Joe Strummer, Mescaleros - Global a Go-Go
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Free Music Notes for Global a Go-Go
Free Music Review: When The Artist Dies, His Art Means More......
Hit: 5 Stars
Should be 10 stars.
Although I loved-loved The Clash (saw them in '82), I admit that, after an initial brief orientation with Joe Strummer's solo work in the '90's, I mistakenly put him aside. Big Mistake. Then Joe tragically died a few years back.
A year ago I was at a friend's place for a party and I was caught by the music playing, which sounded like Joe's voice but the music was so friggin' hip sounding. Wow!, I said when I was told it was Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros. As much of a music connaisseur as I am, at that point I felt very inadequate.
From then on, X-Ray, Go-Go and Streetcore have been permanent staples in my CD player. The remarkable thing is that they NEVER get played out no matter how many times I hear them. The combination of acoustic and electronic instruments along with punk style vocals and various rhythms is the greatest thing I've ever, ever heard in the last, oh, 10 years.
As I get a little older, I welcome mellower sounding music, especially if it has a punk soul and great lyrics. Global A Go-Go and the other Mescalero recordings are the best of both worlds and are also totally versatile. They are good for parties, chilling out, driving, cleaning the house, or just spacing out.
I typically give CD's that I like 5 star ratings. Well GLOBAL A GO-GO, X-RAY STYLE, and STREETCORE, are all MASTERPIECES in music that deserve their own category of being beyond ratings.
RIP Joe. This music will never die.
Free Music Review: The Best Work from One of the Great Ones
Hit: 5 Stars
My father, a poet and an artist on his own right, used to say that there was a "first row "and a "second row" for artists of any discipline. His theory was that, whether it's literature, sculpture or music, people will emerge who will redefine their medium, push their artistic form beyond its present atmosphere, and then there man, many more, extremely capable writers or composers whose work was important but not seminal, not worthy of the first row. I guess my dad was speaking of what B.H. Fairchild called "the difference between talent and genius." Well I think my father's notion certainly has applied, for a long time, to contemporary popular music. I grew up touched -shaped, really- by people like Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Caetano Veloso, Ellington, Joni Mitchell. This is the work of the first row, to be a lifelong catalyst for your times. Joe Strummer belongs in the same first row too. In some way, I feel that this album materializes Joe's lifelong vision bringing forth punk and world, accordions and electric guitars, politics and art, social justice and killer grooves. "Mondo Bongo" is a Strummer ballad, heartfelt, slow, perfect for Joe's mature voice. "At The Border, Guy" should be called "at the edge" with its Rock-n-Reggae. "Gamma Ray" and "Mega Bottle Ride" are precious stones, etched off Latin and Punk, like a working class Jimmy Buffet with something important to say. Global A Go-Go is immense fun but not a Disney ride, his politics just as radical but maturing into a sharper artistic edge.Free Music Review: This turned me on
Hit: 5 Stars
My first introduction to Joe Strummer was in 1981 at the Rolling Stones concert at JFK stadium in Philadelphia. I was there of course to see the Stones, and halfway through the warm up presentation, Joe Strummer asked the audience if they wanted the band to leave the stage since he had just been hit in the face by an orange -- I think I was too stoned to notice whether the music merited such as response.For some reason, I never got into The Clash, I obviously was not very sophisticated about music during high school and college in the 1980s. Fortunately, this album made me stand up and take notice. After 2 listens of Global a Go-Go, I went out and purchased London Calling, which is now one of my favorites.
This CD topped every expectation I had of Joe Strummer. This is world music at its best, very accessible, stands up over time,
always interesting. One of the best albums of 2001, I just can't figure out how it did not get more recognition.
I was fortunate to catch Joe Strummer's appearance in Brooklyn in April, one of the best shows I have ever seen. The band was tight, not only playing tunes from the 2 Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, but also playing Clash tunes -- the encore was a cover of Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground.
This is a keeper I will listen to for a long time.
Free Music Review: Strummer continues to offer meaning, variety of styles
Hit: 5 Stars
That which separated The Clash from other "punk" bands of the late '70s and into the early '80s, is that which still separates Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros from the many other once-great-solo-artist-fronting-newly-valid-project rock acts of today --lyrics that read like poems of inspired urban observation with all of the social weight and commentary of the former band's early efforts. In later years, though The Clash's message may have become blurred, the musical styles that were explored were revolutionary in a genre that hung tightly to a politically-motivated simplicity of three chords backed by the standard nine-piece (maximum) drum kit. As with later works, like those found on the ambituous Sandinista and the popular Combat Rock, Strummer explores the variety of percussion prevelant in eastern and Latin musical forms (much thanks to the sublime work of Pablo Cook). That enough would make Global A Go-Go great listening. But the best part of all is that Strummer still has something to say in his lyrics. The album is a delight to music afficianados and cultural ideologists alike. One might wonder if The Clash were still recording today, what would they have evolved into? Dare I say, this album may offer a hint? Well done, Mr. Strummer. Well done.Free Music Review: If this is the last cd by Joe Strummer, he goes out on top
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the best album of Joe Strummer's solo career. It is what would have come next if the Clash had stayed together, progressing with their music and the world music influences that started with "Police and Thieves" all the way through to "Sean Flynn" from Combat Rock. Taking sounds from all over the world, and still keeping his own style, Strummer (unlike Paul Simon, Sting, etc.) pays tribute to the music of his life travels. Whether reggae, raga's, american folk, or just plain punk, Strummer combines and melds the sounds of everything, without making it sound like the newest world music trend (listen to it over and over all you Eric Claptons/Rolling Stones/Ry Cooders).
We lost the most influencial musical voice the day Joe Strummer died. He proves with this album he still says what he feels, what he thinks and what is happening and was the only musical artist who would have been brave enough to come out against Bush, Blair et. al. and use what clout, podium, or stage to say what EVERY OTHER ARTIST IS AFRAID TO SAY.
I have listened to Strummer or the Clash at least once a week for over 25 years, never tire of it, and can honestly say this was one of his greatest achievements