Streetcore

Streetcore was completed after Joe Strummer’s death, and though the record bears his name, Strummer did not get a chance to sign off on the final product. As a result Streetcore lacks the musical focus that drove Global A Go-Go, his debut with the Mescaleros. “Ramshackle Day Parade” and “Burning Streets” are the kind of overwrought ballads that Strummer seemed to oppose with every fiber of being. “Coma Girl” and “Get Down Moses,” on the other hand, are pure Strummer: vigorous fusions of rock ’n’ roll attitude and Rastafarian urgency. The most astounding aspect of Streetcore is Strummer’s voice, an instrument of wild spirit and immovable conviction that hadn’t changed at all since the Clash’s glory days. Even when the Mescaleros veer into pomposity, Strummer’s vocals are always an anchor straight to the soil. In the end, the album bids farewell in the best way possible; Strummer’s reading of the Bobby Charles New Orleans nugget “Before I Grow Too Old (Silver and Gold)” says more about the man’s spirit and his legacy than the rest of the album combined.