Joe Strummer

In 1987, when Alex Cox began filming his ambitious film about the life of American mercenary William Walker, he brought Strummer along to play a small role in the film and compose the score.

Strummer’s music turned out to be just as ambitious as the film itself; “Walker” bears almost no resemblance to Strummer’s work with The Clash, instead aiming for an airy fusion of several Latin musical styles. Strummer only sings on three cuts “The Unknown Immortal”, “Tennessee Rain” and “Tropic of No Return”, which sound more like Mexican folk tunes than anything else. Strummer obviously took his assignment seriously and rather than forcing a period piece set in 1850 to bend to the force of his music, he pulled back on his rock influences and fashioned a series of simple but evocative pieces that conjure up the mystery and beauty of Nicaragua with commendable sense of dynamics and grace. In short, Strummer could have become a first-rate film composer if he’d stuck with it, and while Walker is something of an anomaly in his discography, it’s also a lovely and engaging set of music.