Sound System is a box set collection by the Clash released in September 2013.[1][2] The box contains the band's studio albums (but excludes the post-breakup album Cut the Crap) newly re-mastered by Mick Jones, with a further three discs featuring demos, non-album singles, rarities and B-sides, a DVD with previously unseen footage by both Don Letts and Julien Temple, original promo videos and live footage, plus an owner's manual booklet, reprints of the band's original 'Armagideon Times' fanzine and merchandise including dog tags, badges, stickers and a poster. The boom box packaging was designed by Paul Simonon. The set was released simultaneously with 5 Album Studio Set, which contains only the five studio albums, and a greatest hits package titled The Clash Hits Back.
In a September 2013 interview, Mick Jones announced the box sets and hits package will be the final time he works on anything involving the Clash and their music. "I'm not even thinking about any more Clash releases. This is it for me, and I say that with an exclamation mark," Jones said.[3]
Remastering
Mick Jones said, "The concept of the whole thing is best box set ever. Re-mastering's a really amazing thing. That was the musical point of it all, because there's so much there that you wouldn't have heard before. It was like discovering stuff, because the advances in mastering are so immense since the last time [the Clash catalogue] was remastered in the 90s."
All the music has been remastered from the original tapes, Jones said. "We had to bake the tapes beforehand – the oxide on them is where the music is, so if you don't put them in the oven and bake them, that all falls off, because they're so old."
Bassist Simonon highlighted a guitar line on "Safe European Home", from the band's second album Give 'Em Enough Rope, saying he'd never even heard it before. "It's probably some session musician, while I was asleep," Jones joked.
PopMatters journalist J.C. Maçek III wrote "The initial interest may come in the fact that the packaging looks like a classic Boom Box emblazoned with 'THE CLASH' in a military stencil with the overall box decorated in a Combat Rock reminiscent camouflage. This is definitely a visual treat for Clash fans to add to their mantle."[15]
Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said "It takes a band as myth-saturated as the Clash to live up to a career-summing box as ambitious as this one. But Joe Strummer and his crew of London gutter-punk romantics fit the bill."[11]
The Telegraph's Patrick Sawer wrote "The tracks, remastered by the band’s guitarist Mick Jones and Tim Young (who won a Grammy for his work on the Beatles 2006 Love album), sound fresh as ever, crisper even. Jones, the official muso of the band, said that during the remastering process he discovered guitar lines he couldn’t remember and previously buried instrumental details certainly stand out – along with Strummer’s biting ad-libs."[13]
Composers: Mose Allison, Clive Alphonso, Michael Campbell, The Clash, Sonny Curtis, Clement Dodd, Tymon Dogg, Mikey Dread, Jackie Edwards, Robert Ellen, Eddy Grant, Topper Headon, Frederick Hibbert, FBooker T. Jones, Mick Jones, Keith Levine, Jackie Mittoo, Junior Murvin, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Danny Ray, Paul Simonon, Joe Strummer, Vince Taylor, Wilbert Williams
Production
Engineering: Joe Blaney, Gregg Caruso, Kevin Dalimore, Dennis Ferranti, Eddie Garcia, Jerry Green, Simon Humphreys, Glyn Johns, Lancelot "Maxie" McKenzie, Chris Mingo, J.P. Nickolson, Bill Price, Corky Stasiak, Paul Subblebine, and Julien Temple
Editing: Robin Banks, Pablo D'Ambrosie, and Kris Needs
Mixing: Mikey Dread, Glyn Johns, Bill Price, Corky Stasiak, and Richard Whittaker
Remastering: The Clash, Mick Jones, Paul Stubblebine, and Tim Young
Artwork: Mikey Dread, Eddie, Gene Greif, Jules, Robert Gordon McHarg III, Chris Musto, Kate Simon, Paul Simonon, and Joe Strummer
Design: Hugh Brown, The Clash, Wes Geral, Gene Greif, Jules, Ray Lowry, Robert Gordon McHarg III, Robbin Panks, Terry Razor, and Paul Simonon
Liner Notes: The Baker, Robin Banks, John Cooper Clarke, Mikey Dread, Johnny Green, Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Ray Jordan, Don Letts, Alex Michon, Bill Price, Chris Salewicz, Paul Simonon, Pennie Smith, Joe Strummer, Julien Temple, Tim Young, and Kosmo Vinyl
Photography: M. Arscott, Jane Ashley, Hugh Brown, Caroline Coon, Bob Gruen, Sho Kikuchi, Krystyna Kolowska, Grzegorz Lepiarz, Des Letts, Rocco Macauley, Kate Simon, Paul Slattery, Pennie Smith, Joe Strummer, Julien Temple, and Julian Yewdall
^There are many extras here to pique the completist's interest.... But the real punch rests in the unprecedented clarity of the remastered original tracks, and the audacious creativity and humour of the packaging. [Oct 2013, p.104]
^The immersive experience of sinking into the lovingly detailed Sound System will serve as a reminder of why fans agree with their label's slogan, "The Only Band That Matters." [Aug-Sep 2013, p.103]
