various artists - Mojo Presents: Sticky Soul Fingers (A Rolling Stones Tribute)

I came to a decision recently, and it is this: this Mojo release, cover dated January 2012, is pretty indispensible. A soulful recreation of "Sticky Fingers", it's less a simple re-reading of the classic Stones record, 40 years on, and more an expression of how inspiring it was to these artists. Some of the arrangements are far away from the Jagger/Richards compositions, and that's for the best. I've owned too many tribute records where those offering encomium stuck with a straightforward cover not too different from what you'd hear from in the original release. But Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings performing "Wild Horses" is a great example of how to put your own stank on a classic. "Sister Morphine", played here by Ren Harvieu, takes on new meaning when in the hands of someone who's not been chasing the dragon. And the Bamboos tackle my favorite "SF" track, laying some serious funk on "Can't You Hear Me Knocking".

Yeah, it's a proper tribute, this one. Plus, you get a bonus reading of "Angie". Not bad for a freebie.

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various artists - Gern Blandsten: The First Nine Years

Gern Blandsten was one of my favorite labels of the 90s and aughts. Along with labels like Ebullition, Vermiform, Lengua Armada, and Gravity, the records Charles Maggio put out made up the deep underground of my teens and early twenties, a very strong counterpoint to the punk from Epitaph and Fat that was creeping above ground, or even the sounds bubbling out of Revelation or Victory. In short, when I picked up a Rorschach record, a Native Nod 7", or a Chisel release, I knew it was something very distinctive from anything I'd turn up at a Borders or Sam Goody. And, like all the great HC labels of the 80s, it was very locally focused and made up of friends all growing together. This was achievable and approachable.

This survey works back through the history books, leading off with the likes of Radio 4, the World / Inferno Friendship Society, and Ted Leo, all of whom would gain greater acclaim post-9/11. Dälek's hard progessive hip-hop flows into the Yah Mos big, emotive hardcore sound which flows into the math rock of the Impossible Five. By the final third of this sampler, the listener is back in the ruins of ABC No Rio and the basements of north New Jersey, mixing Weston's pop punk with the Dischord-colored post hardcore of Garden Variety and the proto-screamo of Native Nod. These bands were all on the same bills together; it was all punk, and it was a great time to see six wildly different musical styles for $6 in a high school gym or a church hall.

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Glam Nuggets (15 Wham Bam Rarities From The Boogie Children!)

If you know glam, you probably have heard a good number, if not all, of these. If you're more the "Bowie is glam, right?" type, that's totally fine; this is a good place to start.

There are, of course, Bowie-adjacent songs present, with contributions from Mick Ronson and Dana Gillespie's performance of "Andy Warhol". There's also a trio of clear proto-punk cuts: the umpteenth appearance of "Personality Crisis" is most welcome, while reminding folks of or introducing them to the (Hammersmith) Gorillas and Hollywood Brats is a must. Any talk of the era must include Sparks and Suzi Quatro, both of whom chime in with classic cuts.

The most fun part, as is the case with any good Mojo comp, is the trainspottery, the archeology. This is filled out with the one-and-dones, the mostly overlooked, the barely remembered. Despite coming out on big indies or major labels in the UK on initial release, it's fallen to labels like 7Ts, RPM, What's Your Rupture?, and Just Add Water to recover these classics that have gone missing in action. Brett Smiley's "Space Ace", a B-side from a single 45 release in 1974, would have NEVER hit my radar without first appearing on Grapefruit's "Oh! You Pretty Things" collection. JAW is the reason I heard Shakane for the first time; their "Gang Man" shows up here. And while the RAH Band continue to release music, more than 50 years after their first drop, there's zero chance I would have dove far enough into their catalog to dig out "The Crunch".

Oh, and there's a song from the Damned here, but not the one you are expecting.

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various artists - Shreds Volume 2: American Underground '94

It's a cool idea that I have no clue how to replicate in 2025. Take a sampling of your favorite 7"s from the previous year, pull a song from each, put out a compilation with these vinyl-only tracks. It's like a playlist...except good! Mel Cheplowitz: the original influencer!

This second volume is quite good, led off by recent rediscovery Cub. One of my personal favs, Tugboat Annie, contribute with the A-side from their second Sonic Bubblegum 7". There are cuts by the nascent Plow United, who I thought were a mega-huge band in the pre-internet mid-90s, and by Beatnik Termites, who I knew from the classic PUNK USA comp and now cannot recall if I ever actually saw them play live. Tho it feels like I did.

And there are sixteen other songs here, the sort that, if you have any sort of 7" collection dating from this period, you've played a few times and then let collect dust. They're the sort of songs you feel smart for taking a chance on plucking them from the dollar bin. Punk rock, a dime a dozen, committed first to wax and then to five inches of aluminum.

