Combat Rock

Combat Rock is the fifth studio album by The Clash, released in 1982. It was the last album to feature the classic line-up before Mick Jones was sacked and Topper Headon was kicked out for his heroin addiction.

The cover photo was shot by Pennie Smith on a deserted railway line outside Bangkok while the band was on their “Far East” tour in 1982. Although the album includes different styles of music, it is considerably more straight-forward and less experimental than their previous album Sandinista!. In the United Kingdom the album charted at #2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts. The album reached #7 in the United States, spending 61 weeks on the chart, and was certified platinum.

Combat Rock was originally planned as a double album with the working title Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg, but the idea was scrapped after internal wrangling within the group. Mick Jones had mixed the first version, but the other members were dissatisfied and mixing/producing duties were handed to Glyn Johns, at which point the album became a single LP. The original mixes have since been obtained and subsequently bootlegged.

Following along the same note as Sandinista!, Combat Rock’s catalogue number ‘FMLN2’ is the acronym for the El Salvador political party ‘Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional’ or FMLN.

In January 2000 the album, along with the rest of The Clash’s catalog, was remastered and re-released.