Joe Strummer had become friendly with filmmaker Alex Cox when Strummer contributed some songs to the soundtrack of Coxs movie “Sid and Nancy”. In 1987, when 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. Strummers music turned out to be just as ambitious as the film itself; Walker bears almost no resemblance to Strummers work with the Clash, instead aiming for a 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 hed stuck with it, and while Walker is something of an anomaly in his discography, its also a lovely and engaging set of music. 1. Filibustero 2. Omotepe 3. Sandstorm 4. Machete 5. Viperland 6. Nica Libre 7. Latin Romance 8. The Unknown Immortal 9. Musket Waltz 10. The Brooding Side of Madness 11. Tennessee Rain 12. Smash Everything 13. Tropic of No Return 14. Tropic of Pico 15. Straight Shooter* 16. Brooding Six* 17. Filibustero (Freestyle Mix)*
