Bertelsmann : Dark Horse And BMG Release Joe Strummer Compilation

News | BMG | 04/14/2021

Dark Horse And BMG Release Joe Strummer Compilation

At the end of March, Dark Horse Records and BMG released a new album of songs by Joe Strummer. 'Assembly' features highlights from the solo career of Joe Strummer, the former lead singer of the British punk band The Clash. The new album immediately entered the charts across Europe, including in the U.K. and Germany.

BMG and Dark Horse Records, the label founded by George Harrison, released a new album at the end of March featuring highlights from the solo career of Joe Strummer, the former lead singer of the British punk band The Clash. The album called 'Assembly' immediately entered the charts across Europe, including the U.K. and Germany. The new album is a carefully curated collection of singles, fan favorites, and archival rarities from Joe Strummer's solo catalog. The 16-track compilation features three previously unreleased versions of classic Clash tracks, including the never-before-heard 'Junco Partner (Acoustic)' and live performances of 'Rudie Can't Fail' and 'I Fought The Law.' The latter two were recorded by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros at London's Brixton Academy on November 24, 2001.

Strummer was co-founder, singer and songwriter of the punk band The Clash, formed in London in 1976. Strummer was previously the lead singer of the locally successful pub rock band The 101'ers, named after a squat in London. When the Sex Pistols played as an opening act for the 101'ers on April 3, 1976, they impressed Strummer so much that he disbanded the 101'ers and formed The Clash with Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, Keith Levene and Terry Chimes to also play punk rock. The first concert took place on July 4, 1976, but this time the new band was the opening act for the Sex Pistols. The rest is music history, The Clash were one of the most influential early punk bands, selling millions of records until their breakup in 1986 and charting worldwide with hits like 'London Calling,' 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Should I Stay or Should I Go.'

After the breakup of The Clash, Strummer released his first solo LP 'Earthquake Weather' in 1989. In 1999, his second solo album 'Rock Art and the X-Ray Style' was released, which he recorded together with his new band The Mescaleros, with whom he released another album in 2001: 'Global A-Go-Go.' Joe Strummer died on December 22, 2002, completely unexpectedly, from a congenital heart defect that was never detected during his lifetime. In October 2003, his last album 'Streetcore' was released posthumously. The rights to Joe Strummer's solo work are held by Dark Horse Records, the label founded by former Beatle George Harrison in 1974. It agreed a global partnership with BMG at the beginning of 2020. The partnership includes re-releases from the Dark Horse Records catalog and the Indian music label imprint HariSongs, founded in 2018, as well as new releases such as the new Joe Strummer compilation 'Assembly.'

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