den Hegarty (Darts) – vocals on "The Sound of Sinners" • Luke & Ben Gallagher – vocals on "Career Opportunities" • Maria Gallagher – coda vocals on "Broadway" (singing "The Guns of Brixton") • Gary Barnacle – saxophone on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", "Something About England", "The Crooked Beat", "Lose This Skin", "Mensforth Hill" and "The Street Parade" • Arthur Edward "Bill" Barnacle (Gary's father) – trumpet on "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe", "Something About England", "Lose This Skin" and "The Street Parade" • Jody Linscott – percussion • Ivan Julian (Voidoids) – guitar on "The Call Up" • Noel "Tempo" Bailey (aka Sowell, reggae artist/session man) – guitar • Anthony Nelson Steelie (Wycliffe Johnson of Steely and Clevie) – keyboards • Lew Lewis (Eddie and the Hot Rods) – harmonica on "Junco Partner", "Look Here", "Corner Soul", "Midnight Log", "The Equaliser", "Version City" and "Version Pardner" • Gerald Baxter-Warman • Terry McQuade (had a small role in Rude Boy) • Rudolph Adolphus Jordan • Battersea (Topper Headon's dog) – barking on "Somebody Got Murdered" • Mikey Dread – vocals on "The Crooked Beat", "One More Time", "Living in Fame" and "Look Here" • Style Scott – drums on "Junco Partner" and "Version Pardner" A recording of Habte Selassie, host of the WBAI radio show Labbrish, can be heard at the beginning of "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)". Production • The Clash – producers • Bill Price – chief engineer • Jerry Green – engineer • J. P. Nicholson – engineer • Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie – engineer • Mark Freegard – assistant engineer • Mikey Dread – version mix • Pennie Smith – photography • Steve Bell – cartoonist ==Charts==