NO ORDINARY JOE

Strummer’s musical journey from ladbroke grove to LA

THE 101’ERS ELGIN AVENUE BREAKDOWN (REVISITED) emi, 2005

This expanded version of the original 1978 comp added a swathe of live tracks recorded at Camberwell Art School that captured the band’s legendary velocity. Includes their ecstatic cover of Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips”, a deranged take on “Gloria” and a reworking of New Orleans classic “Junco Partner” that was not improved on by The Clash on Sandinista!. 10/10

BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE 10 UPPING STREET CBS, 1986

When Joe couldn’t get Mick to reform The Clash because he had his own thing going with BAD, he basically joined the BAD crew for their second album, eventually installing himself as co-producer and co-writing over half the tracks. Joe gave 10 Upping Street a harder, more urgent sound that made it sometimes sound like a belated successor to Combat Rock. 8/10

WALKER OST VIRGIN, 1987

Joe had knocked off some songs for Alex Cox’s Sid And Nancy and Straight To Hell, but petitioned the director to write the full score for Walker. Drawing on Latin and American folk traditions, Joe’s largely instrumental score was like nothing he’d done before. Comparisons with Bob Dylan’s soundtrack for Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid are not exaggerated. 9/10

EARTHQUAKE WEATHER EPIC, 1989

Recorded over three months in Los Angeles with Latino Rockabilly War, who’d backed him on the Permanent Record soundtrack, Earthquake Weather was a critical and commercial disaster. It’s hardly perfect, but overall a much better record than usually admitted, as stylistically freewheeling as Sandinista!. It also boasts, in the hushed, intimate “Leopardskin Limousines”, one of Joe’s greatest songs. 8/10