This Is Big Audio Dynamite (Legacy Edition)

After the Clash, Mick Jones picked up with filmmaker Don Letts and went about further exploring the creative reaches of the Clash’s Sandinista! and Combat Rock. By incorporating dance rhythms and acknowledging the growing influence of rap music, B.A.D. were very much a part of their time in 1985 and yet in some ways still beyond much of the formulaic music that has come in its wake. “Medicine Show” is an immediate classic, with movie music samples and dialogue laced into its dancehall grooves. “Sony” rattles along with a bold, impressionistic, polyrhythmic weave. “E=MC2” adds ‘80s synths and features ensemble vocals that blend with the spoken word clips and other found sounds. True to the experimental nature of this ambitious debut, this edition includes an additional 12 tracks to the album’s original eight. The remixes include the 12-inch remixes of “Medicine Show,” “E=MC2,” “The Bottom Line,” “Sudden Impact,” “Stone Thames” and “BaD,” a dub version of “Sony” and “A Party,” a Vocoder version of “BaD” and the non-LP b-side “This Is Big Audio Dynamite.” An essential document of the era.