Don Letts' superb Westway To The World documentary allows The Clash to tell the second greatest punk story in their own words. Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and a touchingly frank Topper Headon each give personal accounts of the band's career in separate talking head interviews that triumph through their simplicity. Live footage and rare film of the band rehearsing is intercut with the anecdotes but this video is really about spoken memories rather than visual ones. The emotion in Strummer's voice as he talks about the demise of The Clash or the moment where a visibly humble Headon apologises to the band for his heroin use are worth a thousand grainy super eight segments. Simonon, meanwhile, is simply the coolest man ever to strap on a bass and has a charm to match. And Jones is clearly a music obsessive who kept the band one step ahead with the advent of hip-hop. Perhaps the only weakness of this account is the lack of contextualisation. Unlike Julien Temple's "Filth And The Fury", there are only fleeting glimpses of the outside world. Even so, Westway To The World is exhaustive and utterly inspirational.
On the DVD: The DVD contains a wealth of extra interview footage (including Paul Simonon talking about setting fire to Lester Bangs!) and Letts' earlier Clash documentary Clash On Broadway. The account of The Clash's two week stay in New York is slightly more impressionistic than Westway To The World but contains a hilarious Topper Headon interview. A full band discography and a set of photos of the Clash also feature on the DVD. --Ian Watson
 
Product Description
This musical profile of former Seventies punk giants the Clash is the first occasion on which all the members of the band have agreed to be interviewed, and charts the highs and lows of their seven-year career. Dismissed by music papers such as the NME upon the release of their eponymous 1977 LP, the Clash went on to have hits with 'I Fought the Law', 'London Calling', 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?'. By 1983 the non-stop grind of recording and touring had taken its toll, and the original line up was on the point of disintegration.

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