Streetcore by Joe Strummer & the Mescaralos 2003

In the final years of his life Joe Strummer was back with a vengeance. I had seen him playing the Big Day Out (unfortunately I missed his Corner gig) and he was up there in the sunshine with his black jeans and black t-shirt rocking the crowd at the showgrounds. And he had lost nothing. He might have been a bit quiet in his years since the Clash but on this day he powered through Clash classics and his new stuff with equal zeal. Of course the crowd went mad for the old songs. That's the cross many rock stars have to bear. But the new stuff was never boring. And he just connected with the audience who hung on every word he spoke.
Then in December 2002 Joe passed away. For someone who looked indestructible he wasn't. And he left far too early.  I wore my Joe Public badge for days. This was one of my heroes. Someone who had got me into playing in a punk band in the first place.
His band got together to finish the album they were working on and in 2003 this brilliant album came out. Kicking off with one of his best songs ever "Coma Girl" he leads us through various styles of music just as he has been doing since "London Calling". I guess that's a little of the appeal of this record. In many places it sounds like the Clash. Or is it just Joe's voice?
And where the Clash is about rocking in front of the speakers or bouncing up and down on the dance floor this is an album to take out into the sunshine and relax with a beer or two. Or maybe round a campfire, the way Joe would have liked it.