Good afternoon, another warm one in the desert. I’m just watching Arsenal playing in Portugal with Russian commentary. Talk about global-a-go-go. I found myself listening to Streetcore last night, three times in a row. First time I’ve done that in years with that album.

When the album came out in 2003 I must confess I was still far too downhearted about the loss of Joe Strummer to properly enjoy the album, it was more a case of a record to mourn with and to feel sad or even despondent about. The entire year was darkened by the events late in 2002. I’m sure others instead rejoiced with it but for many years the album while I knew it was good only served to make me feel hollow. Until more recent times the best I could say for Streetcore was that the Mescaleros along with Lucinda Strummer did an amazing job at pulling together partially completed songs and make them release worthy. The sessions were at their very earliest stages and yet the album sounded hauntingly complete. Since Joe passed away I’ve always been more likely to listen to the first two albums with the Mescaleros. I think mostly for sentimental reasons, you know how you associate albums with a certain time? Those three years before Joe died were the most exciting time to be a Strummer follower since the days of Combat Rock in my opinion. He’d found a band (especially by the time of Global) who complimented him and expanded on his goals for the music, the layers of sound and the flow of ideas. Skilled, adaptable and flexible Joe even told Bob Gruen that he felt the Meskys were the most talented group of musicians he’d ever worked with. That is quite an accolade but I think there are a number of reasons to properly consider that statement. As he approached fifty he had (ironically) more fully taken on a characteristic of Mick Jones – pull on your influences and experiment to your hearts content. He found musicians who would take that path as freely as he dare. It resulted in some remarkable music. What hurts is that I have every suspicion that the best was yet to come from Joe’s “second busy phase” of activity, the band had found their feet on Global-A-Go-Go and you felt that they would go on to produce even more remarkable albums very soon.

It was a great time – Joe was touring almost constantly and having a brilliant time with it. Giving loads of interviews and seemingly finding himself comfortable (perhaps to his own surprise) in the shoes of punk’s senior statesman. What made that even better was he was humble enough to acknowledge just how much other music continued to not just influence but truly impress him. He also understood that as the writer of some of the greatest songs ever whilst with The Clash that there was nothing wrong with working or reworking some of those songs into his then live set. Can you even imagine what sitting in on a session in the studio must have been like those last few years when Joe knew he had found a pack of guys to play with that could build upon the sounds he wanted?

You’ll also probably remember there were rumours floating around in 2004/5 that there was quite a lot of music left on the tapes in the studio. Uncompleted songs and experiments that never became a finished article. At that time rumours were that Lucinda was going to work with Sony and Damien Hirst to get some of these songs released. Then the rumours died down until last year. At that time Lucinda revealed that ultimately a book with sketches, notes and song ideas from Joe would eventually be released. Something for the collectors then and again with the involvement of Hirst.

Streetcore remains an album forever associated with the final chapter of Joe’s life, seen as that it’s strong, full of fire and invention. Seen as an album without a date stamp it might have been the best Mescaleros album of all if fate didn’t intervene that December afternoon. An unfinished masterpiece or another bold step forward. Either way we weren’t ready for the floodgates to be closed so unexpectedly and suddenly. When I feel brighter thoughts about Joe I feel thankful that he met Richard Norris and started working with him again in the first place, a reawakening of Joe’s need to write and a rebuilding of his confidence that led to those last wonderful years. It’s plausible to consider that without the part Richard Norris played that Joe might have stayed on the sidelines. I’m thankful that we have those great records to still listen to. Tim

Coma Girl – Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros

Hello once more, thanks for making a return visit to your Clash Blog. Football is an evil mistress I must say, every August it gathers your hopes up and depending on who you support keeps you emotionally invested for the better part of 9 months at which point you either are rewarded with occasional success on as for most teams (as in life) a more normal result is just taking part without perhaps being top of the class. So it’s been with my club this season who let me down again but I’ll be back and full of hope again in just a few months, it’s not officially time to congratulate Manchester United yet but I’ll do so anyway. Funnily enough this weekend also saw Mick Jones at Loftus Road enjoying an even more rare moment of exultation as his team Queens Park Rangers won promotion back to the top flight of English football returning to the highest division after a 15 year absence. I can’t even imagine how happy he must be this weekend, as a lifelong supporter these are the moments you wait and wait and sometimes keep waiting for. If you’ve no profound interest in football/soccer and want to try then may I suggest QPR (Arsenal will only drive you mental) as they not only play just a short distance from where The Clash first got to know each other but with Mick’s allegiance it is sort of an unofficial Clash FC.

It has been a week of rare Clash finds at least, just a few days after some of the footage from the Jamaica World Music Festival making its way on to YouTube there is an Ebay listing that if authentic might be rather exciting. Needless to say I’ve not got the money to find out so I wondered if I could ask a thousand of you to each contribute £2.50 then we can make a lowball offer of £2,500 and see if he bites, then of course we’ll all be part owners of it and can share it around the internet…or something. To what do I refer?

