Label: Epic
Release Year: 1979
Listen: Spotify / Apple Music
One of the most amazing rock albums of all time, London Calling has nary a weak track, despite being 19 tracks long! Mixing rock, reggae, rockabilly, jazz, swing, punk, ska and even Spanish music, this album points to everything rock music can be. The songs are melodic, anthemic and packed with messages about economic struggles, working-class anger and political dissatisfaction. The wide range of styles and melodies is even more amazing when taken in the context of today’s bands that seem to sound so similar from track to track on their albums. Despite being an album, this thing is filled with almost 19 songs that could all be singles. Rudie (a favorite name of the ska dudes for some reason) Can’t Fail is on my must-play list any time I find it on a jukebox. Everyone should own London Calling and listen to it when everything else just seems to get ho-hum.
