Joe Strummer's Heart

This has been a good summer for Joe Strummer fans. A new bio, a documentary and he had the lead song on HBO's awful "John From Cincinnati". The latter got cancelled but Strummer's song knocked me off my couch when the show premiered. And in Against Me's New Wave, Strummer's great Rock and Roll heart lives in the persona of Tom Gabel, the lead writer and singer of the punkish band. Never having heard them before, I was expecting a full blown punk outing. But this is just good old rock and roll. There's politics here, but it doesn't smash you over the head. Babel is smart enough, like the boys in Rancid, to know that without hooks his message gets lost. This was the best rock record of the summer 2007. It's for anyone who still believes in the word and of course for Joe Strummer fans.