IS THE ‘LOST JAM’ FINALLYON ITS WAY?
ON February 24, 1980, The Clash joined Joe Ely on stage at the Hope & Anchor in Islington. Ely and his band had already supported The Clash around London that month and would go on to record Live Shots at The Venue. But the Hope & Anchor session was unplanned. “We had a couple of days when we weren’t doing anything, so we asked The Clash if they wanted to do some jamming,” recalls Ely, who later appeared with them at Bond’s. “We just started playing things we knew, like old Buddy Holly songs and rockabilly stuff. And Clash things too, like ‘Jimmy Jazz’ and ‘I Fought The Law’. You had two complete bands playing on this little tiny stage about the size of a mattress. It’s real interesting, because it’s got this reggae influence and then the sound of Lubbock, Texas, where I come from – kind of a western dustbowl feel, with steel guitar, accordion and country music from the ‘50s and ‘60s. And we recorded the whole thing. We’ve talked to CBS about releasing it and right now we’re in the middle Broadway show now.’ The story I heard was that they’d oversold tickets. How do you that? It was crazy.
