Shuffle du jour

(ode to tha shuffle ... an ongoing series of real-time bloggings to songs/albums that randomly come up on my zune)

joe strummer & the mescaleros, rock art and the xray style (hellcat)

think I may be in the minority, but I really liked the mescaleros (that sed, doubt anyone really thinks about em-- as no one really paid much attention to CPR either). looking back, i'm bummed that the one time i saw em (rock art tour), i'd heard nothing save tony adams and yalla yalla. the first 5 cuts on rock art are really strong. guns out, eyes-wide, fittin for new boots, with typ strummer lyrical flair. but restraint is name of game on these. funny hearin strummer hold back. one thing he never been able to do before ... one thing you never wanted him to do before. these beg for live performance. he's makin sure the band isn't going to fall behind. his mind's a year ahead of the recordings.

they didn't find their groove til global a go go, and sadly went a little too rock with streetcore. streetcore was still a great record, though posthumously collected (say 75% realized). about as fine a send-off as you could ask for (up there with joey ramone's finale).

i met mick jones once in the hallway of the old 9:30 club in dc. there seein a band, ducked out for some reason, and he walked in through door hood over head-- through a cloud o smoke. just me and him. we talked for several minutes. i usually say nothing in such encounters, but he was unbelievably easy to talk to (ed. note: gay-o-meter just hit 17). told him i lost my virginity to the clash (though i think it may have actually been the kinks), he laughed. he asked me what was going on in town that night ... i felt like ed grimley.

second half of "rock art" is kinda mailed in. see where they're trying to go, but the more straight-ahead material sounds as forced as the same on shane macgowan's solo debut (see "victoria", "haunted"*). no need to go there. "the road to rock & roll" is as dumb as it sounds and "nitcomb" actually sounds like joe's singing about a girl. a thought that's about as tantalizing as a fugazi sex tape.

i fucking miss joe strummer.

% listened to before either skipping/turning off/deciding to never listen to music again: 100

revisionist rating (out of 10): !!!!!!!

rating after original purchase (ed note, possibly as made up as revisionist): !!!!!

*before you bitch, listen to the pogues version with cait o'riordan on vocals off the sid n nancy soundtrack. blows it away