JOE STRUMMER & THE MESCALEROS
''STREETCORE''
OCTOBER 21 2003
41:11
1 Coma Girl (Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Joe Strummer) 03:46
2 Get Down Moses (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 05:05
3 Long Shadow (Smokey Hormel, Joe Strummer) 03:32
4 Arms Aloft (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 03:44
5 Ramshackle Day Parade (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 03:57
6 Redemption Song (Bob Marley) 03:25
7 All in a Day (Danny Saber, Joe Strummer) 04:51
8 Burnin' Streets (Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Joe Strummer) 04:28
9 Midnight Jam (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 05:45
10 Silver and Gold (Dave Bartholomew, Roben Guidry) 02:34
Luke Bullen/Congas, Drums, Loop
Tymon Dogg/Violin
Josh Freese/Drums, Guest Artist
Smokey Hormel/Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Rick Rubin/Piano
Scott Shields/Arranger, Cowbell, Drums, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Harmonica, Percussion, Programming, Slide Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Martin Slattery/Arranger, Chamberlin, Drums, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Mellotron, Organ, Piano, Programming, Sax (Tenor), Synthesizer, Tambourine, Vocals (Background), Wurlitzer
Simon Stafford/Bass, Cello, Cornet, Guitar, Trombone, Vocals (Background)
Peter Stewart/Vocals (Background)
Joe Strummer/Guitar, Telecaster, Vocals
REVIEW/AMG
by Thom Jurek
****/*****
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. Unlike the previous Mescaleros outings, which were rooted in various world and folk musics and tempered by rock, Streetcore anchors itself in rock & roll and deadly heavy reggae (and for anyone who needs a reminder, Strummer's former band, the Clash, played reggae in the late '70s and early '80s better than a lot of that genre's artists). From "Coma Girl," the album's opening track, there is no doubt that Strummer hits bedrock with this fusion of garage band wail and dread beat. "Coma Girl" uses lean and mean guitars and Phil Spector's 1960s girl groups, then crosses them rhythmically with rocksteady basslines and enormous backbeats. Yes, it does sound like a lost cut from London Calling. A love song for a wasted mascot who flirts and inspires the various metaphorical socio-politcal gangs that are trying to rule the dawn of the end of the world, Strummer and band -- the Mescaleros, with their killer rhythms and over-the-red-line guitar and keyboard lines are as tight and tough as anybody out there -- truly find the flowers borne by suicide divas in the dustbin of the apocalypse. Writing like Bob Dylan at his most expressionistic, Strummer's urgency is beyond the warnings of the Clash's London Calling or Sandinista! Strummer's protagonist is living on the nether edge of reality, where the worst has already happened, he can only celebrate what's left in the ahses of civilization.
Listening to the crunchy rocksteady thunder in "Go Down Moses," with its monstrous dubbed-out bass and lyrics about the sellout of the world wholesale, listeners can hear Strummer laughing in the face of all the darkness multinationalism can muster. "Long Shadow," with its minor-key architecture and acoustic guitars played in pure Americana rambling style, was written for Johnny Cash but never recorded. Its protagonist crosses deserts and rivers; he haunts the places of desolation in order to speak with the voice of the Storyteller. The song's style and spirit evokes the ghost of Cisco Houston as Strummer sings: "I'll tell you one thing that I know/You don't face your demons down, you gotta grapple with 'em Jack/And pin 'em to the ground...And I hear punks talk of anarchy/I hear hobos on the railroads/I hear mutterings on the chain gangs/It was those men who built the roads/And if you put it all together/You didn't even once relent/You cast a long shadow/And that is your testament...." Other rockers include the burning revolution drama of "Arms Aloft," with a refrain that is among the most anthemic and raucous Strummer ever wrote. With wah-wah guitars, distorted bass, boombastic drums and cymbals, it is the hardest rocking track on the set. Also strong are the searing "All in a Day," with its razor-wire Telecaster stomp, and the medium to slow heaviness of "Burnin' Streets." There are two covers on Streetcore. First is a deeply moving reading of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," played acoustically by Strummer, Smokey Hormel, and Benmont Tench, and produced by Rick Rubin. This is the only cut that the Mescaleros don't appear on; it wasn't recorded for this set but is included by Luce (Strummer's widow) and the band as a hinge piece for the front and back of the album to hang on, and it works gloriously. The other is the closer, a cover of the Bobby Charles' classic "Before I Grow Too Old," retitled here as "Silver and Gold." It's a barroom song played in elegiac, Anglo country style -- think of the Mekons on Fear and Whiskey. Strummer's last line in the song is, "I've got to hurry up before I grow too old," before he speaks to us in his grainy Cockney voice, "OK, that's a take." It's almost as unbearable as it is unforgettable. Streetcore is the sound of Joe Strummer hitting his stride with his own band on his terms both lyrically and musically. The fact that this is a final album for Strummer is beside the point; this is one of the best rock & roll albums of 2003, and truly the finest, most cohesive work he did after London Calling.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Steve Huey
