I’d never seen Chuck live before and was thrilled to recently catch a solo gig at Durham’s Casbah. After the show I introduced myself to Chuck at the merch table and asked if had anything else for sale since I owned all the discs on display. On cue, his elderly hat wearing cane carrying sidekick slides a disc from his overcoat sidepocket and hands it to me. “Chuck Prophet and the Spanish Bombs”. CD? Nope. DVD! A concert recording of Chuck and the band playing The Clash’s “London Calling” live from start to finish. Sold.
I handed Chuck the money which he casually stuffed in his pocket. It kind of felt like a drug deal. I went home and a few days later I popped the disc into the player. I watched as Chuck and his band rocked and roared through the disc, track by track, including the final hidden track “Train in Vain”. In this age of iEverything I can’t remember the last time I SAT and listened to this disc. Thank you Chuck! I had forgotten what a monumental album this was. This is. The Clash was not an Americana band by even NoDepression’s ever expanding definition but the roots influences are there: reggae to rockabilly from Jimmy Jazz to Stagger Lee.
I don’t see the DVD on Chuck’s website so I guess you need to go see Chuck live and look for the guy with the cane and hat. And when you do you’ll hear Chuck play songs from 2010’s Let Freedom Ring! back to Age of Miracles. He’ll probably play some tracks from his upcoming 2012 release Temple Beautiful (YepRoc). Until you get a chance to score your copy here is a video montage of Chuck and the Spanish Bombs from the concert filmed for Gaztea TV on January 15, 2011.
