It's a tricky line to walk, writing a review for a posthumous release. Normally I have no qualms at all about bashing crappy artists and bands who deserve it. But when the artist in question is dead, the water gets a little muddier. It feels like taking cheap shots at someone who, due to their unfortunate brush with mortality, cannot defend themselves. Not that I often receive flames from bands because I trashed one of their records, but even so, the option is there for artists with a pulse.

How fortunate for me then, that this record is not a massive pile of rubbish. Not that you'd expect something from Joe Strummer to be a great steaming load of proverbial excrement, but it's nice to know that he can even release a great record after he's dead. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that this is the best post-Clash record that Strummer worked on.

Given the unexpected nature of Strummer's death, some of the lyrics are especially poignant. While George Harrison's last solo release, recorded under the cloud of his approaching death, sounds understandably resigned and retrospective, this record, by contrast, is optimistic, forward-looking, and hopeful for the future. While the context of the release makes some of the songs even more emotionally powerful in unexpected ways, it also means that this record stands on its own, and would still be just as good a record if Strummer were still alive.

The blistering opening track, Coma Girl, is the very essence of punk rock, with a driving rhythm guitar and Strummer's trademark swaggering voice, stripping down rock music to its barest conventions and delivering it with a hell of a lot of attitude and style. Arms Aloft follows the same style, with roaring distorted guitar and a vaguely anti-establishment theme.

Unfortunately, not everything about this record is as good as these songs. Ironically, for the man who first mixed reggae and punk together, the reggae-influenced tracks here are mediocre at best, and downright comical at worst. Particularly bad is the cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song, with Strummer doing a faux-Jamaican accent so horribly that even a mention of pirates cannot save the track.

"Streetcore" is not the groundbreaking effort that many people had hoped for. That's not a massive problem though, since this record is not only solid, it provides a nice record as to why Joe Strummer was so famous, and how talented a man he really was. This is essential to all serious fans of punk music, and pretty much everyone else should get a kick out of it too.

It's a tricky line to walk, writing a review for a posthumous release. Normally I have no qualms at all about bashing crappy artists and bands who deserve it. But when the artist in question is dead, the water gets a little muddier. It feels like taking cheap shots at someone who, due to their unfortunate brush with mortality, cannot defend themselves. Not that I often receive flames from bands because I trashed one of their records, but even so, the option is there for artists with a pulse.

How fortunate for me then, that this record is not a massive pile of rubbish. Not that you'd expect something from Joe Strummer to be a great steaming load of proverbial excrement, but it's nice to know that he can even release a great record after he's dead. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that this is the best post-Clash record that Strummer worked on.

Given the unexpected nature of Strummer's death, some of the lyrics are especially poignant. While George Harrison's last solo release, recorded under the cloud of his approaching death, sounds understandably resigned and retrospective, this record, by contrast, is optimistic, forward-looking, and hopeful for the future. While the context of the release makes some of the songs even more emotionally powerful in unexpected ways, it also means that this record stands on its own, and would still be just as good a record if Strummer were still alive.

The blistering opening track, Coma Girl, is the very essence of punk rock, with a driving rhythm guitar and Strummer's trademark swaggering voice, stripping down rock music to its barest conventions and delivering it with a hell of a lot of attitude and style. Arms Aloft follows the same style, with roaring distorted guitar and a vaguely anti-establishment theme.

Unfortunately, not everything about this record is as good as these songs. Ironically, for the man who first mixed reggae and punk together, the reggae-influenced tracks here are mediocre at best, and downright comical at worst. Particularly bad is the cover of Bob Marley's Redemption Song, with Strummer doing a faux-Jamaican accent so horribly that even a mention of pirates cannot save the track.

"Streetcore" is not the groundbreaking effort that many people had hoped for. That's not a massive problem though, since this record is not only solid, it provides a nice record as to why Joe Strummer was so famous, and how talented a man he really was. This is essential to all serious fans of punk music, and pretty much everyone else should get a kick out of it too.