As frontman and main songwriter of the Clash, Joe Strummer created some of the fieriest, most vital punk rock -- and, indeed, rock & roll -- of all time. Strummer expanded punk's musical palette with his fondness for reggae and early rock & roll, and his signature bellow lent an impassioned urgency to the political sloganeering that filled some of his best songs. After the Clash disbanded in 1986, Strummer sporadically pursued film acting and released the occasional solo album, though seemingly only when it suited him. Joe Strummer was born John Graham Mellor on August 21, 1952, when his father, a diplomat, was stationed in Ankara, Turkey. During his time at London boarding schools, the teenage Strummer immersed himself in rock and reggae, and began busking on the streets under his newly adopted stage name. In 1974, he formed the pub rock group the 101'ers, and though they rocked pretty hard, they couldn't quite match the raw fire Strummer discovered when he saw Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols. Strummer promptly quit pub rock to join the fledgling punk movement, and co-founded the Clash in 1976; the rest was history. Six albums, many more singles and EPs, and one frequently brilliant body of work later, the Clash broke up amidst rancorous infighting and uncertainty of direction. Strummer contributed two songs to the soundtrack of Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy, a 1986 chronicle of the doomed Sex Pistols bassist; the two hit it off so well that Strummer acted in Cox's next two films, Walker (which Strummer also scored) and the bizarre Western Straight to Hell. His relaxed, natural screen presence earned him further work with directors Robert Frank (1987's Candy Mountain) and Jim Jarmusch (1989's acclaimed Mystery Train); Strummer also wrote five songs for the soundtrack of 1988's Permanent Record. In 1989, Strummer released his first solo album, Earthquake Weather, which blended straight-up rock & roll with touches of world music. However, following a temporary stint filling in for Shane MacGowan in the Pogues (both as rhythm guitarist and in-concert lead vocalist), Strummer largely fell silent after the very early '90s. The first peep of a return to the music scene occurred in 1996, when Strummer appeared on the Black Grape single "England's Irie." The following year, Strummer scored the John Cusack hitman comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, which relied heavily on new wave and British ska revival for its song selections. In 1999, Strummer released his second solo album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, which largely forsook straight-ahead rock & roll in favor of eclectic, rhythmic, world music flavored compositions, plus elaborate singer/songwriter-ish lyrics. Strummer further refined this new direction with the follow-up, 2001's Global A-Go-Go. In December 2002, he was in the midst of recording his fourth solo album when he died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Somerset.
TO THE TOP
''STREETCORE''
OCTOBER 21 2003
41:11
1 Coma Girl (Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Joe Strummer) 03:46
2 Get Down Moses (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 05:05
3 Long Shadow (Smokey Hormel, Joe Strummer) 03:32
4 Arms Aloft (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 03:44
5 Ramshackle Day Parade (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 03:57
6 Redemption Song (Bob Marley) 03:25
7 All in a Day (Danny Saber, Joe Strummer) 04:51
8 Burnin' Streets (Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Joe Strummer) 04:28
9 Midnight Jam (Luke Bullen, Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Simon Stafford, Joe Strummer) 05:45
10 Silver and Gold (Dave Bartholomew, Roben Guidry) 02:34
Luke Bullen/Congas, Drums, Loop
Tymon Dogg/Violin
Josh Freese/Drums, Guest Artist
Smokey Hormel/Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Rick Rubin/Piano
Scott Shields/Arranger, Cowbell, Drums, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Harmonica, Percussion, Programming, Slide Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Martin Slattery/Arranger, Chamberlin, Drums, Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Mellotron, Organ, Piano, Programming, Sax (Tenor), Synthesizer, Tambourine, Vocals (Background), Wurlitzer
Simon Stafford/Bass, Cello, Cornet, Guitar, Trombone, Vocals (Background)
Peter Stewart/Vocals (Background)
Joe Strummer/Guitar, Telecaster, Vocals
REVIEW/AMG
by Thom Jurek
****/*****
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. Unlike the previous Mescaleros outings, which were rooted in various world and folk musics and tempered by rock, Streetcore anchors itself in rock & roll and deadly heavy reggae (and for anyone who needs a reminder, Strummer's former band, the Clash, played reggae in the late '70s and early '80s better than a lot of that genre's artists). From "Coma Girl," the album's opening track, there is no doubt that Strummer hits bedrock with this fusion of garage band wail and dread beat. "Coma Girl" uses lean and mean guitars and Phil Spector's 1960s girl groups, then crosses them rhythmically with rocksteady basslines and enormous backbeats. Yes, it does sound like a lost cut from London Calling. A love song for a wasted mascot who flirts and inspires the various metaphorical socio-politcal gangs that are trying to rule the dawn of the end of the world, Strummer and band -- the Mescaleros, with their killer rhythms and over-the-red-line guitar and keyboard lines are as tight and tough as anybody out there -- truly find the flowers borne by suicide divas in the dustbin of the apocalypse. Writing like Bob Dylan at his most expressionistic, Strummer's urgency is beyond the warnings of the Clash's London Calling or Sandinista! Strummer's protagonist is living on the nether edge of reality, where the worst has already happened, he can only celebrate what's left in the ahses of civilization.
