Track Listing

1. Safe European Home
2. English Civil War
3. Tommy Gun
4. Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad
5. Last Gang In Town
6. Guns On The Roof
7. Drug-Stabbing Time
8. Stay Free
9. Cheapskates
10. All The Young Punks (New Boots And Contracts)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32931 in Music
• Released on: 2000-01-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

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.

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.

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...)