Champagne Socialist,former Public Schoolboy and Diplomat's son, Joe "Woody" Mellor. Was soon to dump all his squatter chums from 101 Walterton Road, Maida Vale, and join the Punk Rocker clique with The Clash.
The 101'ers also included future PiL drummer Richard Dudanski, who contributed most of the skin work on the holy grail of post punk,"Metal Box".
'Woody', as Strummer was known as in the hippie squatlands of London, did some fine work with this unpretentious hard rocking pub band; which is largely superior to most of The Clash's output post 1977. He was very quick to shed his former persona(and friends) and become the archetypal Punk, when he spotted the new trend very early on, and jumped ship pronto.
Well, i'd sooner listen to this than "London Calling" or the inexorably awful "Sandinista".
(this is the extended CD version by the way)
Tracks 1,2,6,7,11 and 12 recorded on 28th November 1975 at Jackson's Studios.
Track 3 recorded at Pathway Studios on 10th March 1976.
Tracks 4 and 5 recorded at Pathway Studios on 4th March 1976.
Tracks 8,9 and 10 recorded on 28th March and 10th April 1976 at Maida Vale BBC Studios.
Tracks 13, 14, 16, 17 & 19 recorded live at Camberwell Art School, 21st May 1976.
Track 15 recorded live at The Roundhouse 18th April 1976.
Track 18 recorded live at Wandsworth Prison, 21st March 1976.
Track 20 recorded live at Cellar Club, 22nd May 1976.
Tracks 7,12,14,16,18 and 19 are previously unreleased.
Tracks 13,17 and 20 are previously unreleased versions.
Tracklist:
1 Letsagetabitarockin'
2 Silent Telephone
3 Keys To Your Heart (V.1)
4 Rabies (From The Dogs Of Love)
5 Sweet Revenge
6 Motor Boys Motor
7 Steamgauge 99
8 5 Star R 'n' R
9 Surf City
10 Keys To Your Heart (V.2)
11 Sweety Of The St. Moritz
12 Hideaway
13 Shake Your Hips
14 Lonely Mother's Son
15 Don't Let It Go
16 Keep Taking The Tablets
17 Junco Partner
18 Out Of Time
19 Maybelline
20 Gloria
To my ear Strummer's best work was his late period "streetcore" (his term) stuff he did with the Mescaleros, the Global A G-Go album to the fore. The mashup of global, electronic, hip hop and rock motifs I found hugely intriguing. And they did it well live, too. But I did dig this 101ers stuff when it came to light in the wake of his Clash success. Guess we can thank him for abandoning his mates if that contributed to Mr. Dudanski showing up for the brilliance that is Metal Box.
ReplyDeleteFans of Metal Box would be encouraged to check out Kevin Ayers's album Whatevershebringswesing and its track "Song from the Bottom of a Well", which could be mistaken as a PiL outtake and presaged Metal Box by a full five years. Thanks for the 101ers post.
Mecelaros, better than post 77 clash.....musically yes.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to hear some proto-PiL from an unlikely source, check out this christian rock band from 1972:
https://youtu.be/5D9fEncCLqU
available on die or diy xmas compilation 2013 "Jesus Hates You"
http://dieordiy2.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-die-or-diy-christmas-mixtape-2013.html
Great stuff, wish I found you sooner,
ReplyDeleteKUDIS! DoD!
Thanx a lot!
ReplyDelete