A lot of us would have been happy if the soundtrack to Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten was made up entirely of Joe Strummer material. But as the Julien Temple biopic follows the untold story of the self-proclaimed Punk Rock Warlord, the soundtrack takes a very similar approach.

There’s stuff by The Clash here. It’d be a crime if they’d left it out. But rather than insulting our intelligence with Rock the Casbah like any other compilation would, we get unreleased demos of White Riot and I’m So Bored With the USA, as well as Armagideon Theme.

But the best thing about this compilation is the format. Pulling together material from his 1999-2002 radio show on the BBC World Service, this is an album that sounds like a mix tape Joe Strummer made for you. And like any great mix tape, he’s included enough material you know to hook you in ( Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, MC5 ) but also exposes you to a lot of stuff you might not know but certainly should. There’s the reggae cover of Rock the Casbah by Rachid Taha and dub pioneer U-Roy ’s Natty Rebel, which reflect the punk-rasta crossover The Clash took to the public, but there’s also a clear nod to Strummer’s rockabilly influences ( Eddie Cochrane ’s Nervous Breakdown ).

And fittingly, three of the last four tracks on the record are from Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, the band he played with right up until the end. Though it’s not as spectacular as it could have been, this is a soundtrack well worth having and with a bit of luck it will teach the kids a thing or two.