The Clash - The Singles

Amidst all the punk history and revolutionary rhetoric, it's easy to forget that the Clash was one hell of a singles band, capable of releasing one propulsively catchy song after another. This collection, which moves chronologically from the band's early days at the heart of the UK punk movement to the funk experimentation of its latter career, serves as both stunning career resume and perfect introduction for the neophyte. The raging, righteous anger and blazing guitars of punk anthems "White Riot" and "Complete Control" rub shoulders with the reggae rhythms of "White Man in Hammersmith Palais."

Rap and funk rear their heads (in a distinctly British way) on "The Magnificent Seven" and "Radio Clash." Manic, post-punk rockabilly accompanies Joe Strummer's state-of-the-union address on "Know Your Rights," and the Mick Jones-sung "Should I Stay or Should I Go" makes a case for itself as a garage-rock classic on the order of "Louie Louie." For all the political smarts the group consistently displayed in its lyrics, The Singles shows that the band's music was never less than enthralling. No matter how stern the Marxist theories to which the band members subscribed in their early days, they could never resist an old-fashioned rock & roll hook.