Joe Strummer
The Future Is Unwritten

In 1952, a person destined to mark the lives of millions of young people was born in Ankara, his name was John Mellor and he would later take, after the nickname Woodie, the famous stage name Joe Strummer, chosen for his way of strumming the guitar (to strum). The greatness of this solitary and very intelligent man, however, was outside of his ability as a guitarist. His charisma, his ability to communicate with the audience, and creativity in writing song lyrics with the Clash first and with the Mescaleros later, made him unique and beloved, but, unfortunately, a heart attack struck him in the night between December 21st and 22nd, 2002.

This album consists of an absolutely original setlist, offering us some of the songs Joe used to play during his activity as a DJ on the BBC World Service. Like every Clash album, it was full of musical ideas and completely new styles and, if we want, even dissonant with each other, thus here too we move from the Clash's punk to U-Roy's reggae, from the western soundtrack (composed by Joe for the film "Walker") to the Latin song, from the proto-punk of the MC5 to a surprising performance from his group 101ers.

Structured like a radio broadcast, the album presents a lesser-known side of the artist, capturing him in the most intimate sphere of his emotions allowing us to penetrate through his musical preferences, and therefore, indirectly, his greatest sources of inspiration. In a period of pure musical decline, we cannot help but welcome this splendid album with a smile, which gives us two Clash demos, "White Riot" and "I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.", in a more angry version and a splendid live performance of their "(In The) Pouring Rain" where Joe's emotion and interpretative strength shine through. Bob Dylan makes his appearance with "Corrina, Corrina" stirring emotion with the thought of Joe behind the glass of the booth relaxing while listening to the bard of Duluth and thinking about which piece to broadcast next. The closure of the album is entirely dedicated to The Mescaleros with "Johnny Appleseed" and "Willesden To Cricklewood" beautifully interpreted by the band's street folk-rock. Intruded among the aforementioned tracks is the beautiful rendition by Nina Simone on the notes of "To Love Somebody" by the Bee Gees introduced by Joe’s voice. Among others, Elvis, the already mentioned U-Roy with a hypnotic and fascinating "Natty Rebel", Woodie Guthrie, Eddie Cochrane, and Rachid Taha with an unforgettable "Rock The Casbah" parade... An exciting tracklist like few others which among its countless gems gives spoken interludes by Joe and Topper Headon relating to the world of the Clash and Strummer.

There are no valid comments to manage to summarize what could be felt in Strummer's music, composed of a mix of genius and improvisation, the only suitable phrase is the one Joe said about the Clash and that became the Manifesto of his band, a phrase that perfectly fits the ideals and strength expressed by the group: « "I think people ought to know that we're anti-fascist, anti-violence, we're anti-racist, and we're pro-creative. We're against ignorance." »

Goodbye Joe, "say hello2heaven"...