Review Summary: Strummer pre-Clash. Good, fun rock n roll.
History
Not many people have heard of The 101'ers. Mention Joe Strummer's name and it may seem more appealing, or maybe even ring a bell. It could well be that the only reason The 101'ers are known outside of England is because of Strummer. By 1973, after moving to Wales to attend college, Joe Strummer (then going by John "Woody" Mellor) found himself in a rock and roll band by the name of The Vultures. He would serve as the bands guitarist and sing on some songs as well. The band never took off and never officially recorded anything and the band eventually dissolved by the end of the year. Joe moved back to London where he would form a new band and this one would stay for some time called The 101'ers. The bands name derived from the address number of where Joe and his friends (his band mates) were living at the time, but it has been also rumored that the "101" was taken from the torture room in George Orwell's 1949 novel "1984". The band was briefly called "El Huaso & The 101'ers" and "The 101 All Stars" before shortening the bands name to simply "The 101'ers". By mid-1974, the band was in full swing with the original lineup of Strummer on guitar and vocals, Clive Timperley on guitar, Dan Kelleher on Bass and Richard Dudanski (Later of PiL with John Lydon) behind the drums. However, Kellher does not play bass on every track, but the details can get quite confusing. They're also a number of part-members who played other instruments such as the harmonica, saxophone, and the violin (which was played by Joe's buddy Tymon Dogg, who would later do some work with The Clash and then with The Mescaleros).
The band toured constantly, like a pub rock band would, around bars and clubs across town. They never released an album while they were together, just a single (
Keys To Your Heart), however they did record a number of songs, featured here. The 101'ers have an almost even balance between live recordings and studio ones. Joe, already fascinated by the punk movement after seeing the Sex Pistols play, left The 101'ers in 1976 after being asked to join The Clash by Mick Jones and Paul Simonon and helped take part in the famous punk movement in Britain. It is also notable that he changed his name to Joe Strummer in 1975, the middle of The 101'ers time. So, when the band broke up in '76, nothing was planned to be released for the band, and nothing did until 1981. With Strummer at the height of his popularity with The Clash, he compiled 12 tracks of the bands work onto an album called
Elgin Avenue Breakdown, released only on vinyl at the time. Fast forward 20 years, Strummer was planning on releasing a definitive collection of the band but his untimely death in December of 2002 post-poned it. But with the help of drummer Richard Dudanski, the collection was finally released in 2005, called
Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited the way Joe would have wanted it to.
The 101'ers- Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited
The 101'ers were not a punk band like The Clash were in early days. They were a straight forward rock and roll band taking cues from early rock & roll/R&B artists like Chuck Berry as well as bands like The Rolling Stones. However, they are credited as one of the bands in making the crossover from pub rock to punk in England. Strummer's voice is clearly recognizable but still different in ways. The poor recording (even worse than The Clash's debut) on a number of songs make his voice sound dissimilar at times. The recording also seems very scattered and inconcistent, due to the fact that a number of these songs were grouped in different sessions ranging from the fall of 1975 to mid-76. Micky Foote, who did the sound recording on The Clash's debut in 1977, does a number of songs here, including
Hideaway and
Shake Your Hips. From the original
Elgin Avenue Breakdown we have the first eleven songs minus number seven. The first ten are also the songs with the best recording and probably the better half of the album in terms of accessibility.
Letsgetabitarockin', the album opener is the perfect way to start off and shows almost every characteristic of The 101'ers. It has an extremely up tempo rock and roll beat and Strummer singing from the opening second with full energy, and the whole song captures the energy that the band played in shows. We have here two versions of the bands only single that was released,
Keys To Your Heart, which is the first song Strummer wrote himself. The song is an excellent mid-tempo rock and roll song and has a much more tamed version of Joe's voice. Both versions are not drastically different from each other but just different times of recording and the second version is a little faster. The song is full of raw power chords and makes for one of the catchiest songs on the album that will surely have you tapping your foot.
Sweet Revenge and
Silent Telephone are also two standout tracks here.
Sweet Revenge is one of the bands slower songs and although recorded poorly, it surprisingly features one of Strummer's best vocal performances here. The latter is more up tempo and uses almost the same chords as previous songs mentioned.
Motor Boys Motor is another toe-tapper but this one is also noted for containing much better guitar work than practically every song here. The last of the tracks that were not previously unreleased,
Sweety of the St. Morvitz is another high energy guitar driven track with the odd use of the cowbell, which works very well.
After the eleventh song is where the previously unreleased tracks are, as well as live recordings and cover songs. In the early days of the 101'ers, they toured relentlessly, as always, but didn't have much of their own material so, naturally, they sang a lot of old cover tunes;
Gloria for example. Originally by R&B group Them, this version is done well, but the recording does a number on it.
Shake Your Hips, originally by Slim Harpo, is another song recorded live and is done better than the predecessor, however it is still not the greatest and Strummer's voice is overshadowed to the point where its difficult to hear him. Taking influence from The Stones, there is another cover song here in
Out of Time.
Don't Let It Go is another hard rock and roll song, originally by Bo Diddley, and surprisingly has some better production.
Hideaway is standout on the second half, partly due to not being live, but the song itself is done well even if it bares similarities to many others here.
Lonely Mother's Son is a song that could be easily recognized if you have heard The Clash's
Jail Guitar Doors, as they both have the exact same chorus but with different lyrics.
Junco Partner is another song that could be heard of before, seeing as it was redone by The Clash for their 1980 album Sandinista.
Keep Taking the Tablets is a very different song, mainly because it wasn't sung by Strummer, but guitarist Dan Kelleher (who also sings
Surf City).
Maybelline is perhaps the best cover song here and live one too for that matter. Originally by Chuck Berry, this song is packed full of energy and a catchy beat to go along with it.
The 101'ers'
Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited is as near as a definitive collection as you're going to get from this short lived but important band. It offers a balance of studio and live recordings, covers and originals. But most of all, that raw energy that The 101'ers were all about. This can be is recommended to fans of rock and roll, or even diehard fans of The Clash to see what Strummer was doing before he became known as an icon in punk and rock music.
Recommended Tracks:
Letsgetabitarockin'
Sweet Revenge
Motor Boys Motor
Sweety of the St. Morvitz
Keys To Your Heart
Lonely Mother's Son
