The 101ers (live), “Lonely Mother’s Son”…ring a bell?
In the recent Last Man Standing: Suitcase Songs thread, I made mention of Joe Strummer having salvaged a song by his old band, The 101ers, for use in The Clash’s “Jail Guitar Doors”. Then, after 2000 Man called me on it, I started to doubt myself. Surely I’ve been wrong at least once before…but not this time. Here’s “Lonely Mother’s Son”, which features the entire chorus that would be used in “Jail Guitar Doors”. The verses ring a bell too, like something that might have been used on a song I usually skip on Sandinista. Let me know if you figure it out so I can save myself the effort of dropping the needle on one of those stinkers. Thanks.
Finally, some of you may know how much I dig The 101ers’ Elgin Avenue Breakdown album, which was a holy grail of sorts for me and my bandmates in our much younger days. “Lonely Mother’s Son” really sucks; there’s good reason it didn’t appear on the original vinyl release of this album. Rather than leave you possibly thinking “Is that all there is?” here are some of the tracks that give this album its pitcher-full of pub rock value. The last two tracks, covers that will ring a bell, were recorded live on a crappy cassette recorder. I love the sound of them, and through Strummer’s final 15 years of wandering, I wished he would have recorded a batch of kick-ass, low-fi pub rock recordings rather than waste his time name checking Ethiopian DJs on those ponderous Mescaleros albums.
“Letsagetabitarockin'”
“Keys to Your Heart”
“Motor Boys Motor”
“5 Star Rock ‘n Roll Petrol”
“Shake Your Hips”
“Junco Partner”
I just want to inject that last week I finally saw Let’s Rock Again, the movie Dick Rude made about Joe Strummer’s attempted comeback with the Mescaleros. It was very interesting to see him so humbled, struggling to get heard, begging people to come to his club gigs. The live performances in the film are quite good, but what really comes through is Strummer’s heart.
Unlike the Cut the Crap album, which I’ve avoided listening to as if it were a snuff film, I’ve been avoiding that Strummer doc for fear that it will be too sad. I’ll have to check it out.
These are awesome Mod. Thanks.
I need you to sit you down though, as I’m going to have one last talk with you before trying to organize an intervention…
First of all, shame on you for skipping any songs on Sandanista. Sandanista is a beginning to end experience and this skipping of yours I believe points to a much larger issue:
You don’t appreciate what Strummer brought to The Clash. I know this is hard for you to hear and you are likely angry right now but settle down with a full-length mirror and listen up.
You are a Mick Jones guy. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I know its hard for you to hear.) And for a fellow that reminds me more of Joe Strummer than anyone I’ve ever met, this is difficult for me too.
Jones pumps out those tight little pop tunes that you so love to wrap your sphincter around. Strummer? He IS ponderous and, yes, a bit meandering in his own way. Jones, I’ve alway believed, reigned him in just enough to make The Clash so great.
But to not hear and appreciate Strummer within The Mescaleros is to not appreciate Strummer for Strummer. It is core Strummer, a few experiences later, but core nontheless.
Following a long look in the mirror, I strongly suggest spending some quality, open minded, time with Streetcore.
I’m only doing this because I care. I love you man.
Don’t try to get it from NetFlix. I have the DVD *right now* but it won’t play due to the DVD being scratched. I have to return it.
Sammy, I’m a Strummer man ALL THE WAY. You’re way off base here. Strummer’s among my top 3 rock heroes. AND – and it’s important that you get this – AND I like Sandinista a lot. There are a few turds, however, over the course of 3 albums. I really hope I don’t have to go searching through those 5 songs I skip in hopes of finding the song that might have salvaged the lousy verses of “Lonely Mother’s Son”. I’m pretty sure some of the lyrics in those verses were used elsewhere as well, maybe in the same song I have in mind.
In short, I know you’ve got this “read” on me, but I ask you to read it again. I like the Mick Jones songs and the Mick Jones contributions a lot, but Joe was the heart and soul of my loving The Clash. That doesn’t mean his Mescaleros albums weren’t bogged down by his “global a-go-go” perspective. “The hell with it, Joe!” I wanted to say, you’re a 50-some-year-old man. We know you’ve busked around the world and grew up around the world, but there comes a point when rock ‘n roll is rock ‘n roll – and that’s NOT some new form of WORLD music. Let it rock, let those forearms flex, get that Bo Diddley beat cranked up. I like a couple of songs from those 2 albums, but too often the guitarists use the Sam Ash Sound. And almost ALWAYS Joe is ranting on about Nigerian DJs. LET IT ROCK. Some name-checking is fine and part of his style, but what’s the last Strummer song that’s not some lyrical variation on “The Magnificent Seven”? I don’t need more than a 3-album set of “global slice of life” songs (ie, Sandinista). Short of a couple of songs on Combat Rock, he would go on to make a broken-up career of global slice of life songs. They get BORING pretty fast. It’s not much different than hearing rappers talk about how much tail they get. BORING.
Let’s Rock Again certainly does have sadness, and not only because Joe’s dead. It was shocking to see him him visibly so much older than my previous image of him, and also he’s very aware that he’s basically starting his career over again, from close to the bottom.
