Joe Strummer Global A-Go-Go CD

Joe Strummer continues to be the only Clash principal member who remains active. Talking the world and folk influences of Rock Art and the X-Ray Style a step further, Global A Go-Go is a deep, mature piece of work by a reinvigorated artist who has more in common with Bob Dylan and Van Morrison than the Sex Pistols. 11 tracks. 2001 Hellcat/Epitaph Records release.

Joe Strummer: Joe Strummer; Scott Shields (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass instrument); Pablo Cook (vocals, whistle, harmonica, drum, congas, bongos, guiro, shaker, tambourine, percussion, bells, sound effects); Martin Slattery (electric guitar, French horn, piano, Wurlitzer piano, Hammond b-3 organ, bass instrument); Richard Flack, Tymon Dogg.
Personnel: Joe Strummer (vocals); Roger Daltrey (vocals); Martin Slattery (guitar, hammer dulcimer, flute, accordion, melodica, saxophone, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer, background vocals); Scott Shields (guitar, drums, bongos, bells, loops, background vocals); Tymon Dogg (acoustic guitar, Spanish guitar, mandolin, violin); Antony Genn (strings, loops); Pablo Cook (drums, congas, bongos, bodhran, glass armonica, guiro, shaker, tambourine, percussion, bells); Richard Flack (cymbals, background vocals).
Additional personnel: Roger Daltrey.
Recording information: Battery Studios, London, England.
Photographer: Bob Gruen.
Arranger: Mescaleros.
In many ways, it's easiest to appreciate Joe Strummer's album Global a Go-Go if you forget that it was made by Joe Strummer. This isn't meant to insult the music in question, which is often engaging and always passionate, or suggest that it doesn't bear any significant signs of Strummer's personality; if you loved the syllable-drenched wordplay of songs like "The Magnificent Seven," "Lightning Strikes," or "Car Jamming," you're in for a treat, because here you get nearly a whole album of it. But if you're expecting the former leader of the Clash to be backed by two guitars, bass, and drums and playing something easily recognizable as rock & roll -- not a difficult assumption to make -- then you're flat out of luck. Best described as eccentric internationalist folk-rock, Global a Go-Go is dominated by acoustic instruments (Tymon Dogg, the fiddler from the Clash's "Loose This Skin," is all over this album like a pillowcase) and a wild gumbo of flavors from Africa, Latin America, and the West Indies, and while a few tunes have a prominent electric guitar (particularly "Cool 'n' Out"), most do not. And if you're hoping for lots of punk-wise sloganeering from the usually provocative Mr. Strummer, there isn't a great deal of that, either, though it's obvious from the Dylanesque density of his wordplay that Strummer's got a lot on his mind, and the one-world perspective that shines throughout is food for thought in itself, especially on the tasty "Bhindi Bhagee" and the globetrotting title cut. And while the epic instrumental "Minstrel Boy" wouldn't lead you to imagine it's the work of one of the great icons of punk rock, it at least proves Strummer is willing to mess with his audience's expectations, which is a very punk rock thing to do. Global a Go-Go is an intelligent and uniquely absorbing record, but listening to it is like eating sushi or escargot for the first time -- knowing what it is might shape your expectations in the wrong direction. ~ Mark Deming
Even when he was leading the Clash, Joe Strummer always incorporated his interest in disparate musical styles into his work. 20 years down the road, he's achieved enough distance from the Clash to express himself fully and freely, so GLOBAL A GO-GO is Strummer's most stylistically diverse offering to date. The album opens with the American folk motifs of "Johnny Appleseed" before moving on to the churning, funky "Cool 'N' Out." The title tune combines hypnotic trip-hop keyboards, reggae guitar, and percolating percussion to celebrate the joys of international communication. "Bhindi Bhagee" successfullRolling Stone (9/27/01, p.69) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Strummer is a magnet for local color as he slithers around exotic playgrounds and tense urban trouble spots..."
Q (Summer/01, p.105) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...An internationalist concept album....its muso-y eclecticism offset by a groovy modern abandon reminiscent of...Black Grape..."
Uncut (8/01, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It's liberating to hear Strummer and his Mescaleros relaxing, nay reveling in unhindered melodic freedom..."
Alternative Press (10/01, pp.100,102) - 7 out of 10 - "...Full of the same totalizing ambition that made the Clash great..."
CMJ (8/27/01, p.4) - "...Retains a concise musical vision that's as challenging as anything you'd expect from this longtime innovator..."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.69) - Ranked #11 in Mojo's "Best [40] Albums of 2001".