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There are records, or rather there is music that has no age. There are artists who have no age.
They had something to say and became protagonists. They stopped doing a certain "thing" and started with another... even getting the satisfaction of doing well in that other "thing" of theirs. There are people who come before the artists. And some people, as we know, never die.
About ten years after the breakup of the Clash, Joe Strummer, having found inspiration and new companions for adventures, returned to the scene with The Mescaleros. Thus Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros in 1999 released their first record "Rock Art and The X-Ray Style," which received good reviews and created renewed attention for an artist who was almost forgotten.
Two years later in 2001 "Global a Go-Go" was released. This album is perhaps the one that represents the artistic maturity of a person who has ignited spirits, influenced generations, and written countless rock pieces that still cause people to feel emotional today. Musically, "Global a Go-Go" is a mix of styles and influences, always dear to Strummer.
In this "bastard" musical album, Joe explores and reinterprets in his way and with great skill reggae, Celtic, Hindi, and Latin music. Musically, the atmosphere in this album makes one associate Joe Strummer with Manu Chao, but it differs from the latter for a definitively greater rock base, which results in excellent compositions with strong influences; alternating tribal percussion with electric riffs or seductive electronic inserts mingle with touching violin phrases. It is like imagining yourself with eyes closed in a market of an exotic, strange country, perhaps a fantasy country where you are sure you have recognized something but step by step, your certainty is undermined by clues that toss you left and right... leaving you with that sensation of delightful bewilderment and immense curiosity. This example might fit to describe the 11 tracks on this album.
If you are wondering when "getting dirty" in music, playing with styles, rhythms, and instruments that are even distant from each other, becomes a mess... from my side, I tell you that in this album there are moments that at first listen may seem forced, but with a little more attention they reveal themselves in all their beauty. Even at supposedly weak moments, when maybe you feel like skipping a piece, here comes a transition, a use of electronic pills, a violin, or percussion that will make you shift your focus from the overall view to the particular.The strength of this album lies precisely in being varied, sophisticated, and captivating yet at the same time simple and direct. This record, along with the previous and the next, are very current testimonies of an artist who never hid his ideas and his music, rather he promoted them, shouted them, then sang them and afterwards recited them.
An artist who is a citizen of the world, who musically and beyond, is more missed than ever today.
IGNORE ALIEN ORDERS
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Bhindi Bhagee (05:47)
Well, I was walking down the High Road
And this guy stops me
He'd just got in from New Zealand
And he was looking for mushy peas
I said, no, we hadn't really got 'em round here
I said, but we do got
Balti, Bhindi, strictly Hindi
Dall, Halal and I'm walking down the road
We got rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without - with it or without
Bagels soft or simply harder
Exotic avocado or toxic empenada
We got akee, lassi, Somali waccy baccy
I'm sure back home you know what tikka's all about - what tikka's all about
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
You can get inspiration along the highroad
Hommus, cous cous in the jus of octopus
Pastrami and salami and lasagne on the go
Welcome stranger, there's no danger
Welcome to this humble neighborhood
There's Balti, Bhindi, strictly Hindi
Dall, Halal and I'm walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
So anyway, I told him I was in a band
He said, "Oh yeah, oh yeah - what's your music like?"
I said, "It's um, um, well, it's kinda like
You know, it's got a bit of, um, you know."
Ragga, Bhangra, two-step Tanga
Mini-cab radio, music on the go
Um, surfbeat, backbeat, frontbeat, backseat
There's a bunch of players and they're really letting go
We got, Brit pop, hip hop, rockabilly, Lindy hop
Gaelic heavy metal fans fighting in the road
Ah, Sunday boozers for chewing gum users
They got a crazy D.J. and she's really letting go
Oh, welcome stranger
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods
Well, I say, there's plenty of places to eat round here
He say, "Oh yeah, I'm pretty choosy."
You got
Balti, Bhindi, strictly Hindi
Dall, Halal, walking down the road
Rocksoul, okra, bombay duck-ra
Shrimp beansprout, comes with it or without
Let's check it out
Welcome stranger to the humble neighborhoods, neighborhoods
Check out all that
Por-da-sol, por-da-sol
Walking down the highroad
07 Shaktar Donetsk (05:57)
Possible chance, storm, possible chance, gale
Welcome to Britain in the third Millenium
This is the diary of a Macedonian, Macedonian
He went to Britain in the back of a lorry
"Don't worry, don't worry, don't hurry."
Said the man with the plan
He said, "If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end."
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
Well, you can levitate you know - long as the money's good you're in
Or if you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
He had the wooly scarf of Shaktar Donetsk
Nay, the banner of freedom wrung around his neck
Inherited from his father
One of the Ukraine exiles of Yugoslavia
He said, "You'll get there in the end."
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
Well, you can levitate you know - long as the money's good you're in
Or if you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
Yo-oh, he got a little postcard
Yo-oh, everybody got a dream
Yo-oh, he always got it with him
Yo-oh, it's of a nineteen twenty five
Red telephone box with Wembley in the background
Them twin tower vandal-aye
Will he find a two bar heater
Waiting for him in two rooms
Above the cut rate telephone anywhere place
He got off the train in Shadwell, disappeared without trace
He said, "You'll get there in the end."
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
Well, you can levitate you know
long as the money's good you're in
Or if you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
Oiling the grinding city underside
Treating each flake of rust all over Humberside
You know a blocked generator could cut power to the city system
Well - you'll get there in the end
Alive or dead my friend
You'll get there in the end
Alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
If you really wanna go - alive or dead my friend
If you really wanna go - long as the money's good you're in
If you really wanna go - you'll get there in the end
08 Mondo Bongo (06:14)
There's something there
I was patrolling a Pachinko
Nude noodle model parlor in the Nefarious zone
Hanging out with insects under ducting
The C.I.A was on the phone
Well, such is life
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair, oh
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair
For the Zapatistas I'll rob my sisters
Of all the curtain and lace
Down at the bauxite mine
You get your own uniform
Have lunchtimes off
Take a monorail to your home
Checkmate, baby
God bless us and our home
Where ever we roam
Now take us home, flaquito
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
The flower looks good in your hair
Latino caribo, mondo bongo
Nobody said it was fair
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