Music makes up less than half of the running time, I’d guess, but what concert footage there is sounded and looked good to me. But then, like Sammy, I like the Mescaleros records.
Ok then, Mr. Mod, continuing in the pub rock vein, Martin Belmont’s song from the first Rumour album — Something Goin’ On — was first recorded by his previous band, Ducks Deluxe.
Take that.
BigSteve, I’d take it if you responded in the proper thread!🙂 See if you can’t get your answer in before I disable comments on the Last Man Standing thread and declare myself The Winner!
That’s pronounced “wiener.”
It’s OK Mod. I knew you’d react like this. We can’t expect a lifetime of denial to be cut thru with a pithy post or two.
Plenty of my friends are Mick guys… Actually, no, but its OK. It really is. You need to embrace it. You can take your Big Audio Dynamite cassettes out of the sock drawer and proudly display them.
Do some hard, hard soul searching. Think about where you’d fall if you HAD to choose between BAD vs Mescaleros. Same way’d you fall Beatles vs. Stones? Paul vs. John?
Mmmm, hmmmm. And how does that make you feel?
Mescaleros over BAD; Strummer’s appearance in even bad films over Mescaleros. OK?
I’m sorry. That’s all we have time for today. We’ll pick up here next week. Don’t forget- full length mirror, Streetcore.
Streetcore…just the album title gets at what I find so unsatisfying about these albums. Is there a worse album title than E. Pluribus Gergely’s favorite, Earthquake Weather? Letsagetabitarockin’!
Put in another vote for the Mescaleros discs for me as well, I can’t imagine how a Strummer fan couldn’t love them. Good luck Maudlin, I agree that Mod is a Paul/Mick man but I think he’ll be sitting in the back row of the support group for a long time before he get up on stage and grabs the mike and says, “I’m Mr. Mod and I’m a rockist”.
I take it everyone loves those Strummer albums but me, right? The man’s dead, you know. He no longer pays into the Cool Patrol, which ensures that you nod your head along with whatever’s featured on the glossies each month. It’s safe to come forward and admit that Joe Strummer’s solo albums are mediocre and were disappointing within days after having purchased them. Are there a few nice tracks on each album? Certainly, but let’s talk big picture and forget that these were Joe Strummer albums. Anyone else pick up one of these CDs and find yourself not playing it a month later? Oats? 2000 Man? Alexmagic?
I’m certain my Clash-loving compadres, including andyr, chickenfrank, and sethro, haven’t bought more than one of these releases among them, so I may not be able to count their support. Don’t leave me hanging, RTH!
I also heartily recommend Streetcore and I speak as someone who doesn’t particularly care for the Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, the first album with the Mescaleros, or what I’ve heard from Global-A-Go-Go, the second one.
Honestly I’d take the first Big Audio Dynamite album (which is in dire need of a critical upgrade) over any of Strummer’s other solo records save for the Walker soundtrack, but Streetcore was a real return to form. As sad as Joe’s death was and still is, at least he went out on a great note. When I was in Brooklyn last month, someone was blaring “Coma Girl” (the album’s lead off track) from their window at top volume and I was quite happy.
Oh and andyr, the copy of Let’s Rock Again that I watched via Netflix a while back was fine, but that’s unfortunately a problem with maybe 1 in 10 DVDs that we receive from them.
I thought the Mescaleros albums were getting better. The first one was not at all bad, but on the second one he really hit his stride and started to figure out what he and the band could do. I liked everything on the last one except for the cover of Redemption Song, which is like my least favorite Bob Marley song. I’ve never understood its appeal. Streetcore also has a very fine (and sadly appropriate) cover of the swamp pop classic Silver & Gold (sometimes known as before I Grow Too Old).
That version of “Silver & Gold” might have been the best thing from Streetcore I like the honesty I’m seeing in BigSteve’s comment, “the Mescaleros albums were getting better.” That is something I can get behind. How much better would they have gotten had Strummer resisted from name-checking Ugandan DJs over the course of an album?
First off, Mr. Mod, I wasn’t disagreeing about Jail Guitar Doors, I just didn’t think the 101ers recorded it, and I thought that was one of the rules. That’s some great tracks you included, too.
I like Joe much better than Mick Jones. I wouldn’t hit a dog in the ass with a BAD album. That’s just unlistenable for me. I don’t much care for Joe’s first two Mescaleroes albums, either. It is that crappy world music, and I just don’t think that stuff translates to electric guitar well at all, and if you’re gonna drop the electric guitars entirely, then it ain’t rock n’ roll and I can’t get behind that. I’m in the camp that’s pro Streetcore, though. I can’t understand two thirds of what Joe sings anyway, so I miss the name checks of Ugandan DJ’s (not like I know any of their names anyway). But Streetcore seems to have a clean, simple outlook that I like.
It ain’t Pub Rock like Eddie and the Hot Rods, but it’s still good.
A significant chunk of my listening time is spent with reggae and African music, so maybe I’m less put off by the Mescaleros’ stylistic diversity than some would be. I’m not saying it’s always a good thing to mix other styles in with your rock roots, but it can be done well. I don’t think Joe was doing it in a contrived way either; I think he was just incorporating the music he liked into a whole that made sense to him.