sound of the suburbs

This last week has turned out to have had a theme running through it, a political rock axis around the Clash and Billy Bragg. So to round off the week I've decided on a pair of Clash Covers, and there are certainly no shortage of candidates! 'Bankrobber' was a single only release that got their CBS paymasters worried that the band really had too much control. Musically speaking it was a collaboration with Jamaican DJ / producer / artist , Mickey Dread, that obviously pursued the bands love of reggae, and was topped off with Strummer's amazing plaintive vocal delivery. The lyrics were not really political as it tackled that urban legend of the gentleman working class bankrobber, sort of a modern day Robin Hood that justified his career choice by the fact that some are born rich and some are born poor and above all he never hurt anybody! Sounds to me like a man that takes pride in his work. For very good reason this song has long been one of my favorites, though truth be told with the Clash I probably have far too many favorite song for this to be the correct adjective.
Audioweb delivered this version, that is a little bit too bombastic for my liking as it does little to fetch out the songs more subtle side, still it makes for a nice little toe tapper. On the other hand Chumbawamba have really done the song proud by totally reinterpreting it as a folk song where the story angle is pushed to the front, it's almost enough to enable us to forgive them for 'Tubthumping'!