The recent passing of punk pioneer Joe Strummer highlighted, in many a eulogy, the legacy of a man credited with helping to rewrite the rules of pop music. It seems fitting, then, that Strummer's first band would be focused on leaving the face of the music they would draw inspiration from in shambles. That's right, kids, it's time for a history lesson! Before London Calling and FM radio staples, Joe Strummer was a pub rocker in the suburbs of London, serving up your favorite rock 'n roll standards with a combo called The 101ers.
Later they would go into the studio to record various shambolic rock songs mostly written by Strummer, the throaty frontman who once named himself Woody (short for Woody Guthrie). Now, the good people at Astralwerks have mined the vaults to bring together most of the 101ers' recorded material. Usually, you'd think such collections would be for the "completist," but the 101ers are worth checking out on their own merits.
Nowhere is this more obvious than on standout track "Surf City," the lone non-Strummer track penned by bassist Desperate Dan Kelleher. Kelleher, whose other credits include seldom-cited The Martian Schoolgirls and The Derelicts, delivers a fabulous post-punk-way-before-post-punk mid-tempo ballad complete with 60s-tinged harmonies, driving bass, and fabulously jangly guitars.
Undoubtedly, the Strummer material is of an equally looming stature. The buzz saw guitar riffs appear to give way to today's more aggressive rock-a-billy. Strummer's characteristically unintelligible delivery combined with Raincoats vet Richard Dudanski's thunder-and-lightning drum fills assure that it's exciting enough to stand out in its own time. Single "The Keys to Your Heart" accent the catchy, while the crude "Rabies From the Dogs of Love," a song that mentions "the Clap," lodges Strummer's tongue relentlessly into his cheek.
As the story goes, the Sex Pistols opened for the 101ers one night, and that was the end of them, as Strummer had found himself a new fix. For a momentary band, though, this is an impressive collection of rousing songs that probably would've been more visible had they stuck around. For a '70s band, the audacity to record songs at such a bludgeoning pace is nothing short of monumental. Had the punk experiment failed, we might have been looking to this record for a little more sanctity than the genre that formed in its wake allows it have.
1. Letagetabitarockin
2. Silent Telephone
3. Key's To Your Heart
4. Rabies (From The Dogs of Love)
5. Sweet Revenge
6. Motor Boys Motor
7. Steamguage 99
8. 5 Star R'n'R
9. Surf City
10. Keys To your Heart
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
More about: The 101ers
