A review by adriannepeterson
Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer by Chris Salewicz

4.0

Exhaustive to be sure, and so long that I didn't actually finish it - it might be better consumed with pauses here and there. The simultaneous push-pull fascination/repulsion at seeing an icon seared bare can be intense. With deeper understanding of the person adding context, perhaps we can see more deeply into the intention of Strummer's music, art, poetry.... At the same time, Strummer was indeed human, and Salewicz, being a friend as well as a journalist, certainly serves up an intimate and detailed portrait of Strummer as well as his friends, antagonists, loves and personalities of the punk era.