The Clash's London Calling in Harrogate spotlight at charity event

A successful year of fundraising for Friends of Harrogate Hospital via Vinyl Sessions music events continues with The Clash.
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The latest in the series of classic rock and pop albums played on vintage hi-fi at a great Harrogate bar will take place on Wednesday, December 4 will star London Calling, the third studio album by The Clash, a legendary collection which next month celebrates its 40th anniversary.

Originally released in the United Kingdom in December 1979, this legendary double album will be played back in full in Starling Independent Bar Cafe Kitchen on Oxford Street in Harrogate.

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Famous US music mag Rolling Stone ranked the album, which was not released in America until the following year, as the best album of the entire 1980s and, in 2003, as the eighth top album in its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Part of the front cover of The Clash's classic album London Calling which will be in focus at a Harrogate event shortly.Part of the front cover of The Clash's classic album London Calling which will be in focus at a Harrogate event shortly.
Part of the front cover of The Clash's classic album London Calling which will be in focus at a Harrogate event shortly.

As well as the classic title track itself, the album's 19 tracks such as Guns of Brixton, Spanish Bombs, Wrong Em Boyo and Lost in the Supermarket reflects the band’s growing interest in a range of styles beyond their punk roots, including reggae, rockabilly ska, lounge jazz, and hard rock - and presages the popularity of world music to come in the 1980s.

The themes explored by Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon co include social issues such as unemployment, racial tension and drug abuse plus the responsibilities of adulthood.

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The fun starts at 7.30pm with an introduction from the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers, the event’s very own “professor of pop.”

Entry to Vinyl Sessions is free but booking is advised in advance online and a £5 donation on arriving is welcomed.

The most recent Vinyl Sessions event celebrating Motown Records was a sell-out and raised more than £500 for Friends of Harrogate Hospital charity.