According to this ebay listing these are the original tapes (the big old 1/4″ tapes) from the CBS sessions with The Clash at Whitfield Street back in 1977 produced by Mickey Foote. It (looks like) seems there are 4 tapes in all consisting of three 4 song sessions and also a near complete version of the debut album. Let’s go with the logic that these are 100% authentic and we’d expect there to be studio chatter along with earlier demo versions of many of the tracks that the band were working on in February, March and April of 1977. I’m not at the level of historian where I would know what question could be asked of the seller to verify their authenticity but perhaps you are. Either way if legitimate I’m truly amazed to even see these for sale on ebay, they should be in the hands of Jones, Simonon, Strummer or in the British Museum if you ask me. Also, for those with better scientific knowledge than me (that would be anyone reading this) what sort of condition would 1/4″ magnetic tape be in 34 years after the recording and how would you transfer the recording? Perhaps CBS should purchase this on our behalf and release this at a special price for true fans rather than yet another Greatest Hits collection of songs/version we already own. Seller is in Glasgow, tell me more if you’ve already seen this listing.

Check out the full listing and let me know what you think – more photos below including a letter about the history of these. Looks like the auction runs til Friday…. Tim (Make sure you read the comments below, some interesting stuff – thanks all)

Hello, you’ll be waking up around the world tomorrow to the news that brought flag waving screaming people out on the streets to celebrate the death of you know who this evening. I’ve a lot of thoughts about this but this blog probably won’t be the place they leak out entirely. I can’t scream or get all that giddy about the death of anyone and a trial would have been more revealing. I do think it odd that the house he was in only had 4 people in residence, wouldn’t someone that ‘important’ have been better protected. Nor do I think this changes anything other than how people feel. I hope there’s good news to come from this beyond the blood lust (if you don’t believe me check twitter and comments on news stories), by all means lets hope the world might be safer as a result but I think its far too early to judge. I’m hopeful though that it will secure Obama getting elected again next year, see I’ve done it again when I said I wouldn’t so let’s change topic.

Last night I wrote about that piece in The Sun (I’m sure they’ll have a lovely headline or two this week) and appreciated your comments, it was at best a meandering piece that left me a bit perplexed and in disagreement. The other story I wanted to share was on Spinner which doesn’t merit much analysis in itself but their own website moderation certainly does. The article itself is fine, looking at the later days of The Clash, how the split came about and the eventual release of what turned out to be ‘Cut The Crap’. No real new ground is broken as the vanishing of Joe is covered as are the oustings of Topper and Mick. While I’m left again unsure as to the point of the article it is at least accurate but that’s not my complaint. Every website that allows comments, from blogs to newspapers to news outlets we all have the capacity to moderate the comments of readers. While I don’t think censorship of comments should be an automatic outcome (deletion) it should be considered if the comment itself isn’t rebuked. Spinner do a fair job reporting the music and have a huge readership, tens of thousands of visits per day. It’s not a one man band, they have a writing team and a web team. Yes they are part of AOL but let’s overlook that. What I’m annoyed about is the comment on the post. If it was buried in amongst 150 comments and got overlooked that would be one thing, if it was just a one man blog and he/she hadn’t moderated the comments yet that would be another. However there’s only one comment and it’s completely out of order and reads as follows—: “Why isn’t it mentioned that Strummer DIED? I’m glad he’s gone. When he stayed he was a pain in the ass.One more POINT to my mind, I’d have KILLED him myself!!!” Now I think everyone is entitled to an opinion but Spinner at the foot of their terms say the following:

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Off-topic, promotional or otherwise inappropriate comments will be removed.

I think this falls into the latter category doesn’t it? I’ve refrained from replying as the post obviously hasn’t attracted huge attention but that’s not really the point is it? I know the internet has lots of muppets with keyboard access but how on earth does someone hold that view about Joe Strummer? I’m hoping Spinner will delete the post but it’s already 6 days old so doesn’t look likely. The blogosphere (not that I like that term) has a bad reputation for spewing noxious unresearched commentary but I think the moderation of comments is often more professional that on established sites. Anyway, it’s off my chest…I’ll move on. Here’s the link to the story itself. Jump in there and comment if you fancy.

The later days of The Clash, Saturday Night Live Oct 9, 1982

I’ll be back tomorrow, we’ve got some good news and other stories to come in the days ahead and we’ll also take a look at the closure of yet another music venue in London, this one deep in the heart of Clash territory. Priced out by unrealistic rates and rents, they direction we’re heading is going to kill live music except for summer festivals. Do you think that’s part of the plan. See you in the comments and thanks for sharing the posts via FB, Twitter and such – please try and vote for the blog via Wikio which should be at the bottom of each post. Parting thoughts – Bin Laden officially dead, the same week we learn Obama was officially born & well played Arsenal today a deserved win against the agents of doom even though it won’t change the course of our season. Night – Tim