If you”re lucky enough to have The Clash”s Mick Jones on your song, you probably want to take full advantage of that opportunity.
Happily, the Wallflowers do just that on “Reboot the Mission,” the first single from “Glad All Over,” the band”s first album since 2005″s “Rebel, Sweetheart.” Listen to it here.
Not only does Jones play guitar on the mid-tempo shuffler, he sings the chorus. But the band doesn”t stop the homage there: they even name check The Clash”s late Joe Strummer in the lyrics and throw in just enough of the Clash”s punk/dub swagger to reference the seminal British band without sounding like they”re ripping them off.
The song took a few listens to grow on me, but it definitely has. There”s a lot of interesting stuff going on, from the Clash-like muted shout-outs in the background to the wonky organ that comes in at the end. Plus, while Jakob Dylan”s spoken/singing vocals are definitely recognizable, the band shows no fear in trying to switch its sound up a little…hence the song title”s appropriateness. As gracefully as “One Headlight” may be aging, no one needs a retread just yet.
Rolling Stone debuted the track today and has the exclusive, but the song will be available on iTunes starting July 24 and we”ll embed the song as soon as we can.
What do you think of “Reboot The Mission?”