This song is one of those amazing songs that you hear once and it takes you by surprise. The melodies ring out in such a way that it gives emotion to the song and the lyrics bring out the emotions that the melody is trying to create. It is musically sophisticated and will make you feel good and sad at the same time.
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer
By Chris Salewicz
Faber & Faber 627 pages
This 627 page book a daunting undertaking but is actually an easy read if you have the time to get through it. Author Chris Salewicz, a friend of Strummer’s, wrote Joe’s obituary for The Independent, and spent the next few years writing and researching Redemption Song. The book answers lots of questions about him and humanizes a complex man Certain punk legends like John Lydon, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith , Joey Ramone, et al, could be encapsulated in a phrase or blurb. One could sum up their personas as combative, ice queen, poet, heroic misfit, and so on. Despite all the information in Redemption Song, Strummer still remains somewhat of an enigma, so it’s hard to pinpoint a phrase to describe him even after finishing this hefty bio. We learn that that his father was a diplomat and the family lived in several different countries, including Egypt, and that his brother committed suicide as a teen-ager and Joe found his body. There are lots of anecdotes to pique the memories of older punk fans (Paul Simonon was married to Pearl Harbor of & Explosions fame, for example.) There’s a pic of a crude drawing of a chord chart Joe used when he first learned to play the guitar, an account of the first time he saw the Pistols play at the Nashville. (They opened for the 101ers.) And there’s pesky Clash manager Bernie Rhodes, alternatively guiding the band and undermining them. There’s no strategically placed denouncement or rush to christen Strummer with a label. Written by a friend without an agenda, the book is void of pretension.
Redemption Song, along with the Julien Temple documentary The Future Is Unwritten, gives us an incredible amount of material on Stummer’s life. Redemption Song draws a picture of a complicated man, neither cartoon or tragic figure, who just happened to be one of the icons of the punk rock era.
It’s hard to be a streetpunk band for more than a few years, hell, a few months, without delving into the cliché bag of fist-pimping tricks. But Boston hardcore band The Unseen manage to sound fresh without wavering from their initial sound on their second release for Hellcat, Internal Salvation. Despite being around since 1993, Mark Unseen & company have retained their signature seething anger, political themes and shotgun fast guitars and haven’t succumbed to the Hot Topic punk trends or mellowed with age. This is good news for fans who like hardcore punk with a dash of Slayer/Pantera metal lingering in the background.
Internal Salvation’s CD cover might be a little confusing if you’re not familiar with the band or their other releases. With a cover pic of a skeletal statue of an angel colored with dripping mascara and drops of blood, this could be a death metal CD. But when you open up the CD and look at the band’s picture, you breathe a sigh of relief. Not a pentagram in sight.Thankfully, it’s East Coast hardcore all the way, in the vein of Sick of It All, Murphy’s Law, and label mates Dropkick Murphys.
The CD intro Brutal Truth begins with Goth church organ and segues into hardcore-enhanced layering of broadcast news sound bites. Such Tragedy assaults the senses with its throat bursting vocals and features catchy riffing underneath its furious front layer. It may take a few listens to hear this.
A melodic background riff provides counterpoint to the guitar and drum rampage on At Point Break. Subtle musical inflections dot the songs on Internal Salvation and prevent the tracks from bleeding into one another. Left for Dead weaves in and out of the hardcore pace of the other cuts, while Step Inside..Take Your Life runs with it.
Internal Salvation may not have the Oi! influences of Lower Class Crucifixion or the lightning-fast assault of Explode, but it stays true to the band’s hardcore roots with enough well-placed musical disparities to keep things interesting.
from a Norfolk band that sound like they are on a major label(or should be). Self released,
well recorded this cd does them justice. Track 1 Domestos & Drugs, is a great punk opener,
then Friday Night track 2, about getting pissed and being sick and making a fool of yourself,
they do have an edge over a lot of punk bands, first of all they can play and you can
understand what they sing about, they do have a very close rock edge to thier music, which
shows on tracks 3 Make It Count and 4 Mr Know It All. The great guitar in track 5 Police
Informer shows us all how good this band are, 6 It’s Only Punk Rock what a classic song, track
7 is fast and hard and track 8 is a jumpy catchy punk tune. This band should be on a label.
They are jumpy, lively, loud, noisy, fast, and Ugly (joke). Punk at it’s best, seen them once
they were great. Track 9 Yob finishes off the cd nicely, a song about the way they look and
dress, being associated as yobs. This band need to be signed. Look for The Hotwired interview
next issue. Reviewed by, On The Streets Of Today Fanzine £1.50 from 120 Edward Road, Somerford,
Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 EWcontact: adynoonpoet@hotmail.com
good fist raising chorus and would make great fighting music. The lyrics to the
songs also give a good sense of anger and fighting. This cd would make a great
pre-show energizer.
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