The second Strummer-related post will feature on the blog in the next couple of days.
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Despite having taking a dip from the public spotlight for
virtually the entirety of the 1990s, it’s largely forgotten how prolific Joe Strummer
was following the breakup of The Clash in 1984, and how excellent and varied
the recordings were.
001 has finally tied up much of the array of tracks on a
double album CD/triple vinyl album that includes Strummer’s contributions to
groups and collaborations that even the most hardcore of Clash fans may have
missed. Soundtracks, singles, B-sides, and demos make up these 32 tracks, a
dozen of which have never been released before; plenty, therefore, for the
collector or casual fan to indulge in, albeit with varying degrees of
satisfaction as we will discover.
But to get to the post-Clash era, we have to go back to
1975, when Strummer began his musical adventure with pub rockers The 101ers.
Neither ‘Letsgetabitrockin’’ (two versions of which are included) nor the sole
single ‘Keys To Your Heart’ offer any hint of what was to come. And it’s fair
to say that these tracks show that there was only one option for Strummer when
the opportunity arose to form a band with Mick Jones and Paul Simonon.
The band’s ascent was rapid, the decline slow and
heartbreaking, and after the much-derided Cut The Crap album that featured only
a remnant of the band, Strummer was forced to think anew. 001 does cover this “final
days” era, with the inclusion of a version of ‘This is England’ and ‘Pouring
Rain’ by Strummer, Simonon and Pete Howard, recorded in 1983-84. The latter
track (and another version that’s also included) sound almost different songs
to The Clash’s powering live version that was included on The Future Is Unwritten
soundtrack.
But where this album comes alive is on the solo material
from two separate periods. From 1986 to 1990 Strummer recorded one solo album, a
soundtrack, contributed to two further soundtracks and released a handful of
singles. Aside from a team-up with Black Grape on a World Cup football single
and gigs with The Pogues, there’s a fallow period until 1999 when Joe Strummer
& The Mescaleros united for two studio albums, while one more was released
posthumously.
From this first period, ‘Tennessee Rain’, off the Soundtrack
to Walker, is a Latin-tinged underrated standout. ‘Love Kills’ is a brilliantly
riveting accompaniment to the almost-good Sid & Nancy biopic and there were
five tracks contributed to the Permanent Record soundtrack, as Joe Strummer and
the Latino Rockabilly War, notably ‘Trash City’, which is included here.
Unfortunately, even Clash fans bypassed his solo exercise
Earthquake Weather and Strummer went underground for virtually a decade. The
return was heralded by ‘It’s A Rockin’ World’ for the South Park movie and then
came the Mescaleros years, which are represented by six tracks, including ‘Yalla
Yalla’ and ‘Johnny Appleseed’. Which means no room for the brilliant ‘Bhindi
Bhagee’, the tale of a wide-eyed New Zealander who had just landed in London and
was looking for mushy peas only to be directed by Strummer to the city’s
cosmopolitan platter.
There’s collaborations with Johnny Cash (on Marley’s ‘Redemption
Song’) and Jimmy Cliff that I never knew existed; and the second disk includes
those dozen unreleased tracks, mostly demos. There needs to be some honesty
here: few of it was worth dredging up. Strummer sounds sometimes as if he
wanted to be a blues singer, but his voice isn’t gravelly enough. A couple of
outtakes, one credited to Pearl Harbour, the other to the Soothsayers, which missed
the Sid & Nancy boat are among them, and it concludes with ‘U.S. North’ which
is credited to Mick and Joe. It’s 10 minutes of unrelenting repeated beats and
a slew of words that would have been fine if reduced to four minutes.
And to imitate that annoying voice that promises “ … and
there’s more” in every TV advertorial, the vinyl version contains an additional
three tracks, but you’ll need a loan from the bank to be able to afford that.
While many of the obscure and forgotten singles and B-sides
have been torpedoed to the surface, the numbering suggests there could be the
possibility of a second turn, though that presumably would be mainly through
album tracks not included here, such as some of those from Walker. Given the
continuing interest in Strummer it is feasible that the retro machine will keep
on churning out material.
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