This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Posthumous albums are always a dicey affair. At best, they’re often half-baked efforts that diminish their creators’ legacies. At worst, they’re just blatant cash-ins.
But Streetcore, featuring the final studio tracks from late, lamented punk pioneer Joe Strummer and his post-Clash outfit The Mescaleros, is that rarest of efforts — a posthumous album that does justice to the artist.
Painstakingly completed and polished by the remaining bandmembers after Strummer’s untimely death from a heart attack last December, these 10 typically eclectic and world-groovy cuts sound just as fully realized as any of the rusty-piped beat-poet’s previous solo efforts. In fact, Streetcore contains some of Strummer’s strongest work of late: The strummy reggae-rocker Coma Girl, the noisy garage-punk uplift of Arms Aloft and the funky fuzz of All In A Day are guaranteed to get your juices flowing, while folk-tinged acoustic-guitar cuts like Long Shadow and Bob Marley’s Redemption Song let you get up-close and personal with Joe one final time.
Bottom line: I think Joe would approve. And if it’s good enough for him…
