Let's Rock Again! (2004) Reviews

After the breakup of the wildly influential punk rock band the Clash in 1986, the band's guitarist and frontman, Joe Strummer, largely stayed out of the musical spotlight, and while he released a solo album in 1989 and contributed music to several film soundtracks, he kept out of the public eye for most of the 1990s. In 1999, Strummer returned to active duty with a new band, the Mescaleros, and a new album, Rock Art and the X-Ray Style. The album was not well received either critically or commercially, and when Strummer started work on the follow-up, Global a Go-Go, in 2001, he was determined to make himself heard this time out (and to see that the album sold well enough to break even). Filmmaker and longtime friend Dick Rude tagged along as Strummer and his band completed the album and stormed Japan and the United States on tour, and the documentary Let's Rock Again! is an insider's portrait of Strummer and Company as they dig into the hard work of reestablishing the name of one of rock's great rebels after a decade away from the music scene. Let's Rock Again! includes footage of Strummer meeting the press in interviews, showing up unannounced at a radio station in hopes of plugging his show, passing out handmade flyers on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, and chatting with a handful of teenage punk fans as he discusses the past, present, and future of his music. Also included are concert performances in which Strummer and the Mescaleros play hits from his days with the Clash as well as new material from Global a Go-Go. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi