Don’t know how I missed this - Shatter the Hotel, dub versions of The Clash – this one is Dubmatix featuring the ever-excellent Don Letts. CHOON!

And it also links in to the GYBO Weekend Challenge I’m running this week (It is Jez CMP’s idea, I won last week with my Fela Kuti/Hot Chip mashup – the winner selects the tunes to mash for the next weekend) and I chose Rock the Casbah for instrumental as well as Go Your Own Way for acapella. The first one is in, and it’s a cover by LV15 (who not only I didn’t know was doing a track for it – everyone is welcome but I’d not sent him the instrumentals or acapellas – I didn’t know did cover versions) and it’s ace – I think Joe would’ve liked this:

LV15 – One of Them by LV15

Actually the first track being iTunes-only (the whole Shatter the Hotel CD is on iTunes, apart from a few tracks on YT/Soundcloud) raises an important point that as a new Linux user I’d not thought of before – iTunes is Mac/PC only. Only providing promo-streams and ability to buy on iTunes only shuts out some of your audience – either those who don’t want to or those who can’t install iTunes. Yes I know you can run some old version in WINE (badly I might add) but I can’t as my iTunes library is all iTunes 9, and I know from experience backgrading if possible would cause problems with my dual boot, and probably corrupt/nuke the library.

I want to buy it now but I’d have to quit out of Linux and into Windows specially, which is a mega hassle just for that one purchase. Grr. Apple is going the way of RCA, Logie-Baird and Bell anyway – a company that’s had an early innovation strangehold on a technology or market but eventually lose out because they refuse to innovate, refuse to keep their systems open or play nicely with others and get lazy and just want to rake in the profits. Mark my words – the people who are leaving iPhones for other systems over this silly war with Adobe and technical problems/slowness and the fact there are now better systems out there are quite alarming. I think the Apple-love tide is turning…

So here’s a call for those selling digitally – please use more than one system, pref. one without DRM and open to everyone. I think Joe would like that.

EDIT: Just found it on Amazon as MP3s. Weirdly the Strummerville and other sites don’t mention that, unless I missed it. So I’m a happy (well happier) man!

Oh I spoke too soon – Amazon’s bullshit downloader doesn’t work with Ubuntu 10. And they insist you have to use it when you buy more than one track, which I’ve managed to do, so I’m minus £2.37 and have no tracks. I’m going off to pirate them, sorry Strummerville but really?

Again – please please please people can you use a reputable digital vendor? That supports any OS and doesn’t mean you have to install a program, be it iTunes or stupid downloading applications. Grr.

I mean with terrible buying experiences like these and I WANT TO BUY THESE TRACKS BUT CAN’T can you blame people saying fuck it and downloading illegally? I’m all for supporting the artist and charity, but if you make it hard for people to download, either having DRM or install programs or even not even be able to get the tunes (iTunes for instance, or country restrictions) then can you blame them? It’s why, I have limited sympathy with bleating from record labels and sites about piracy, as if you make it good and cheap or simple to get or listen to – like with Spotify or YouTube people WILL do so. If you make it a nightmare, people will pirate.

SORT IT PEOPLE. Or be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Thanks to Steve Holy13Nation I found out that in America last summer 8 shows (plus an intro documentary) were broadcast featuring 14 episodes of Joe Strummer’s London Calling – the show he did for many years on the World Service before he died, and as featured in the film ‘The Future is Unwritten‘ as links – you can find them on iTunes for free as podcasts (which I’ve uploaded here as a mirror in case they go down or people don’t have iTunes).

Only downside is as Steve pointed out, is the need and desire for such things is to tell you how great Joe Strummer was and constantly reminding you who he was through fairly obscure and tangentially related people  cf. a  ‘I met him once at a bus stop! type’ popping up before the 1st show.

So if you want to hear some of the other London Calling shows without the waffle, you’ve come to the right place. Posted some of these here before such as the 2007 repeats and Don Letts show, but most of these were obtained from the wonderful alphish and his Multiply page which is always worth checking out for new ones if they turn up – but they’re all Megaupload, which can be a right arse, so here they are all in one place…most are MP3 but some are OGG files EDIT: I’ve uploaded the converted MP3 files, aren’t I nice?. And also the Don Letts show.

Also I’ve checked the podcasts linked above versus these original radio recordings – it’s weird, some are duplicated here and some are not (none of the 2002 shows are there) and all in the wrong order. So you might be best listening to the podcast as a few of these are terrible hissy quality, compared to the lovely clean podcasts.

As a side note, the blurb around the ‘Summer of Strummer’ seems to suggest there were only 14 shows – not true from what I’ve read on ClashCity (sadly the thread isn’t there anymore) and others – there were quite a few shows esp. in  2000 – and the fact they missed the last 4 shows doesn’t really inspire confidence.

Anyone know for certain how many shows were created and their TX dates? And if you have anything not listed here – gimme! I’ll add it.

As Joe said once ‘If that was no toe tapper or no body shaker, boy you need to see the undertaker!’

• 1998 Show 1 * low quality, duplicated by the  podcasts
• 1998 Show 2 * low quality, duplicated by the  podcasts
• 1998 Show 3 * low quality, duplicated by the  podcasts
• 1998 Show 4 * low quality, duplicated by the  podcasts

• 2000 Show 1 (ogg) 2000 Show 1 (mp3) *
• 2000 Show 2 (ogg) 2000 Show 2 (mp3) *
• 2000 Show 3 (ogg) 2000 Show 3 (mp3) * – low quality – fortunately  this show is part of the podcast set
• 2000 Show 4 (ogg) 2000 Show 4 (mp3) *
• 2000 Show 5 (ogg) 2000 Show 5 (mp3) * full intro on the podcast version
• 2000 Show 6 (ogg) 2000 Show 6 (mp3) *

• 2001 Show 1 *
• 2001 Show 2 *
• 2001 Show 3 *
• 2001 Show 4 *

• 2002 (rebroadcast 2007) Show 1 (weirdly not in the podcasts)
• 2002 (rebroadcast 2007) Show 2 (ditto)
• 2002 (rebroadcast 2007) Show 3 (ditto)
• 2002 (rebroadcast 2007) Show 4 (ditto)
• Don Letts Culture Clash tribute show- includes rare stuff about Joe also not in the podcasts (2007) – bit low quality to fit on my webspace – higher quality is the original RealAudio file rip which you can use something like this to convert. Tracklisting

And may I remind you, This One’s For Joe, the Strummer mashup album from a few years back is available – including my Orb vs Joe Strummer & Bonzo Dog mashup Willesden Blue which also takes samples from London Calling, and is still one of my best.

Oh and after a few question – it’s nice to be asked but – feel free to repost, spread the links, repost the files, torrent, twitter, send to all your friends, burn to CD etc. spread these far and wild – these files are on an old server and is dedicated to this, and has been up for years with some of these files with no problem, but in the rare event it does get pulled or go down I want these files to be out there – for ever. For future generations to hear – for the future is unwritten.

Joe’s love was the music and getting it heard, and this show deserves to be preserved and heard again – still surprised the BBC hasn’t repeated the whole series, or released them as discs – that’s a shocking omission, I’d far prefer to listen to these in high quality complete…I think there are many shows missing – let me know if you have any more.

Also some naughty person might’ve uploaded the podcasts for those without iTunes, with tracklists in the comments, tags and cover art, but as Shaggy once said ‘It wasn’t me’

Please let me know ASAP if any of these links are broken – I want to make sure these stay up permanently for as long as possible, for everyone to hear these great shows. Joe deserves that.

It’s 6 years today since Joe Strummer died.

Just a note to mark the date, and to say the 5th anniversary mashup album from last year ‘This One’s For Joe‘ is still up and rolling. Thanks Joe!

Red Castle to Pawn’s foreleg 7th Mannequin (Original Halibut Maneuvre)

Check, mate. (66Mb, 86mins)

• New ident!
• Burial – Archangel (from Untrue)
• Glowstyx – 7 Daze (from Class of 1992)
• Yazoo – Situation (Dunproofin mix)
• Axwell – I Found U (remode)
• Age of Chance – Kiss (1986 Bootleg)
• Mr Oizo – Skatesteak (from Steak OST)
• The Peppers – Pepper Box
• Wilmoth Houdini – Black But Sweet (thanks to Copycat)

Red Castle mix (a mix inspired by the gardens and castles of the Alhambra in Granada.)

• Ann Rachlin – Mystery of the Spanish Garden with:
• Matmos – Zealous Order of Candied Knights (from The Civil War)
• Shackleton – You Make Me Cry (from Skull Disco)
• Matmos – Regicide (from The Civil War)
• controlfreak – one for sorrow
• The Orb – Spanish Castles in Space
• Francisco Tárrega – Recuerdos de la Alhambra
• Amiina – Hilli (from Kurr)
• Isaac Albéniz – Asturias
• Joan Baez – Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
• Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War – Cholo Vest (from Permanent Record outtakes)
• Carter USM – Impossible Dream

• Elizabeth Fraser – At Last I Am Free (from Rough Trade 25 – Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One)

My photographs from the Mezquita in Cordoba, December 2007

I know it’s kind of geeky but here’s the stats for This One’s For Joe, the Joe Strummer mashup compilation – I wouldn’t have done this but Marty wanted to know for the KillaKast podcast (which incidentally played Willesden Blue as part of it’s Happy 2008 show!)

We’ve had over 1,000 people downloading!

Here are the hits (18th – 7th Jan):

1. The Clash – This is Radio Clash (Dunproofin mix) – 790 hits*
2. World Famous Audio Hacker – White Riot (Chaos Island remix) – 610 hits
3. Bobby Martini – Too Busy Thinking About the Magnificent 7 (Marvin Gaye vs The Clash) – 596 hits
4. Celebrity Murder Party – Coma Girl Acid Test – 476 hits
5. Fukjamum – Trashed Apple (2 Unlimited vs Tears for Fears vs Mescaleros) – 384 hits
6. DJ Earlybird – Straight to the Hair Farmer (Unitone Hi-Fi vs The Clash) -370 hits
7. Ian Fondue – The Brooding Moon (Joe Strummer featuring The Music Maker and Edo B) - 364 hits
8. Juxtaposeur – Jungle Appleseed – 344 hits
9. Instamatic – Willesden Blue (The Orb vs Mescaleros vs Bonzo Dog Band) – 324 hits
10. DJ Useo – Moody v. Thirteen (Moody Blues vs B.A.D.) – 309 hits
11. Dubjamum – Strummed Donkey – 303 hits
12. Instamatic – English Ghost (Dillinja & Lemon D vs The Clash) – 298 hits.

The Zip file got 905 unique visitors alone!

* probably much higher but he reposted the mix on his own server on the 31st.

Quite surprised at some of those (I’d recommend people check out Juxta’s great mix, Earlybird’s is brilliant and my English Ghost deserves more than last place- WAH!), but quite rightly Dun’s mix is the best and is the most downloaded!