Let bygones be bygones
When Mick Jones was kicked out of The Clash in the early ‘80s, he formed Big Audio Dynamite, a group that melded Jones’ pop sensibilities with his earlier band’s punk ethos. This new edition of their 1985 debut, This Is Big Audio Dynamite, comes as a two-disc set featuring several remixed tracks, including “E=Mc2” and their first single “The Bottom Line.” On the first disc, the songs appear in their original form, showcasing Jones’ catchy hooks, experimental spoken-word phrasing and music/women/drugs lyricism. It’s iconic ’80s fare, as frothy and over-the-top as teased bangs and acid-washed jeans. Meanwhile, the second disc’s outtakes, remixes and B-sides tarnish the originals, combining syncopated dance beats with vocoder-filtered lyrics, spaghetti-western samples and screams that lend an air of schlolcky Eurotrash. Those songs fell to the cutting-room floor for a reason, and should’ve remained buried.