17 April 1977

PA company, Dunstable

CBS promo video shoot, Dunstable - date unknown

updated 22 December 2014
updated Sept 2025, more deatil, corrected the dates

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Recordings in circulation

Video - Soundsystem Box Set DVD

Filmed by Julian Temple?

A good listing of the contents of the The Clash's Sound System box set can be found at Discogs.

White Riot Interview 7:10
Promo and interviews with Tony Parsons
1977 1:87
White Riot 1:48
Londons Burning 2:05

Previous video releases: The Essential Clash DVD June 2002

The Essential Clash DVD

Full unedited in original format. This supercedes all other sources until Soundsystem release.

The original video has backing vocals for Londons Burning and White Riot and all of the video footage is oincluded on the DVD The Essential Clash.

The Sound on the DVD is as good as it can be and is worth having. The remixed White Riot on CoB4 is very good.

The entire video footage, with interviews can be found on the DVD, The Esssential Clash. All other sources are inferior and contain nothing extra.

The band set up an artificial live stage in a studio and power through 3 songs, designed to showcase the band and have a visual presence available to promote the band.

Audio
– Clash on Broadway 4 - The Outakes

Remixed versions of White Riot and 1977

Audio
– Remote Control 7" Single B-Side

Londons Burning

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Live video shoot

This was Bernie's idea following McLaren and the Pistols; a live studio video shoot and casual interview with Tony Parsons filmed at a PA company who handled the gear for the Anarchy Tour up in Dunstable. The songs played were White Riot, Remote Control and London's Burning, the latter being remixed making it onto the B-side of Remote Control.

Return of the Last Gang in Town

[Extract] Malcolm’s (Mclaren) band had a promo film, so Bernie’s (Rhodes) band had to have one too. ...

... Back in spring 1977, itwas decided to dip into the CBS advance, and have another go at capturing the Clash in all their glory.

The shoot took place in mid April, in the Bedfordshire town of Dunstable, home base of the PA company that had supplied the equipment for the Anarchy tour. The idea was to film the band performing live, and also in a casual interview situation withTony Parsons.‘By that time CBS thought that I would maybe be the Clash’s representative on earth,’ he says. “Y’know, kind of like the Pope, bringing their Word to the People.’

The gear was set up as though for a gig, in front of Sebastian Conran’s giant blow-up of Rocco Macauley’s charging policemen photo. This subsequently accompanied the Clash on the White Riot Tour and became known as the Groovy Backdrop. The Clash performed both sides of the ‘White Riot’ single and  ‘London’s Burning’. ‘They were fucking blistering,’ says Tony.

The film evidence proves him right. ‘There was nobody there, other than me and a camera crew, so itwas for an audience of one.

The great thing about the Clash was, you didn’t actually need a head full of sulphate and a sweaty little club and five pints of lager and a packet of pork scratchings: they were great anyway. They were an incredibly exciting live band.’ The interview segment was less successful.

The band were filmed ‘relaxing’ around a pool table. ‘We didn’t really understand how TV worked then,’ says Tony. ‘It was kind of embarrassing to play pool, and talk, and have these cameras pointing at you at the same time.’ Again, the film evidence proves him right, and in The Boy Looked At Johnny, he (somewhat hypocritically) vilified the band for going along with this ‘contrived spontaneity’. 

Clips from the live performance were included in the 1989 BBC2 Mick Jones career retrospective That Was Then, This IsNow, the 1991 MTV Clash Rockumentary, and the 1999 biographical documentary Westway To The World.

The MTV programme also included a brief clip from the interview. At the time of its making, though, the film was a promotional vehicle with no real outlet. Part of itwas shown in the Virgin record shop near Marble Arch, but the few dozen record purchases this possibly inspired hardly justified the expense of its making.

CBS did get some mileage out of the venture,though: lifted from the film’s soundtrack, the Dunstable version of ‘London’s Burning’ would be issued as the ‘live’ B-side of the band’s second single, ‘Remote Control’. 

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Setlist

1 2 3	1977 1:87 White Riot 1:48 Londons Burning 2:05 Interview

There are several sights that provide setlists but most mirror www.blackmarketclash.co.uk. They are worth checking.

from Setlist FM (cannot be relied on)

from Songkick (cannot be relied on)
... both have lists of people who say they went

& from the newer Concert Database and also Concert Archives

Also useful: Ultimate Music database, All Music, Clash books at DISCOGS

Articles, check 'Rocks Back Pages'

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