RAT PATROL FROM FORT BRAGG

"Was Glyn Johns’ remix the reason why these sessions were able to be salvaged into something commercially palatable? Probably so, but so much of the original album’s life had been removed in the process, leaving Combat Rock sounding tepid and uneven. Was the record buying public even ready for Rat Patrol’s Vietnamese-reggae/narcotic-funk or whatever-the-hell-kind-of-music?"
-Popmatters

Much has been written abut the first version of Combat Rock which was produced by Mick Jones and titled Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg. The quote above is from one of my favourite articles about Rat Patrol: The Clash Album That Never Was: 'Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg' on Popmatters.

The Glynn Johns album we ended up with, Combat Rock, isn't a bad album or anything, it's just a rather lackluster and not very cohesive album. To be honest, I was 7 years old when it came out. So when I was older and stumbled into the wonderful world of punk rock a few of my first favourite songs were from Combat Rock ("Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and "Know Your Rights"). But as I got even older and started collecting their albums on vinyl or digitally, I found that Combat Rock was pretty much my least favourite album of theirs (I only learned about disowned Clash album Cut The Crap about 10 years ago).

Anyway, I always wanted to own what would have been the much better album, so after many years of listening to and seeking out the extended versions and outtakes from Combat Rock, here is my collection of Rat Patrol. I sourced the songs and tracklisting from various compilations, bootlegs, remastered bootlegs, the Omega Auctions US Masterdisk acetate recording and even the recently reissued album (the 'Peoples Hall' version of Combat Rock). I mixed them together to give the already great flow just a little bit extra oomph.

Tracklisting:
The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too
Killtime
Should I Stay Or Should I Go? [Original Version]
Rock The Casbah [Ft. Ranking Roger]
Know Your Rights [Extended]
Red Angel Dragnet [Ft. Ranking Roger]
Ghetto Defendant [Extended]
Sean Flynn [Extended ‘Marcus Music’ Version]
Car Jamming
Inoculated City [Extended]
Death Is A Star
Walk Evil Talk [MF Edit]
Atom Tan [Extended]
First Night Back In London
Cool Confusion
Straight To Hell [Unedited]

Selling is what selling sells
But only saints on the seven avenues
Can sell the seven hells

- - - - -

And as a little bonus here are the outtakes:

Outtakes, B-Sides, Combat Rock:
The Escapades Of Futura 2000 [Dub]
Overpowered By Funk
Rock The Casbah [Extended Version]
Long Time Jerk [Extended Version]
Hell W10 [Demo]
Midnight To Stevens [Outtake]
He Who Dares Or Is Tired [Outtake]
Know Your Rights [Combat Rock Version]
Should I Stay Or Should I Go [Combat Rock Version]
Red Angel Dragnet [Combat Rock Version]
Cool Confusion [Instrumental]
Mustapha Dance

Overpowered by funk
Don't you love our Western ways?