Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
"Streetcore"
2003
Hellcat Records

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Don't buy this album expecting to hear long-lost "Clash" tracks. It's the last album Joe Strummer was working on when he died of a heart attack at 50. "Streetcore" received many favorable reviews, but this reviewer disagrees. When bands have a hard time, they should take a rest, but we should not sing "Streetcore"'s glory simply because the lead singer was once a great punk star. It's called "world music" and includes Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" as a cover. "Get Down Moses" also has a reggae drift. However, most of "Streetcore" is folk music, with songs done on acoustic guitar such as "Long Shadow." The vocals are classic Joe Strummer, perhaps even better than during the Clash when in this reviewer's opinion the vocals were too cutesy. The vocals are definitive, dominating and mature. Lyrically, there is politics in this album but toned down from the "Clash" days. It seems that both musically and lyrically, the Clash was not able to sustain itself and only went further downhill after the breakup. In fact, the lyrics point to Strummer's being tied up with Christianity and even talk about soul-saving in "Silver and Gold." "All in a Day" rocks the most like the Clash did. "Arms Aloft" also rocks, but the mention of "banners of Stalingrad" in "Ramshackle Day Parade" is in the midst of unreal imagery and moments of truth that make it difficult to put any one message across. Stick with the original "Clash" albums and forget the nostalgia. Note: http://cyberpros.net/music/reviews/s/strummerjoe-streetcore.shtml

MIM has explained that one might even "like" this music while knowing rationally that there is something wrong with it, maybe even profoundly wrong and evil. Being a Maoist means being a revolutionary scientist and that means having the ability to question everything that we like.

Who are you to decide?

See also our MIM Theory on gender issues

Read Mao on politics in all literature and art