various artists - Mojo Presents: Red Hot & Regal (Kings Of Leon - Roots Friends & Influences)

First things first: how's Kraken working for everyone? I don't ever have issues downloading Kraken-hosted files, but I'm but a singular man. Drop a line in the comments if you have a suggestion for an alternativel The homies have spoken! I'm starting to move over to a new host. Hang tight, friends!

I think Kings Of Leon are corny as hell, but if these are indeed the artists that shaped them, then they have some pretty good taste. There's a lot to like here, and the best part is that "Sex On Fire" won't sneak up on you. I'm partial to the Band and Woody Guthrie; this also got me to drag out/seek out Soledad Brothers records.

And that's how I feel about that. You're welcome to your own opinions, as always. I'M NOT TRYING TO TAKE YOUR POWER AWAY, LISA!

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Cigarettes And Alcohol

Today's commentary, brought to you in the form of two screencaps:

and:

Why waste words, when The Simpsons have already done it for you?

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various artists - Blues Masters, Volume 9: Postmodern Blues

Some random anecdotes about some of the artists on this here comp:

• My dad loved Stevie Ray Vaughan. Along with Clapton and Spanky & Our Gang and Little Feat, SRV & Double Trouble was one of those groups I'll always associate with tooling around the north Atlanta suburbs in my pop's white Audi diesel, windows down, a cold can of beer in the old man's crotch, sweating in the Southern heat as this Texas white boy wailed on the blues.
• I get this flash, every time I think of Albert King, of building out a Stax/Fantasy dump bin in the first record store I worked in. I wasn't ready to hear anything from him until years later; a crucial mistake for how sick some of those Stax sides are. I really missed out on grabbing a master of 60s Memphis blues at 50% off $12.99.
• There was a radio station in Atlanta during the late 80s that would do a Friday wind-down/celebration and would play George Thorogood & the Destroyers' version of "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" on occasion. Pre-teen me thought it was the coolest shit, even though I didn't ever connect that it was, at that time, a 40+ year old blues song from Amos Milburn until years later. I just thought it sounded cool.
• I really don't dig on B.B. King, although I had a few good times over the years at his BBQ restaurant in NYC.

The entire "Blues Masters" series, released by Rhino across 18 volumes from 1992 to 1998, is worth snagging piecemeal whenever you see it. Like so many Rhino releases from this era, they make up a great starting point to check out a genre or era or label. And these, when you do see them, rarely go for over $5.

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various artists - Mojo Presents: The Changing Man

There was, up until about 20 minutes ago, a 6 foot tower of boxes, filled with CDs and DVDs, sitting in my living room. I looked up from rolling cigarettes just in time to watch it tip over and crash upon the floor.

I'm avoiding getting up to examine the damage.

Here's a Mojo CD from 2008 that I bought for a dollar a few months ago. It has William Bell, Washington Phillips, Gil Scott-Heron, and Dinah Washington on it. Plus, Paul Weller's the theme..."Rarities & Inspirations" the common bond of these 15 tracks.

I feel like a paraphrase of a "Spinal Tap" line when asked, "don't you already own records with all these songs on it?" "Yeah, but this one was a dollar."

Sigh...I'm going to go clean up now.

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various artists - Sissy Man Blues: 25 Authentic Straight & Gay Blues & Jazz Vocals

What's everyone been up to the past month? I've been listening to this...a lot.

Just a shit ton of country blues and ragtime, all guaranteed to rile up the church goers and white folks, on account that these all have to do with fukkin'. It's a great collection of recordings from 100 years ago, with a pretty fun Milton Knight cover.

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various artists - Zeppelin Classics

1/13/23: UPDATED WITH NEW DL LINK

Another P-Vine "Classics" comp. For my money, Thin Lizzy > Zep. But Brock Samson is a fan, so respect must be paid. And as much as I'd like to sit here, talking shit, Plant/Page/Jones/Bonham had fantastic taste and great influences. So this, like the previous one, makes for a pretty compelling comp. Imagine my joy when I found this one at Goodwill for a measly three-spot.

Discogs

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Johnny "Guitar" Watson - Hot Just Like TNT (The Best Of His Early Years)

It's definitely not my usual fair, that's to be sure. But this here compilation of Johnny "Guitar" Watson's early rhythm & blues 45s on L.A.'s RPM Records, where he was label mates with Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins & B.B. King, is straight fire, even to my youngblood ears. I know him mainly for these seriously funky electric blues records he made for Dick James back in the 70s, so when I saw this about a month ago on a rack at a Value Village, I wasn't going in blind, exactly.

I come across these Ace Records comps every now and then, and they are ALWAYS worth the two or three bucks I end up spending. Digging in the crates isn't just a cheap excuse to get out of the house and go record shopping. It's a broadening of the knowledge base. It's opening myself up to something I may have read about on another blog, or heard a snippet of a decade ago, and discovering that, yeah, it's just as valid as all those old heads always claimed. It's not some dusty artifact, being overblown by some white haired fart at a record show or on a left of a dial radio station. It has a pulse, a history, and while it may not move you like the first time you heard Otis Redding or Gang of Four or Huggy Bear, BABY IT WILL MOVE YOU.

Anyway. Yeah. Johnny "Guitar" Watson. "Hot Just Like TNT" isn't just a clever title.

Discogs

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various artists - A Date With John Waters

As a teaser to the next Criterion Collection preview, I present to you one of the finest outings you can undertake: A Date With John Waters. I remain a huge fan of Towson's own, a man whose impeccable taste in music neatly pairs with his delightfully trashy aesthetic. His soundtracks have always been these cool collections of outsider music, whether it's been the collection of 50s rhythm & blues and rockabilly in "Pink Flamingos", the foundations of soul present in "Hairspray", or the Locust and Meatjack alongside Liberace and DJ Class in "Cecil B. Demented". It's all a young punk ever needed.

"A Date" came out a few years after John's final theatrical release, "A Dirty Shame", and, yeah, it's a fucking tragedy the man can't get $5-$10 million from a studio to knock out another film or two, his way. But if the reward for us is his published output since 2004, yearly spoken word appearances around the world, an emeritus position amongst exploitation filmmakers and a regular source of inspiration for all us perverts...well, it's a fine consolation prize for me. I could go for another curated collection of music where Dreamlanders Edith Massey and Mink Stole get slotted alongside Ike & Tina, Elton Motello, Josie Cotton, and Ray Charles. This will have to suffice.

Discogs

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