• cover of Joe Strummer book Redemption Song
    Live,  Punk

    Live: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, 1999

    I. Am. A. Slow. Reader.

    I’ve always enjoyed reading books. But damned if it doesn’t take me an eternity to read one. Especially over the last decade, as the internet has consumed any free time I previously devoted to books. And maybe it has something to do with reading immediately before bedtime. Four, five pages and I’m too tired to go on.

    So my intent is to do my first book review, since I was just sent Chris Salewicz’s new book, Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer. But since it may take me while to get through it, I wanted to at least make you good people aware that this book is out there. Chris Salewicz was a music journalist in the seventies, covering the exploding punk scene for several publications, and befriending many of the bands, including the Clash – so he has a unique insider’s perspective on Joe Strummer.

    Joe’s been gone for more than four years now. He left us too early at the age of 50. Shitty thing is, he was just hitting his stride again with the Mescaleros. After a long hiatus, he had formed the band in the late 90’s, and released Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, their debut album, in 1999. A tour followed, and as you’ll hear, Joe was back in prime form. With healthy doses of Clash favorites, old reggae songs, and new Mescaleros tunes, the live shows were great.

    Interspersed between the songs is the classic Strummer stage banter. Before launching into Toots & the Maytalls’ “Pressure Drop”, he introduces it this way:

    “We’re doing it by a Clash arrangement where we fuck the whole song up completely. But what can you do? I’m a great believer in tradition.”

    Enjoy the show. I should have a quality book review to you by, oh – let’s say, Christmas.

    Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
    Theater of the Living Arts
    Philadelphia, PA
    November 24, 1999

    Download ZIP (mp3)

    Intro
    Shouting Street
    Diggin’ The New
    X-Ray Style
    Rock The Casbah
    Ishen > Brand New Cadillac
    Tony Adams
    Trash City
    Nitcomb
    The Road To Rock n’ Roll
    White Man In Hammersmith Palais
    Safe European Home
    Yalla Yalla
    Rudie Can’t Fail
    London Calling
    Pressure Drop
    Tommy Gun
    Island Hopping
    Forbidden City
    Junco Partner
    Straight To Hell
    I Fought The Law
    Bankrobber
    White Riot

  • Pop,  Rock

    They’re Not Down in London Town

    This one goes out to all our brothers and sisters across the pond in London town. Other than some visits as a young child, I visited England twice in my twenties when my folks lived in Surrey. I was enamored of the place. The charm, the scenery, the history, the class, not to mention – ah yes – THE PUBS. How many pints of bitter were downed? No idea. I got from place to place like so many others: riding the tube. God Bless the poor souls affected by last week’s terror. To those on the other side, enjoy Hell, won’t you?

    From Willesden to Cricklewood
    I tell you the town looked good
    Walking lonely avenues,
    Where rhinestone cowboys find the blues
    There’s people in, doing their thing
    Gettin’ all the mozzarella in
    And the passing time and passing moons
    Words flying in cloudy rooms
    Plastic bags, milk and eggs
    The poor old crone’s got aching legs
    How I would love to speak
    To everybody on the street
    Just for once to break the rules
    I know it would be so cool

    From Willesden to Cricklewood
    From Willesden to Cricklewood
    From Willesden to Cricklewood
    Come with me and be no good

    Be a mad man on the street
    Sing something out like reet petite
    Let’s hip-hop at traffic lights
    Ten thumbs up and smilin’ bright
    Crossing all the great divides
    Colour,age,and heavy vibes

    From Willesden to Cricklewood…

    Oh let’s go down to Al Rashid’s
    All the Aussie lagers are on me
    Now you’ve got the absinthe out
    Your old mother-she wants a stout..

    From Willesden to Cricklewood
    As I went it all looked good
    Thought about my babies grown
    Thought abour going home
    Thought about what’s done is done
    We’re alive and that’s the one
    From Willesden to Cricklewood

    Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros: Willesden to Cricklewood from Rock Art & the X Ray Style

  • Joe Strummer
    Rock

    I Miss Joe Strummer

    Right. So over 3 years after his untimely passing at the age of 50, I still get bummed out that the world is without Joe Strummer. Luckily for all of us, he left behind a wealth of music from his time with the Clash, and with the Mescaleros in later years. The last Mescaleros album came out the year after his death (2003), and, as the reviewer on all music puts it,

    Like Muddy Waters, whose final albums were among the best in his catalog, Streetcore by Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros (Martin Slattery, Tymon Dogg, Simon Stanford, and Scott Shields) sends Strummer into rock & roll heaven a roaring, laughing, snarling lion.

    Listen to this opener of the album. I remember inserting this into my CD player in the parking lot of Zia Records, and I sat there there transfixed for the entire song. From Joe’s powerful pipes, to the reggae, rock, and punk stylings going on in this tune, I was (and am) blown away.

    Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros: Coma Girl

    Do yourself a favor, buy Streetcore (and the entire Clash and Mescaleros catalog while you’re at it!).