Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Streetcore

It’s been one year since the world discovered the horrible news that Joe Strummer, one of the greatest punk icons in modern history, passed away. During his final month of earth, the great musician got together with his other bandmates in Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros and started recording songs they’d been playing live during their recent world tour. After his passing, his loyal bandmates continued putting the finishing touches on his final pieces of work. They combined the ten tracks together and produced Streetcore, the new, and final, album from Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

Right from the opening guitar riff of Coma Girl, you know you are in for a treat. And that is what you get. Each song has it’s own sound and feeling to it. That will definitely drive many people away asStreetcore has no real definite sound. But once you take the time to sit back and really listen to it, you can feel the power of it all. Whether it’s the poppunk styles of Coma Girl, the reggae sounds in All In A Day, the folk/acoustics songs like Long Shadow (which is a song written for Johnny Cash) and Redemption Song, or the mostly instrumental track Midnight Jam (this is a slightly disappointing track as I feel it does slow the album down a bit), each song provides a little insight into the mastermind that is Joe Strummer.

Out of the ten tracks on the CD, you find two cover songs: The Redemption Song, which was originally written by Bob Marley, and Silver And Cold, originally written by Antoine Domino. Both will make the original artists very proud. All In A Day is also a special track as it was co-written by Danny Saber.

Streetcore puts a lid of the amazing career of the man who has inspired countless artists around the world. It’s definitely not for everyone, but it is an album which will be remembered for a long time. The last works of the great Joe Strummer.