DJALCHEMI

The Roots of London Calling

A few weeks ago, I advocated the creation of 'imaginary' celebrity playlists, which could become an interesting form of musical essay on both the celebrity and the acts in his/her playlist. I'm working on one for Neil Young, which so far may include tracks from The Shadows, Roy Orbison, Otis Redding's cover of Satisfaction, Bobby Darin, Linda Ronstadt, Devo and, of course, The Premiers' Farmer John.

In the meantime, Andy Kershaw's latest programme has a fairly literal take on this theme, which he refers to as "the roots of The Clash's London Calling" — Andy's "most complete rock'n'roll album of all time". He plays three Clash songs from the album, and four original reggae, ska and rock'roll tracks on which these were based. The rest of the show is pretty damn good too: you can hear it online until Sunday.

[Update: speaking of imaginary playlists, today's SFGate.com asks What's on Jesus' iPod? Coltrane I can believe, but Coldplay? Let us have faith. When it says in the Bible "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth", surely we should take this as a warning about Coldplay? (link via James Tyre)]