Sunday, April 13, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews

Carbon/Silicon

“The Last Post”  (Caroline)

CREDIT: Claire Greenway/Getty Images
Mick Jones and Tony James of Carbon/Silicon
CARBON/SILICON
w/Matt Pond PA
Monday, April 14
The Loft
$14-17                                                                                                                 
404-885-1365
www.theloftatl.com
  For a pair of balding ex-punchers, these geezers have a lot of energy. Clash/Big Audio Dynamite guitarist/vocalist Mick Jones and Generation X/Sigue Sigue Sputnik auteur Tony James join forces on their first commercially available album, after creating music sporadically on the Internet since 2003. The result is this oddly obscure recording that should have been a much-anticipated return for at least Jones, who hasn’t released music since the demise of B.A.D. more than a decade ago.
  
He sounds inspired and in fighting form on this set of politically charged, taut, melodic rock. James is less of a presence, since his accompanying vocals are barely audible, but he gets co-songwriting and production credit and each is clearly inspired by the other’s presence.
   
For those who found Dynamite’s slick dance mannerisms a disappointment after Jones’ work on some of the Clash’s most significant tracks such as “Lost in the Supermarket,” “Somebody Got Murdered” and “Train in Vain,” “The Last Post” is the follow-up they would have preferred. The guitars rock, and politically and socially relevant songs such as “War on Culture,” “The News” and “National Anthem”—the latter a spoken-word treatise that adds a slinky funk undertone to the consciousness-raising lyrics—attack significant contemporary concerns.

Jones seems driven throughout, finally returning with music that is a logical extension of his old band and should be greeted with the same sort of hoopla afforded the new R.E.M.  Perhaps rocking the Casbah isn’t as commercially viable as it used to be. 3.5 STARS—Hal Horowitz