Why the Guitars sound awful on CTC

[eumaas]

My business cards say "Dramaturg."

[Wolter]

I'm a rocket scientist and I don't have a rocket

I have a degree in dramaturgy and I don't even know what that means.

Is it like metallurgy? Making drama out of a bunch of crap or something?

Not inaccurate...

Do you introduce yourself as a dramaturg?

No, I usually introduce myself as a globe-trotting adverturer.

But I have worked as a dramaturg before.

[dstrummer]

ca·coph·o·ny [kuh-kof-uh-nee] –noun, plural -nies.
1. harsh discordance of sound; dissonance: a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.
2. a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds: the cacophony produced by Bernie Rhodes on "Cut the Crap", the so called punk album that finished the career of The Clash.
3. Music. frequent use of discords of a harshness and relationship difficult to understand.
4. i.e. - Vince White: Amateur Guitar player, Member of The Clash mark II

[Rat Patrol]

I say that Bernie should write a book:

How I KILLED the only band that mattered

It would be a horrifying read.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't some of the guitars on CTC played by Bernie himself? I swear I remember reading this in one book or another (Passion Is A Fashion?).

Not confirmed I don't think, but the rhythm guitar (if it's even audible in the muck...I haven't expended much effort to zero in on it) is so awful and not at all Joe-like that Chris conjectured in the late-90's in one of his CCS dispatches (later repurposed for the book) that Bernie himself was doing the playing. Which is a plausible theory given that you can't match that playing to Nick, Norman W-R, 'Fayney' Fayne, or Herman Wagner...and except for whatever Gluggo quickly did before he ran screaming from Munich those were the only 4 instrumentalists in the studio band. Joe was strictly vocals, and on some of the tracks (think Play to Win) Bernie was operating in such stealth that songs were being constructed around guide vocals...which is one reason why he's so inaudible in the mix (I don't buy Joe's excuse that all of them were guide vox as he was clearly involved in most of it, but there's a couple tracks that sound just dodgy enough to be plausible). No Paul, no Vince, no Pete except for the drunken singalongs. Even the conflicting reports of Paul doing something on a couple tracks don't stand up to a listen...that's clearly Norm's playing and not Paul's on every track.

Hey, it's not much of a leap to imagine Bernie being vain enough to actually put himself on record. It was the next logical move after taking over for Mick as musical director, producing the album himself, and bending the lyrics his way. He did pitch a Class of '77 alumni punk supergroup idea to record labels in the late-80's and despite the big names being tossed around he basically got laughed out of the building when he defiantly claimed he'd be The Clash representative in the lineup. So he was well along on that arc of trying to be his own guitar hero.

[shag]

the guitars sound awful
cause the whole album sounds awful...