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Heavy Mod

What the hell do I know about the Mods? Not much; something about Vespas and amphetamine and soul music. Youth culture, loving the blues and jazz, preceding the skins. They made a few movies about 'em. I know a lot more about the mod revival (White Trash Soul recently posted some Purple Hearts demos that are just out of sight) due to its proximity to punk and 2 Tone. So I take this 17-year-old compilation's title with a grain of salt. Is this indeed "Heavy Mod"?

Well, look; I have no clue if the 13th Floor Elevators and David Axelrod were getting played on the same turntables as the Small Faces, the Who, and the Yardbirds. But as with all the Mojo freebies I've gotten, this one works for me. I really dig the sequencing here; there's a real flow present that stood out to me as I listened for the first time in a long time. I'd say this one hews closer to the sort of mix CD you aspire to make for a friend than the typical "free with magazine purchase" giveaway.

It's clearly a Phil Alexander joint. You get a good mix AND a really nice explanation why these were grouped together in the liner notes. It's something I've been missing on the few Mojo releases from 2023 & 2024 that I've turned up recently.

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various artists - Tromeo & Juliet (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

When I saw the other day that James Gunn had yet another movie open #1 at the box office, I was reminded, yet again, that he made his bones writing "Tromeo & Juliet", Troma's beloved take on Shakespeare. So it led me to bust out this shiny slab of aluminum. I bought it b/c Troma and Unsane, I kept it b/c Motörhead and Superchunk and Meatmen and Wesley Willis. Hell, they even managed to wedge a song from Gunn's band, the Icons, on here.

This is not going to show up on a listical of iconic 90s soundtracks. But I'd suggest that it should be recognized as part of the canon. While there's little here that is exclusive to the soundtrack, it does offer a wide swath of "alternative" rock from the late 90s, from a deep cut from Sublime to music from the Ass Ponys and Supernova. Plus: Brujeria!

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various artists - Mojo Presents: 1-2-3-4! (The Roots Of The Ramones)

It's coming up on 30 years since the Ramones broke up; we're in the sixth decade of having them on the planet. What a pivot point. Everything that came before was garage rock or proto punk or beat. Everything that came after was punk, the new wave. Knowing what we know now about the interpersonal politics of the band, it's amazing to me that we got more than a couple of singles, much less 22 years of turning a 33rpm world up to 45.

Like most Mojo giveaways from this period, "1-2-3-4!" is pretty well curated, snagging 15 tracks of predecessors and contemporaries. As fellow music psychos, you probably have a number of these tracks already. If you're here reading this blog, you don't need me to tell you that Television, the Shangri-Las, and Love are fucking incredible. Placing Ronnie Spector singing a Joey composition and adding a track from Leslie West's pre-Mountain garage back are nice touches. Does T.Rex fit here for me? I dunno, but maybe you have some insight. It's all led off with a Ramones rarity: the Stones' "Street Fighting Man", performed with ex-Heartbreaker Walter Lure.

Good art doesn't need to be groundbreaking or proficient. It also needs to have heart, be authentic; talent is always a plus, but that's all subjective. And, subjectively, the Ramones distilled their influences and surrounding into something truly great. And this is still a good way to hear what contributed to that greatness.

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various artists - Particle Theory (A Compendium Of Lightspeed Incursions And Semiotic Weapons From Warner/Reprise)

Ah, yes; the rare place to find Elvis Costello, Boredoms, Sven Väth, and Julee Cruise all in one place.

The Warner family of labels, circa 1993, was a pretty rad assembleage. There was big daddy Warner Bros. Records, who released "The Juliet Papers" that year, a weird concept for 16-year-old me to wrap my brain around. Elvis Costello with a string quartet? Don't worry; I get it now. They'd also put out records from the Flaming Lips and Goo Goo Dolls, which actually got daytime airplay on the one rock station in town. Then there was Ms. Cruise, who, at the time, I wasn't actually aware had worked with David Lynch on the Twin Peaks soundtrack.

Reprise was still flogging Mudhoney's first major label record, put out a Boredoms record in the States, which tickles me to no end, and were still trying to break Babes In Toyland big. Their release slate in 1993 was a bit mixed in quality, but I like how weird a mix it is. You just don't see folks throwing around major label advances on odd shit anymore.

There were also co-releases from Sire, 4AD, Giant, Blanco Y Negro, and American Recordings, all bearing either the WB shield or lower-case R. "Alternative" was a pretty big tent back in 1993, and the majors hadn't had a chance to cock it all up yet. For me and many other future college radio DJs, it was a good time to catch a shotgun's blast worth of genre music and absorb it all, even if you weren't totally into it right away. And, hey, this one could have turned out worse. Candlebox put out a record on Sire in 1993 that sold a metric fuckton and very well could have been represented here. The compilers got it right on this one.

