A selection of rare Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros tracks have been released – and you can listen to them below.
Strummer started working with the backing band he called The Mescaleros in the mid-to-late 1990s. The band’ first album Rock Art And The X-Ray Style was released in 1999.
Their second studio album Global a Go-Go followed in 2001. A third album was released posthumously in 2003, after Strummer’s death in 2002.
To celebrate what would have been Strummer’s 60th birthday year, the final two LPs have now been re-released, and are packed with extra tracks, some of which you can hear below.
As well as live versions of the B-sides “Rudi, A Message To You” and “The Harder They Come”, you can also hear a live version of Ramones cover “Blitzkreig Bop”.
Also below is a previously unheard live version of “Bindee Bhagee” – recorded at Strummer’s last show on November 15, 2002 at Acton Town Hall, were The Mescaleros played a benefit concert for striking firefighters in London. Mick Jones, who was in the audience, later joined the band on stage for an impromptu performance.
The tracklisting for the re-issued albums is as follows:
Global A Go-Go (CD and Double Vinyl)
‘Johnny Appleseed’
‘Cool ‘N’ Out’
‘Global A GO-GO’
‘Bhindi Bhagee’
‘Gamma Ray’
‘Mega Bottle Ride’
‘Shaktar Donetsk’
‘Mondo Bongo’
‘Bummed Out City’
‘At The Border, Guy’
‘Minstrel Boy’
‘Bindee Bhagee (Live from the Acton concert) [CD Only]
Streetcore (CD and Vinyl)
‘Coma Girl’
‘Get Down Moses’
‘Long Shadow’
‘Arms Aloft’
‘Ramshackle Day Parade’
‘Redemption Song’
‘All In A Day’
‘Burnin’ Streets’
‘Midnight Jam’
‘Silver And Gold’
‘The Harder They Come’ (live) (B-side to Coma Girl) [CD Only]
‘Rudi, A Message To You’ (live) (B-side to Coma Girl) [CD Only]
‘Blitzkreig Bop’ (live) (B-side of Coma Girl) [CD Only]
‘Yalla Yalla’ (live) (B-side to Coma Girl) [CD Only]
‘Armagideon’ Time (B-side to Redemption Song) [CD Only]
‘Pressure Drop’ (B-side to Redemption Song) [CD Only]
‘Junco Partner’ (from Hellcat Give Em The Boot IVcompilation) [CD Only]