The Strummer Files continued: Joe Strummer - Earthquake Weather (Epic, 1989)

A belated fourth addition to the three-part Strummer Files, as Craig Stephen’s lockdown listening defaults to the tried and trusted …

It’s 1989, and, four years after the remnants of The Clash fizzled out like a dud sparkler, Joe Strummer was back in the driver’s seat for his first full solo album.

Six years previous, Strummer had lost his McCartney when Mick Jones was unceremoniously booted out of The Clash just as the movement towards a bona fide stadium band was taking place. In a year they could’ve been on a par with The Who. But, largely on his own, Strummer bundled together the hopelessly inept Cut the Crap. He really needed Jones’ spark to get it back together but Jones was firmly ensconced in Big Audio Dynamite, which reached for the sky and caught it with both hands.

Strummer’s life had been upturned after The Clash: both parents had died, and he had become a devoted father and family man. Acting, soundtracks and the what-have-you were part a way of exercising the ghost of The Clash and a way to forge a new path.

Earthquake Weather lacks a few basic things, not least a strong wingman. The line-up for the album was guitarist Zander Schloss, bassist Lonnie Marshall, and two drummers Jack Irons and Willie McNeill – this being the uncredited Latino Rockabilly War.  Other than Schloss, who Strummer knew from his soundtracks and acting, the others were located in jazz clubs and small-time clubs of LA.

There’s a lot to take in. The War immersed itself in everything it could find and Earthquake Weather straddles funk, rock, reggae and folk. The best three tracks are all at the start, leaving the album as a whole as a lopsided venture.

‘Gangsterville’, the first single, and ‘King of the Bayou’ are both rock stompers, with the former visiting a place few want to stay: “Down in Gangsterville/ Where any sane people already crawled under the house/ Yeah Gangsterville, the television is always thinking about/ Real people, especially when it's hungry.”

‘Gangsterville’ was re-released on 12” for 2016 Record Store Day with three variable B-sides; but the album itself has only ever been given a poorly designed and promoted re-release about a decade ago.

‘Slant Six’ is another three-minute rock’n’roll-fuelled fast mover, on the ways and methods of the record industry – perhaps a parable of The Clash itself. “Youth, money, success and power/ Expressing your soul to critical acclaim/ Now you're insatiable -- there's no stopping you/ If something lasts for a minute -- it's scored a hit with you/ What are you gonna do for an encore?/ C'mon baby after an act like that/ People are gonna scream for more.”

Elsewhere, it is a mixed bag. ‘Boogie With Your Children’ is reminiscent of what Prince was doing at the time, going as far as to have a backing singer with a Princely falsetto. The emotional ditty ‘Leopardskin Limousines’ is recorded at about the slowest pace that Strummer could go; ‘Highway One Zero Street’ sounds rush-recorded; ‘Ride Your Donkey’ is the obligatory reggae-infused contribution to a Strummer album, and certainly one of the highlights of an album that contains more standouts than it does lemons.

While I have come to appreciate it far more on these lockdown listens, Earthquake Weather wasn’t received well at the time. I can see how that was, it was neither commercial and has too much filler. It was followed by a fallow decade; but you can also see how it lead to a reappraisal of his career, which of course, would eventually lead to the Mescaleros.

Strummer’s other post-Clash, pre-Mescaleros LPs:

Sid and Nancy soundtrack (1986)

Strummer only contributed two tracks – the brilliant ‘Love Kills’, which was issued as a single, and ‘Dum Dum Club’, but it is said that he composed much of the other music.

Straight to Hell soundtrack (1987)

As well as starring in this spoof spaghetti western, Strummer contributed two new tracks, ‘Evil Darling’ and ‘Ambush at Mystery Rock’. The other contributors were familiar from the Sid and Nancy adventure: the Pogues and Pray for Rain while Zander Schloss, later to join Strummer’s band, provided ‘Salsa Y Ketchup’.

Walker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Alex Cox’s 1987 historical/satirical film starring Ed Harris in the eponymous role was based on the life of William Walker, the American filibuster who invaded and pronounced himself president of Nicaragua in the mid-19^th century with all the chaos and violence that is imaginable with such a scenario. Strummer, who had a cameo role in the film, composed the entire soundtrack – with 11 of the 14 tracks being instrumentals. It has a very Latin sound, as you’d expect, and is surprisingly engrossing.

Permanent Record (1987)

Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War contributed most of the soundtrack – namely ‘Trash City’ which was good enough to be a standalone single, ‘Baby the Trans’, ‘Nefertiti Rock’, ‘Nothin’ Bout Nothin’’ and (credited to Strummer alone) ‘Theme From Permanent Record’. This grim movie starred Keanu Reeves and it isn’t regarded as his finest hour and a half. The other half of the record included Lou Reed, The Stranglers, the Bodeans, The Godfathers, and J.D. Souther.