Joe Strummer - Earthquake Westher

The Clash posts this week were all lead-ups to today, the tenth anniversary of the death of Joe Strummer.

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the news: I was in Rhode Island, driving into work two days before Christmas and listening to National Public Radio. The announcement of his death was one of the top news stories; it was brief, and provided no details other than the basic journalistic "five Ws". But it was still a huge jolt to me. The Clash were about to be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in just a few weeks, and I was eagerly looking forward to a reunion. While still on the road, I instantly called one of my buddies and fellow band mates, a big Clash fan like myself. He hadn't heard the news; when I broke it to him, he was just as shocked as I was.

I spent all day a work in a funk, listening to Clash tunes on my Creative MP3 player. Later that day as I drove home, I listened to the NPR afternoon show, which had a more in-depth report on Joe. It was a very well-done overview/tribute to Strummer's life, and at the end of it, they did something extraordinary - they played "White Man In Hammersmith Palais" in its entirety.

I remember being amazed and grateful that a news organization such as NPR devoted so much time and showed so much respect to Strummer's life and music - they didn't just treat him like some dirty punk rocker, but as a serious artist and visionary.

After the collapse of the final version of The Clash following the disastrous and widely-panned release of 1985's Cut The Crap, Strummer spent the next few years working on musical collaborations with other partners - I think that the reception of the last Clash album rattled him a bit, and he began working on projects to get back his confidence in his music-making abilities and skills. He first teamed with filmmaker Alex Cox and contributed two songs to the soundtrack of his 1986 film Sid & Nancy. Strummer then ended his feud with former Clash band mate Mick Jones, and collaborated with him on Big Audio Dynamite's second album, No. 10 Upping St., producing the album and co-writing most of the songs. He then went back to work with Cox, contributing another two songs to the film Straight To Hell. Cox was so pleased with Strummer's input that he asked him to score his next movie in its entirety. The film, Walker (released in 1987), was widely panned and flopped at the box office (Cox never worked for a major Hollywood studio again). But the film's soundtrack received much critical praise, with Strummer's mix of reggae, rock, calypso and South American music receiving high marks.

The positive reception of the Walker soundtrack gave Strummer back his 'mojo', and in 1988 he began working on his own material again, this time with no collaborator. He put together a backing band in Los Angeles (which included former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons) and spent a year with them in the local studios, working on his new project and also cutting songs to contribute to another movie, Keanu Reeves' Permanent Record. The album Strummer and his band (now known as The Latino Rockabilly War) released, 1989's Earthquake Weather, was a return to form for him. I purchased the album the instant it came out, and played songs like "Shouting Street" and "Dizzy's Goatee" to death. It's not his finest work, in my opinion. But it was good to see Joe Strummer back out there, doing what he did best, and most critics seemed to agree with that sentiment. The album was well-reviewed, but sold relatively poorly.

Frankly, I don't think Strummer cared one way or another. Earthquake Weather is Joe dipping his toe back in the musical water, to check the temperature and to see if it was worth it for him to jump back in again. Apparently, he found that it was. Strummer gradually made his way back into actively performing, eventually putting together The Mescaleros and releasing three superb albums with them before his death.

So, in honor of and in tribute to the great Joe Strummer, here's Earthquake Weather, released by Epic Records on September 20th, 1989. Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

 Rest well, Joe.  

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The Clash - Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg (2-disc version)

I've been a Clash fan pretty much from the get-go. I rank this band up there with the Beatles, in terms of the rapid expansion and improvement in their music progression and depth in the short time they were together.

[Actually, if you think about it, the parallels between the Clash and the Beatles are remarkable. Both were made up of members who had paid their dues in the local music scenes (London and Liverpool, respectively) of their day. Both were heavily dependent on diligent, headstrong managers (Bernie Rhodes and Brian Epstein) early in their careers. Both bands put out double LPs (Sandinista! and The White Album) late in their careers which are considered not only their masterpieces, but some of the greatest albums of all time. Both really only had an active recording life of about six years. And both fell apart due to personal acrimony between the band members.]

But I digress. Simply stated, The Clash are one of the greatest bands that ever existed.

I remember the first time I heard Combat Rock - a friend of mine bought it on vinyl, and I was there when he dropped the needle on the first track, "Know Your Rights". Man, that declaration by Joe Strummer ("This is a public service announcement - WITH GUITARRRRRR!") followed by that guitar kicking in, practically gave me a heart attack! Practically every cut on that album was a winner to me. I've always considered Combat Rock to be their greatest album, superior even to Sandinista! (which, to be completely honest, as great as it was, had a lot of filler on it).

I discovered over the years that a lot of people didn't agree with my verdict on Combat Rock. I heard that, on that album, the Clash went commercial, or got too arty, or forgot how to write songs, etc., etc. A lot of people who I thought would know better had some very negative things to say about this album, and I could never understand why. After a while, I stopped listening to them. I thought it was great, so what do I care about the critics?

I didn't learn until years later that Combat Rock was actually supposed to be a DOUBLE album, just like its predecessor Sandinista! From what I understand, Mick Jones had actually prepared a mix of this double album in late 1981, under the working title Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg. But the rest of the band rejected this first version, mainly due to personality conflicts between Strummer and Jones which would result in Jones getting kicked out of the group in 1983. The band handed over mixing and production duties to Glyn Johns, a former producer for Blue Oyster Cult, and he was the one who mixed it as a single album to everyone (except Mick's) satisfaction.

Here's a great track off of the original double album mix that never made the final cut for Combat Rock - "Kill Time" (also known as "Idle In Kangaroo Court W1"):

 I searched high and low for this original two-disc version, and finally found a copy that included not only the original mixes, but an entire second disc of studio outtakes from the recording sessions.  And thus, I bestow them unto you:

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