The Clash have unveiled a spectacular ‘boombox’ box-set designed by Paul Simonon which will house remastered editions of each of their studio albums up to the time of guitarist Mick Jones‘ departure in 1983.
‘The Clash‘ (1977), ‘Give ‘Em Enough Rope‘ (1978), ‘London Calling‘ (1979), ‘Sandinista!‘ (1980) and ‘Combat Rock‘ (1982) are all being released after being reworked from their original tapes by Jones.
“Remastering’s a really amazing thing,” Jones states. “That was the musical point of it all, because there’s so much there that you wouldn’t have heard before. It was like discovering stuff, because the advances in mastering are so immense since the last time the Clash back catalogue was remastered in the ’90s.”
“We had to bake the tapes beforehand – the oxide on them is where the music is, so if you don’t put them in the oven and bake them, that all falls off, because they’re so old.”
The boxset comes packed with three CDs of rarities, demos and singles, as well as a DVD showcasing never before seen footage and a brand new edition of the band’s Armagideon Time fanzine.
The 33-track, 2CD compilation ‘The Clash Hits Back‘ will also be released on the same day as the boxset – September 9th.