Joe Strummer, the late, great voice of The Clash, would have turned 60 years old on August 21st. To mark the occasion, Strummer’s former label Hellcat Records is releasing Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, The Hellcat Years, a digital compilation consisting of all three of the Mescaleros-era albums, plus newly released live material and rare B-sides.
One such B-side – to “Coma Girl” – is a live version of “Yalla Yalla” off the unit’s debut album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. Strummer once called the track “an ancient British folk song, written in 1999.” This recording from The Brixton Academy in 2001 captures that moment, right before the band dives into an impassioned rendition, filled with wild yelps and soaring choruses. Get set for some elation, and click play below.
Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros, The Hellcat Years is currently available digitally from Hellcat/Epitaph. Standalone, remastered reissues of each of the three albums compiled therein – Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, Global A Go-Go, and Streetcore – are also available as of today (vinyl versions on sale at the links above, with respective CDs here, here and here).
