At the dawn of the new millennium, Sony remastered and re-released the entire Clash catalog. In a number of ways, they kinda botched the job. Why release both the English and the American version of the debut album when all the tracks would easily fit on one CD? Why no bonus tracks when dozens of non-LP cuts exist? Why simply reissue old hit collections instead of creating improved new ones?

But, the reissued albums - raw punk brilliance spit-shined for the digital age - roundly illustrated why the Clash earned the label "The Only Band That Matters." Hyperbole aside, the Clash were inarguably the band most successful at transcending punk's nihilism and translating punk's anger into political action. Their early singles were raw, seething slices of pure punk, and they sucker punched England out of it's complacency. By the end of their career, the Clash's musical ambitions outstripped even their political ones. That they failed to realize those ambitions does not diminish one bit the glory of the Clash at their creative peak.

The first Clash album burst on the English scene in 1977 with much aplomb, but it failed to even gain release in the States. The Clash was a unpolished, primitive roar, giving voice to all sorts of working class rage and frustration; the vicious one-two punch of "London's Burning" and "Career Opportunities" is a jolting portrait of life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain. The rest of the album is almost as brilliant - "I'm So Bored With The USA," "Janie Jones," "White Riot," and "Police & Thieves" are punk classics.

The second album, Give 'Em Enough Rope, was called a sellout by some. Produced by Blue Oyster Cult's Sandy Pearlman and featuring a radically improved band, it sounds fine in retrospect - though by no means the equal of the the debut. Their label, Columbia, then belatedly released The Clash in America, changing the sequence to include several non-LP English singles but omitting several key tracks. It put the band in a brief holding pattern while leaders Joe Strummer (the punk) and Mick Jones (the artist) plotted their next move.

London Calling, the double-LP set they released in 1979, was a tour de force, an amazing compendium of musical styles and lyrical concerns that has, in certain respects, never been equaled. From old school punk anthems like "Clampdown" and "Death Or Glory" to roots rock ravers like "Train In Vain" and "Brand New Cadillac" to dub excursions like "Revolution Rock" that signaled the group's burgeoning interest in radical politics and world music, London Calling miraculously maintains its focus. Even the LP cover - which overlaid the graphic style of Elvis Presley's first album on a picture of Strummer smashing his guitar - spoke the Clash's newfound respect for their musical forebears while signaling their refusal to accept the status quo. The emotional center of the album, "Lost In The Supermarket," conveyed the sort of economic existentialism that, in the Clash's world view, explained the current (in the words of then-president Jimmy Carter) malaise. London Calling was universally praised (and rightly so) as a masterpiece.

All the acclaim, it would seem, went to their heads, for their next release (not counting Black Market Clash, an EP of unreleased bits later refurbished on CD as Super Black Market Clash) was a messy, ill-considered 3-LP package called Sandinasta! The album got great reviews at the time, but, in retrospect, there's about one album's worth of tremendous songs scattered across the three records. 1982's Combat Rock got the band back on track (and yielded their first-ever US hit singles, "Rock The Casbah" and "Should I Stay Or Should I Go"), but the Clash soon broke up. On the horizon lay mediocre, tepid solo releases and one truly awful "new" Clash record - Cut The Crap, a 1985 LP by a Strummer-led band.

Numerous Clash retrospectives have been released around the world over the last two decades; Sony reissued three of them as part of the catalog update mentioned above. The Singles is the economical choice - one disc of 45s that covers most of the bases (though it underplays the importance of London Calling). The double-disc Story Of The Clash, Vol. 1 (there is no Vol. 2, and one doubts there ever will be) is far better, but it isn't sequenced chronologically - something that any Clash anthology really should be. The final set, Clash On Broadway, a 3-CD boxed set, is a magnificent, still-unsurpassed effort. It includes many sides not on the regular CDs (including the rarities-laden Super Black Market Clash), and its selection of singles and album tracks is hard to fault. However, Broadway overlaps tremendously with the rest of the catalog, so I'd recommend you go one way or the other unless you're a huge (or wealthy) fan.

In 2003, Sony issued The Essential Clash, which solved most of those problems. Its 40 tracks cover nearly all the bases (including several key non-LP tracks) and its $25 list price makes it a relative bargain. But, those of us who really want it all will end up buying many songs at least two or three times - an especially frustrating situation given the populist stance the Clash always maintained. For instance, "Bankrobber," a wonderful, Mickey Dread-produced reggae tune, was originally released on the vinyl Black Market Clash. It is not (repeat, not) on the CD version, so one has to buy Broadway or Essential to snag the tune. Jeez - bankrobber, indeed! The same goes for "Capital Radio One" (an early non-LP track), "Armagideon Time" (another Black Market Clash cut), and numerous lesser rarities.

By the way, two live albums surfaced over the years. The first one, From Here To Eternity (1999), compiled performaces from 1978 to 1982. The second, Live At Shea Stadium (2008) captured the Clash's landmark 1982 gig opening for the Who.

In the end, the Clash chose (as a band, at least) to burn out rather than fade away; subsequent solo careers have, at best, had their moments. Mick Jones' Big Audio Dynamite (see separate entry) and Joe Strummer's solo albums are really recommended only for hardcore Clash-o-philes. The band's records, though, stand as a monument to one of the last times that rock & roll really seemed to make a difference to the world outside.