Strummservations

[CorwoodRep]

I don't have headphones. How is that different from all the other Bo Diddley songs that are virtually identical?

I mean, I love Bo Diddley, but come on.

[Chuck Mangione]

Just kind of the way he garbles out "Mississipi!" reminds me of Strummer's type of shouting.

[Silent Majority]

Latino Rockabilly War make so much sense in theory, in the cartoonist, four-colour way that Joe saw the world. The time was absolutely right for a back to basics band that used instruments and recording techniques from the 1940s. Being retro rock 'n' roll with world music would have been really punk as the Stone Roses got their first album out and BAD headed towards acid house. But the execution didn't work out, because of Joe's lack of confidence, which lead to writer's block making the songs feel forced and overlaboured. And also, because he picked musicians beneath him (Zander "Dross" Schloss) which I think also came from the lack of confidence but also so he could kind of be the boss, and not come up against a talented Mick Jones' opposing ideas.

[Marky Dread]

Latino Rockabilly War make so much sense in theory, in the cartoonist, four-colour way that Joe saw the world. The time was absolutely right for a back to basics band that used instruments and recording techniques from the 1940s. Being retro rock 'n' roll with world music would have been really punk as the Stone Roses got their first album out and BAD headed towards acid house. But the execution didn't work out, because of Joe's lack of confidence, which lead to writer's block making the songs feel forced and overlaboured. And also, because he picked musicians beneath him (Zander "Dross" Schloss) which I think also came from the lack of confidence but also so he could kind of be the boss, and not come up against a talented Mick Jones' opposing ideas.

Those EW songs are too cluttered and they can't musically make their mind up to be Bruce Sprinsteen/Johhny Cash or Eddie Cochran. All are great individually but not all at once. A stripped back rockabilly sound and a few less words and there is a good album in there.

Love Kills and the Trash City singles were great if only EW had the same vibe.

[CorwoodRep]

There's something to that album. I still think there is. It's such a weird album, a schizophrenic, Alex Cox-y look at LA and Americana. It plays like a B-movie, where I'm continually impressed by various turns of phrase or moments but it still feels cartoony, strange, low budget. There aren't a whole lot of albums like it and I'm glad it exists. It's like reading a 17 year old's diary if he ran away from home and hitchhiked to California to become a dishwasher. It's confused, stupid, a victim of sensory overload--and somewhere along the line, as time passes, I think it becomes more than the some of its parts.

I don't even come to this opinion out of Clash fandom per se. It doesn't really register as a Joe Strummer album. It registers as an album by an over-enthused English expat in LA who watched Repo Man.

[Marky Dread]

There's something to that album. I still think there is. It's such a weird album, a schizophrenic, Alex Cox-y look at LA and Americana. It plays like a B-movie, where I'm continually impressed by various turns of phrase or moments but it still feels cartoony, strange, low budget. There aren't a whole lot of albums like it and I'm glad it exists. It's like reading a 17 year old's diary if he ran away from home and hitchhiked to California to become a dishwasher. It's confused, stupid, a victim of sensory overload--and somewhere along the line, as time passes, I think it becomes more than the some of its parts.

I don't even come to this opinion out of Clash fandom per se. It doesn't really register as a Joe Strummer album. It registers as an album by an over-enthused English expat in LA who watched Repo Man.

I think Strummer had a pretty good world view. But on EW he really wants to be a cowboy and gives us this skewed vision of Americana which occasionally works but for the most part comes out as a mess. It's almost like he frightened of being Joe Strummer and is trying so hard to be a version of himself.

[CorwoodRep]

I agree, and that's part of what intrigues me about it. His heart is so on his sleeve, even when he's posturing.

[12XU]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Strummer

this page needs to be changed,makes it look like Joe was still recording in 2004.

[Silent Majority]

I'd have loved a studio version of Strummer singing Love of the Common People.

[Dr. Medulla]

I'd have loved a studio version of Strummer singing Love of the Common People.

Here, let Paul Young tide you over.
[youtube][/youtube]

[Silent Majority]

I'd have loved a studio version of Strummer singing Love of the Common People.

Here, let Paul Young tide you over.
[youtube][/youtube]

I love Joe's continual distancing from this version every time he introduced the song.

[Marky Dread]

I'd have loved a studio version of Strummer singing Pulp's Common People.

[Chuck Mangione]

I don't know if I dreamt this or misremembered how the Irish one sounded like or what, but is there a version of In the Pouring Rain that isn't the muddy Irish one with the flute and that isn't CTC era live? The one I'm talking about (if it exists) was very acoustic and folky. I swear it was on youtube. This site also talks about at the bottom. http://alldylan.com/rare-track-in-the-p ... the-clash/

"…and it was recorded again at Rockfield Studios near Monmouth, Wales (27-30/4/1993) with Danny Thompson (bass) and Terry Williams (drums)"

Not sure if that's the version I heard.

[Wolter]

One thing that embiggens my spirit: Joe's positivity increase over the last decade of his life.

Wilderness Years

Nobody ever really thinks about you when you're gone...

Mescaleros Era

You know you cast a long shadow on the ground...

[Marky Dread]

One thing that embiggens my spirit: Joe's positivity increase over the last decade of his life.

Wilderness Years

Nobody ever really thinks about you when you're gone...

Mescaleros Era

You know you cast a long shadow on the ground...

Very nicely spotted Wolt.