Picture London, England back in the early spring of 1975. Mick Jones and Tony James have decided to form a rock n’ roll band and are auditioning band members. As was typical of the day they had posted an advertisement in Melody Maker. The band was called London SS. They never released a proper record and they never actually performed a live gig. Who were these people and what were they looking for?
The Sex Pistols hadn’t yet formed and the Ramones weren’t even related yet. Progressive rock and large stadium shows were typical and the Stones, Led Zeppelin and the Who were on top of the world. Jones and James wanted to do something different. They didn’t want you to listen to their music, they wanted to shove their music in your face. Actually being able to play an instrument was secondary compared to how you looked and what kind of snarl you could project on stage. Punk wasn’t a cliché. It was fresh and loud and musicians all over London wanted in on the action. After nine months of auditions and rejecting some of the biggest future names in Punk Rock, London SS ‘disbanded’ in January 1976.
Jones went on to form the Clash and James developed Generation X with Billy Idol. Now, 30 years later and the pair are finally making listenable music. They call themselves Carbon/Silicon. It is ironic that the pair reteamed in essentially the same way as they did in 1975. Instead of forming a proper band and auditioning for a bassist and drummer, they chose instead to utilize samples and drum machines. For the past several years they have offered their music free on the internet for anyone interested. They encouraged file sharing. When they did perform together they encouraged audience members to film and record their shows. In early 2007 they recruited Leo “E-Zee-Kill” Williams for bass duties and Dominic Greensmith on drums. Williams had earlier teamed with Jones in Big Audio Dynamite. Then in October, 2007 they decided to officially release an album titled “The Last Post.”
So 30 years after the initial attempt here is a disc filled with 12 songs that range from grunge to punk to pop. If you close your eyes and listen you may hear some T. Rex, some Kinks, some Who, some Talking Heads and some of this and some of that. You also most certainly hear some songs that easily could have appeared on “Sandinista” or “London Calling.” Jones seems to channel the spirit of Joe Strummer (his band mate until he was fired from the Clash in 1983) on half of the tracks.
The mostly mid-tempo record does seem to drag at some points but overall it is a totally listenable record. Outstanding tracks include the disc opener “The News” which properly introduces the world to Carbon/Silicon. Jones wanders through the crunchy guitar and head bopping beat and offers an interesting take on how we all look at the world. “The Whole Truth” rocks from the opening riff and never lets up. Several amateur critics have deemed it the best song on the disc and for a person interested in loud guitars, a simple riff and more loud guitars this song delivers. Kinksesque it certainly is. Listening to Jones warble on “Tell it like it is” offers a striking contrast to the “Live fast and die young” attitude that embodied the Punk movement of the mid and late 70’s. Here is a pair of musicians who have matured and understand that life at 50 is quite different from life at 20. “What the Fuck” blends an amazing blitzkrieg of drums and guitars with some rather amusing references to Sartre, Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky. The disc closes with the amazing “Why do men Fight?” offering samples, twangy guitars and all sorts of political statements ranging from racism to religious intolerance.
A few years back Ryan Adams released his “Rock and Roll” disc that paid homage to various styles of rock music from the 70’s and 80’s. “The Last Post” succeeds at a higher level as these musicians were there at the dawn of the movement. They helped deconstruct the musical foundations that were laid by the Beatles, the Who and the Stones. They mocked bands like Led Zeppelin and Genesis. It is refreshing to see Carbon/Silicon produce relevant music that belongs on a teenager’s iPod as well as an aging Punk Rocker’s minivan stereo.