Track Listing

1. Tony Adams
2. Sandpaper Blues - Joe Strummer, Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros, Richard Norris
3. X-Ray Style
4. Techno D-Day
5. The Road To Rock 'n' Roll
6. Nitcomb
7. Diggin The New - Antony Genn, Joe Strummer, Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros, Richard Flack, Richard Norris
8. Forbidden City
9. Yalla Yalla - Antony Genn, Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros, Richard Flack, Richard Norris
10. Willesden To Cricklewood - Antony Genn, Joe Strummer, Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros, Richard Flack

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4458 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Customer Reviews

A 5 Star Come back album - as rare as the Artist!
When this cd came out in 1999, I,like most clash fans, could not wait to get it home and play it,from "Combat Rock" in 1982, it had been a long time! Sure there was "This England" the only great track on "Cut the Crap", great title, crap album......and a few tracks floating around, but this was supposed be the real deal. As soon as the first track kicked in "Tony Adams" a great groove, fantastic lyrics, full of humour and bite, I relaxed, I knew I was in for a treat.
Highlights were also "X Ray Style", a superb song, great acoustic playing, bongos with a happy positive lyric."Nitcomb", Joe singing to "all the torn betting slips", great song with the high of a Saturday night, and great lyrics of showing how you can get your life back despite anything thrown at you."Diggin' the New", acceptance of getting older and a new regime is in, with the immortal line "Just walk in like you own it........."."Forbidden City" Oh China indeed, strong imagery, the voice is seasoned and passionate, just as you would wish it to be. There are some modern sounds on the album,"Yalla Yalla" is very electronic, as are one or two tracks, but still with those fantastic lyrics "So long Liberty, lets just forget you didn't show" and then the humour of mixing fighting moves and drinking beer......It finishes with a sentimental "Willesden to Cricklewood", getting the mozzerella in.....
I was lucky enough to see the Mescarleros in Liverpool shortly after this album came out, the band were superb, Joe was pushing 50 and still giving it everything, thats why we loved him!
I saw him after "Global a Go Go" came out a couple of years later in Manchester, by that time, he'd played the Festivals all over the World, got his respect and profile back up, and yet he was chatting with the audience and was a great down to Earth guy.
To me, he was the John Lennon of our generation, always ready to take risks, and put himself on the line.
This album must have given him as much pleasure as it did all his fans, the way it was received. Go and buy it!

A return to glory
This is the album that re-established Joe Strummer as a musical force to be reckoned with, following a decade in self-imposed exile from the spotlight. The opening track, "Tony Adams", is a declaration of purpose, with the same sort of rock-plus-reggae formula that served Joe's former band, The Clash, so well. Elsewhere, Latin, folk, roots and punk styles collide as Joe celebrates the kind of multi-culturalism that puts the "great" back into Great Britain. All this and Joe namechecks both old school rapper Kool Moe Dee and bluesman Brownie McGee in the same line of a song!

Overall, one gets the feeling that this is a glimpse at the kind of direction The Clash might have gone in had they survived the early 1980's and made it into the 1990's intact. What more could you really want?

The best i've heard for months
Well, what can i say. I've listened on The Clash for quite a while now, and i must say that i really love them. I particulary like their more reagge and dub like productions. So, what are you going to listen to know when the Clash is no more ? Well, try on Joe Strummer, their most excellent singer. On this album he mixes everything from dub to rock into a nice mix. A must have for all music lovers !