Combat Ready By Tim Satchwell (Earth Island Books)

Today is a special day at Thoughts Words Action, mainly because we have another book on our pages. This time, I will be talking about a treat that will interest the fans of music books, music history, particular album releases literature, and most of all, the fans of the almighty The Clash. Still, this is not another history of their career, but literature specialized in everything about Combat Rock LP. As you probably know, Combat Rock recently celebrated its 40th birthday, so this book came out about a week before the anniversary. The author is not a stranger at all. Quite the contrary, Tim Satchwell has already written the books about Giving Enough Rope (All The Peacemakers), The Clash (First album… Move Up Starsky), and Combat Ready (Combat Rock). He currently works on the book about Sandinista!

Combat Ready is the updated version of his first book with plenty of extras added. I mean, literally every tiny piece of information you ever needed to know about Combat Rock. The first half of the book offers Stop The World and The Long Haul, recordings that ended/not ended up on the final version of Combat Rock, tracklisting, graphic imagery, packaging, design, album reviews, album formats, and how the label promoted and marketed Combat Rock. The second half offers writings about Rat Patrol From The Fort Bragg, Post Apocalypse, All The Power In The Hands, the controversy behind it, covers, the conclusion and cultural effect, acknowledgments, and references.

Of course, I will not be talking about all the details because you unquestionably need to read this book if you truly love this band. I was blown away by some facts and information, and it forced me to question myself if I ever was a true fan of The Clash. Just wait until you stumble upon a list of the vinyl pressings, cover artworks, and studio recordings. You will be surprised about all the things you missed about Combat Rock, but there are also the details about the events surrounding this album before and after its release. I am not even talking about all the things you can find by Googling around or reading articles on Wikipedia. I am talking about stuff you probably never heard about The Clash before. This book will force you to become a music geek, collect vinyl records and track everything about this particular sound carrier. Combat Ready proves the greatness of The Clash.

Of course, Earth Island Books did an excellent job. The visual identity of the book perfectly fits the album title. Besides the textual content, Combat Ready also carries cover artworks, photos, charts, tables, and other imagery printed in full color. Combat Ready is perfect reading material, which you can finish easily during the weekend, and I highly recommend it. Head over to Earth Island Books and order your copy.