Album Review: Joe Strummer 001 by Joe Strummer

Timing never was Joe Strummer's strong suit. Not more than a year after the Clash cracked the stateside Top 10 in 1982, with "Rock the Casbah" peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, Strummer fired his partner, Mick Jones. Instead of pulling the plug on the "The Only Band That Matters," he kicked around for a few years, sticking with the Clash long enough to alienate even his hardcore fans with 1985's incoherent Cut the Crap.

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Few bands in the history of rock & roll left behind as powerful a legacy as the Clash, and no one in that group symbolized passion and belief like singer, guitarist, and songwriter Joe Strummer. The Clash were a great band, with all members vital to the whole, but it's impossible to imagine them without the blazing intensity of Strummer's full-hearted bray, thoughtful but rabble-rousing lyrics, and relentless rhythm guitar work. While Mick Jones may have been the band's most talented member, it's significant that Strummer could lead a flawed but credible version of the Clash without him (even if the album Cut the Crap captured almost none of the virtues of the group's final lineup).

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Joe Strummer was so much more than the frontman of The Clash. In testimony to that fact, Strummer 001 brings together a selection of tracks from his time with The 101ers and The Mescaleros, as well as elements of his solo and soundtrack work. With an emphasis on hidden treasures, the compilation notably features 12 previously unreleased recordings culled from Strummer's personal archive.

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