初めて聴いたスカ：ザ・クラッシュ「Wrong ‘Em Boyo」　　The First Ska Number I Listened to: “Wrong ‘em Boyo” by The Clash - Turkeyriceの勝手に英訳ブログ　Turkeyrice's Blog Written in both Japanese and English

　初めてスカというものを意識したのは、クラッシュの3rdアルバム「LONDON CALLING」に収録されている「Wrong ‘Em Boyo」だったように思います。パンクのイメージとはかけ離れたこんな曲にクラッシュのすごさを感じて、特にお気に入りの一曲でした。

The Clash - Wrong 'Em Boyo (Official Audio)

　It was when I listened to “Wrong ‘em Boyo”, which is contained in The Clash’s 3^rd Album called “LONDON CALLING”, that I was aware of ska for the first time. I somehow felt their greatness through this song because I found this song was a far cry from my image of punk rock, so it became my favorite.

The Clash - White Riot (Official Video)

　１ｓｔアルバム「白い暴動」は典型的なパンクで歌詞は過激ですが、楽曲自体はピストルズよりもキャッチーで、可愛いとさえ思ってしまいます。クラッシュの凄いところは、パンクのテイストは残しつつ、様々なジャンルの曲を取り入れていくところです。２ｎｄアルバムの４曲目「Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad」は、ロカビリーぽいし、８曲目の「Stay Free」にはリズム＆ブルースの響きを感じます。3rdアルバム「LONDON CALLING」では、レゲエ、そしてダブの要素（１０曲目「The guns of Brixton」）まで取り入れており、８０年代を予感させる音にあふれています。４枚目のアルバム「サンディニスタ」になると、ますますレゲエ、ダブ色は強まり、さらには電子音まで多用した実験的な要素まで感じられます。

The Clash - Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad - 3/8/1980 - Capitol Theatre (Official)

The Clash - The Guns of Brixton (Official Audio)
The Clash-One More Dub

　Every song of their first album, “The Clash”, was typical punk rock, so the lyrics are extreme, but the melody is rather catchy, or even cute for me. The reason why I think the band is great is that they tried to adopt many sorts of music keeping the taste of punk rock. The song called “Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad”, The 4^th track in their 2^nd album, sounds like rockabilly, and “Stay Free”, the 8^th track in the same album, has a touch of R&B. In the 3^rd album “LONDON CALLING”, you can see some other elements such as reggae, dub (as in the 10^th song “The guns of Brixton”) , and this album is full of something that reminds me of the typical sounds in the 80’s. “Sandinista!”, their 4^th album, contains some songs that sound obviously like reggae or dub even more, plus some other songs have a touch of experimental rock with electric sounds.

The Clash - London Calling (Official Video)