Album Review: Galen & Paul “Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?”
Let’s talk for a minute about Paul Simonon, the legendary bassist for The Clash. Besides Joe Strummer, he is the only member of the band that was there from the beginning in 1976 until the band ended in 1986. Most people when they talk about the band members’ post-Clash music careers, they only talk about Strummer and Mick Jones, but Simonon has kept busy: his band Havana 3 am, as part of the supergroup The Good, The Bad and The Queen, and appearing on Bob Dylan’s Down in the Groove album and Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach albums, but mostly he has been a visual artist with exhibitions in galleries all over the world. Now he is back with a whole new collaboration with singer Galen Ayers known as Galen & Paul. Their new album Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? drops Friday from Legacy.
Last year I got to review the 40th anniversary edition of The Clash’s Combat Rock, which still stands up today. The band’s call for equality and their blend of musical styles makes perfect sense in the 2020s. I’ve also been lucky enough to review a number of Joe Strummer compilations in recent years. But getting to hear what Paul Simonon is working on right now at the age of 67 is super exciting because he hasn’t been as prolific a musician as his fellow Clash bandmates. During the pandemic, Simonon was in Palma in Mallorca, Spain and he spent time busking in the streets with singer Galen Ayers (she’s the daughter of Kevin Ayers of British rock band Soft Machine).
If you look back at a lot of The Clash’s music, there is a Spanish influence to their music. Obviously that comes across in some lyrics, their sound, and of course Joe Strummer went to Spain in the 80s and has a square named after him in Granada. So it makes perfect sense that a number of songs on this Galen & Paul album are in Spanish and that Simonon was inspired by the environment he was in at the time. Musically this is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like the punk sound Simonon made with The Clash. This is like a 1940s style jazz sound that wouldn’t be out of place as the soundtrack to a Woody Allen movie (Simonon could be up for Sweet and Lowdown Part 2 if Allen heard this album!). Ayers has a great voice and they both clearly have a musical chemistry with each other. As an album, it’s pleasant, nice and enjoyable. As for hoping this is going to be a return to the sound Simonon was once known for, you need to manage those expectations. This is not nearly the same as Joe Strummer’s later-day Mescaleros. If you accept that, you’ll have a good time!
For info on Galen & Paul: https://www.galenandpaul.com/
