Although the triple album sprawl of 1980’s Sandinista! from The Clash – the self-styled “only band that matters” – may seem like a more obvious candidate for inspection under the prog lens, its sense of self-importance and lack of musical coherence precludes any such debate.
As numerous contemporary prog bands displayed – see Rush’s Signals or Peter Gabriel’s fourth eponymous album, among others – quality wasn’t defined by quantity. Instead, with a focus on the fall-out of the Vietnam war and the decay of American society, The Clash’s fifth album, 1982’s Combat Rock, is not only their last great thematic statement but also the record driven by the most proggy music of their career.