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various artists - Power Corruption & Lies Covered: Mojo Presents New Order;'s 1983 Masterpiece Re-Recorded

When it came time to pick this week's Mojo Monday selection, there was only one inspired choice. Friend o' the blog AJ recently began blogging again over at The Dimension of Imagination. As I told him, I was proper chuffed to see him back in the saddle after what had been an 8-month sabbatical. I think he called me a wanker. He's a proper internet bud.

He posted the 1983 New Order classic, "Power Corruption & Lies" on the same day I found this Mojo comp from 2011, covering the same-said record, plus THE BEST-SELLING 12" OF ALL TIME (TM), "Blue Monday". It was serendipity; one follows another.

The likes of Tarwater, Destroyer, and Fujiya & Miyagi perform yeoman-like work here in reproducing New Order's second record. It's worth listening to a few times, even as it inspires you to pull out that "Blue Monday" 12" for the first time in a while..As someone who was barely alive when "PCL" came out, and whose initial exposure to New Order was through a Frente! cover, I can't claim New Order had some great influence over my life. They've always been there, a living link to things that, at the time, I found more interesting. But you hope that, with age comes wisdom, and I've grown more attached to these Mancunians in recent years. I've been downloading New Order remixes and live records as they've popped on my radar, and, yeah, of course it's all great. A well-earned reputation here.

What this does remind me of is the resilient crew of bloggers, still out there writing, trying to let punk kids and bored teenagers know why a recording is worth hearing. I have a list of the folks I think are worth checking out on the right side of the page there. I stop by every day, paying a visit to see if anything cool is worth commenting on. When someone dips out for a while, it gets a bit scary, like your local coffee shop, bakery, or record store being unexpectedly closed. It's a great feeling when that disappearance ends up being temporary.  These are the little things that make getting online worthwhile. It's while I try my best to be here on Mondays and Thursdays at midnight my time. Gotta open the store, you know?

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various artists - Music For TV Dinners

I wrote about the second "Music For TV Dinners" about a year ago. That one seemed to be pretty popular. And I came across a grip of 90s Esquivel! CDs at the local Half Price Books last weekend (owned 'em all already), which inspired me to revisit this first volume, which, oddly enough, I only snagged a copy of about two months ago.

But it was worth the wait, right? Allow me to apologize for not properly dating each track contained herein. You'll find some names in common between the two volumes; Laurie Johnson and Johnny Pearson are the two that I key on. This one surveys the KPM and APM library music catalogs, and, to me, it whets my appetite for space age, lounge, tiki, and other atomspherics that all faded away as synths, beats, and dissonance all filled the scoring space. It's the sound of the late 50s and early 60s, our themes for better living through technology!

It's a vibe, as the kids say. Beats the hell out of what's happening in the world right now.

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Roots Of Nirvana (Distorted Sounds From The Punk Underground)

I would have thought there would be no surprises in a "Roots of Nirvana" comp. The tastes of Msr. Cobain and Novoselic are fairly well-documented at this point. So it is that you se a lot of the names and songs you'd expect to see on this sort of comp.

There are the local influences: Melvisn, Beat Happening, Green River covering the Dead Boys. My all-time fav Stooges song in an extended live version pairs nicely with Flipper's "Sex Bomb" at the tail end of the CD. There are a few bands from Kurt's legendary mixtape that he was arrested with: Big Black, Scratch Acid, Young Marble Giants, and Shonen Knife. There are a pair of tracks present that Nirvana would later cover in their Unplugged set. Meat Puppets' "Plateau" and the Vaselines' "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" both appear in their original forms.

Two songs shared here weren't on my radar until I heard them here.  Clown Alley's "On The Way Up" was on their single LP for the legendary SF thrash label Alechemy Records. Alchemy would also serve as the initial home for Melvins' "Gluey Porch Treatments", Neurosis' "Pain Of Mind", and Poison Idea's "War All The Time". "On The Way Up" makes me want to drop some coin on the 2009 expanded reissue on Southern Lord. Big Dipper's "You're Not Fancy" appeared initially on a 1987 Homestead Records comp alongside songs from Naked Raygun, Big Black, Death of Samantha, and Dinosaur (Jr); it'd also show up appended to the cassette version of their 1987 "Boo-Boo" 12". All of this would fly below my radar until discovered here. Merge reissued their pre-major label output in 2009 as part of a 3-disc CD set. And this intro is a proper appetizer. To my aging ears, I can hear a band traipsing the same sort of aural ground that would lead Nirvana to become the biggest band in the world a few years later.

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