In celebration of cultural icon Joe Strummer’s Birthday Eddie Vedder has covered “Long Shadow”, the Pearl Jam frontman posted a section of the performance via social media. The video sees Vedder commemorate Strummer on what would have been his 70th birthday on 21st August 2022. Vedder’s paid tribute to the late singer equipped with just an acoustic guitar and his trademark voice, the emotive performance takes place by an intimate campfire.
Speaking on Strummer and the posted performance, Vedder stated, “I just think that what Joe did with the Mescaleros and those records, those songs and those words, it was a very communal sound, I think when you have a communal sound, the listener feels like they can be part of that community. I can only imagine that he facilitated thousands and thousands of connections.”
Joe Strummer first rose to fame as the co-founder, singer and guitarist of The Clash, the group was formed in the late 70s and soon became a beacon within the era’s rising punk movement. Soon after their formation, The Clash created a key part of music and cultural history, the band’s third studio album London Calling was released in 1979. The album’s lead single “London Calling” soon became a staple of the genre and would go on to define an era and generation.
After Strummer disbanded the band in 1986 he embarked on the next chapter of his career, the talented artist then began his work in film soundtracks and began to release solo material. One of Strummer’s first forays into film music was in 1986 within the film Sid and Nancy, the film charted the chaotic relationship between Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious from fellow UK punk outfit The Sex Pistols. During the ’90s, Strummer formed his own personal supergroup, The Mescaleros would go onto release three studio albums including “Long Shaddow’s” partner album Streetcore.
The album was released on 21st October 2003 via Hellcat, an independent record label based in California’s Los Angeles. The album was posthumously released after the tragic passing of Strummer in December 2002 and was received with great applause. At its time of release, Mojo magazine stated that “Streetcore is an amalgam of all that made Joe Strummer, the musician and the man, so great.”
JOE STRUMMER 002: THE MESCALEROS YEARS is available September 16th, 2022. Pre-order the 7LP and 4CD boxset NOW at https://t.co/b8vpOhAaev
Including the remastered Mescaleros albums plus demos, outtakes, rarities, previously unreleased songs & items from the Strummer archive. pic.twitter.com/qTrUFwzr3T
— JoeStrummer (@JoeStrummer) July 27, 2022
Last month it was announced that a new box set would be released, Joe Strummer: 002: The Mescaleros Years is set to drop on 16th September 2022. The collection will feature songs by Strummer and The Mescaleros, the box set will mark the first-ever release of an anthology take from group’s entire discography.
Strummer’s widow Lucinda Tait was the executive producer of the upcoming collection and has given the following statement, “There’s so much great music that Joe left us in his archive. To focus on Joe’s work with The Mescaleros was the natural second step on ‘002’ because those songs he made with them just seemed to resonate so strongly and reinvigorated his connection with his audience at a level he hadn’t experienced since his days with The Clash.”
Click here to pre-order Joe Strummer: 002: The Mescaleros Years.
