Today’s unreleased gem rare track is from Joe Strummer’s hand and it was first taped with The Clash, it is the marvelous In The Pouring Rain. I noticed it when it appeared on the soundtrack of The Future is Unwritten, but I knew I had heard it before…

I dug through my old Clash bootlegs and found two of them with  different versions of the song. It exists in at least three kind of incarnations. I believed it was unreleased, but there was a soundtrack to the documentary about Joe Strummer and it is included (damn! he, he). It is hard to find, so I will post this anyway, but not as part of the Unreleased series.

In the pouring Rain (The Clash 1984, Cut the Crap line-up):

Recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in 1984, great quality! It was played both on the USA and European legs of the tour in 84.

This version is from one of my favorite Clash bootlegs, Give’em Enough Dope. The bootleg gets mixed reviews but I like it, the quality is way above average and the material is  excellent. The drumming is a bit sloppy on some tracks (Topper was deep into his  heroin addiction at this time and Joe shouts: “Come on you bastard! Stay with us, stay with us, keep going” . ) but the rest of the band keep it together.  But that was  the 81 Clash (the first part of the bootleg), now to the 1984 Clash…

The rest of the CD is taken from various gigs in  1984. The Clash line-up  was Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, Vince White, Nick Sheppard and Pete Howard. This is a line-up that is generally considered second class, don’t believe them,  if you listen to these songs you will understand they are plain wrong.  These songs are incredibly energetic and are performed with a tight professionalism. This lineup handles the old songs great, and the new tunes are great. The guitar playing is fantastic! The album,  Cut The Crap doesn’t do these guys justice. In The Pouring Rain is one of my favourite songs from  the band at this time. It is moving and has all the qualities of a classic rock song, and it’s criminal that this Clash lineup gets slated at all when this is what they did on stage. The song will amaze you.  Make sure you get hold of this bootleg just for this.

Continue reading Rare track – In the Pouring Rain by The Clash →