Listening to the crunchy rocksteady thunder in "Go Down Moses," with its monstrous dubbed-out bass and lyrics about the sellout of the world wholesale, listeners can hear Strummer laughing in the face of all the darkness multinationalism can muster. "Long Shadow," with its minor-key architecture and acoustic guitars played in pure Americana rambling style, was written for Johnny Cash but never recorded. Its protagonist crosses deserts and rivers; he haunts the places of desolation in order to speak with the voice of the Storyteller. The song's style and spirit evokes the ghost of Cisco Houston as Strummer sings: "I'll tell you one thing that I know/You don't face your demons down, you gotta grapple with 'em Jack/And pin 'em to the ground...And I hear punks talk of anarchy/I hear hobos on the railroads/I hear mutterings on the chain gangs/It was those men who built the roads/And if you put it all together/You didn't even once relent/You cast a long shadow/And that is your testament...." Other rockers include the burning revolution drama of "Arms Aloft," with a refrain that is among the most anthemic and raucous Strummer ever wrote. With wah-wah guitars, distorted bass, boombastic drums and cymbals, it is the hardest rocking track on the set. Also strong are the searing "All in a Day," with its razor-wire Telecaster stomp, and the medium to slow heaviness of "Burnin' Streets." There are two covers on Streetcore. First is a deeply moving reading of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song," played acoustically by Strummer, Smokey Hormel, and Benmont Tench, and produced by Rick Rubin. This is the only cut that the Mescaleros don't appear on; it wasn't recorded for this set but is included by Luce (Strummer's widow) and the band as a hinge piece for the front and back of the album to hang on, and it works gloriously. The other is the closer, a cover of the Bobby Charles' classic "Before I Grow Too Old," retitled here as "Silver and Gold." It's a barroom song played in elegiac, Anglo country style -- think of the Mekons on Fear and Whiskey. Strummer's last line in the song is, "I've got to hurry up before I grow too old," before he speaks to us in his grainy Cockney voice, "OK, that's a take." It's almost as unbearable as it is unforgettable. Streetcore is the sound of Joe Strummer hitting his stride with his own band on his terms both lyrically and musically. The fact that this is a final album for Strummer is beside the point; this is one of the best rock & roll albums of 2003, and truly the finest, most cohesive work he did after London Calling.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Steve Huey
As frontman and main songwriter of the Clash, Joe Strummer created some of the fieriest, most vital punk rock -- and, indeed, rock & roll -- of all time. Strummer expanded punk's musical palette with his fondness for reggae and early rock & roll, and his signature bellow lent an impassioned urgency to the political sloganeering that filled some of his best songs. After the Clash disbanded in 1986, Strummer sporadically pursued film acting and released the occasional solo album, though seemingly only when it suited him. Joe Strummer was born John Graham Mellor on August 21, 1952, when his father, a diplomat, was stationed in Ankara, Turkey. During his time at London boarding schools, the teenage Strummer immersed himself in rock and reggae, and began busking on the streets under his newly adopted stage name. In 1974, he formed the pub rock group the 101'ers, and though they rocked pretty hard, they couldn't quite match the raw fire Strummer discovered when he saw Johnny Rotten and the Sex Pistols. Strummer promptly quit pub rock to join the fledgling punk movement, and co-founded the Clash in 1976; the rest was history. Six albums, many more singles and EPs, and one frequently brilliant body of work later, the Clash broke up amidst rancorous infighting and uncertainty of direction. Strummer contributed two songs to the soundtrack of Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy, a 1986 chronicle of the doomed Sex Pistols bassist; the two hit it off so well that Strummer acted in Cox's next two films, Walker (which Strummer also scored) and the bizarre Western Straight to Hell. His relaxed, natural screen presence earned him further work with directors Robert Frank (1987's Candy Mountain) and Jim Jarmusch (1989's acclaimed Mystery Train); Strummer also wrote five songs for the soundtrack of 1988's Permanent Record. In 1989, Strummer released his first solo album, Earthquake Weather, which blended straight-up rock & roll with touches of world music. However, following a temporary stint filling in for Shane MacGowan in the Pogues (both as rhythm guitarist and in-concert lead vocalist), Strummer largely fell silent after the very early '90s. The first peep of a return to the music scene occurred in 1996, when Strummer appeared on the Black Grape single "England's Irie." The following year, Strummer scored the John Cusack hitman comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, which relied heavily on new wave and British ska revival for its song selections. In 1999, Strummer released his second solo album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, which largely forsook straight-ahead rock & roll in favor of eclectic, rhythmic, world music flavored compositions, plus elaborate singer/songwriter-ish lyrics. Strummer further refined this new direction with the follow-up, 2001's Global A-Go-Go. In December 2002, he was in the midst of recording his fourth solo album when he died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Somerset.
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1 comment :
OH, this is going to be good!
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