various artists - Hello Operator! The Songs Jack White Taught Us

The blog passed one million visitors sometime in the past week. It blows my mind that this could be anything other than a quixotic pursuit, that someone else gives a shit about a Mojo comp from ten years ago, or Chicago math rock from the 90s, or a Jackie Gleason comedy record, or a Baltimore punk band. But just like all things music, nothing truly dies. There's always a community, no matter how small, that still carries the flame, even when it comes to music blogs. So thanks, fellow traveler, for stopping by over the past 18 years.

As for this Mojo Monday's contribution; there's not much that surprised me here. I loved that Pentagram, fathers of doom that they are, make an appearance here, and the Henry And June track made me want to seek out even more. The rest is EXACTLY what I'd expect. That's hardly a bad thing. Otis, Son House, Johnny Cash, Blind Willies McTell & Johnson, Robert Johnson, Charley Jordan...it's a murderer's row of American country music. Throw in 1st wave psych and garage from Love, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and Sacramento's Public Nuisance, and cap it off with Mssr. White covering "Infidels"-era Zimmerman, and this is one to play front to back...full stop.

Discogs

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Re-up: various artists - S-ssy Man Blues (25 Authentic Straight & Gay Blues & Jazz Vocals)

Note: originally posted in 2022. This one got flagged as spam, so I'm tweaking the title to see if I can get it republished.

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. What grips my mind is how one might title this today, seeing how "s-ssy" is now pretty universally considered a derogatory word. Maybe this just wouldn't exist in 2026, which sucks, because representation matters.

Anyway, enjoy the blues.

Discogs

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various artists - The Copulatin' Blues Compact Disc (22 Blues And Jazz Classics)

You know, they don't just make compilations about fuckin' any more. I blame Trump.

These sort of compilations of early 20th century American music are a real gateway to me. Collecting and preserving early jazz & blues is probably boomers' greatest contribution to pop culture, even if, in the course of putting these sort of records together, they probably avoided paying the appropriate royalties to the artists. Hey, what can you do? Cultural appropriation and exploitation wasn't a thing back in 1976!

But enough of the shit talk. Bring on the Alberta Hunter! Give me more Sidney Bechet! I celebrate Lucille Bogan and Tampa Red! The theme is unimportant (albeit amusing); the art's the thing, and I'm way into this thing.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: The Who Jukebox

I sometimes wonder if I hold a low opinion of the Who because they just won't go away. Like, if they'd wrapped it up, gone solo after the death of Keith Moon, would I more easily be able to separate the music they made from 1964 to 1978 from the people composing the band? This is one of the bands I actually remember my parents going to see when I was a kid, whose records I was allowed to look through and listen to in my first encounters with the family turntable. I still enjoy a lot of their catalog, but it seems like, for most of my life, anything I've heard about Pete Townshend or Roger Daltrey just left a bad taste in my mouth. I almost want them to pass away so they can't further damage their reputation.

But this was a minor step in the right direction. Even if you think Roger Daltrey is a grumpy old prick, or that Pete Townshend might have...predilections, there's no disputing that they can put together a solid comp. There's not a bad song in the lot. I'll even give them a pass for putting on two songs released after my birth, b/c they're by Ian Dury and ANOHNI and, hey, not everyone can keep their finger on the pulse of modern music like Paul Weller or Jon Savage do with their compilations.

In conclusion, Primitive Offerings remains a blog of contradictions. They wish death on 80+ year old rock stars, but commend their curation of giveaway comps.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Blues Breakers! (15 Classic Tracks As Covered By Eric Clapton)

I don't like Eric Clapton. Let's get that out of the way immediately. And because I dislike Eric Clapton and refuse to do any research, I'm going to take Mojo Magazine at their word that all 15 tracks here have been covered by the "Tears In Heaven" performer.

The blues performers appearing here, covered by a former Enoch Powell-supporter, are all pretty awesome. And if a proto boomer's catalog brings you to Robert Thornton, Skip James, or Big Mama Thornton (to name three), that's a good thing, too. It doesn't let me forget every instance in my lifetime where the notorious anti-vaxxer was a total, egomaniac cock. But I can forgive grumpy old men yelling at clouds...or I can try to.

Now, would I rock a "No Snow/No Show" t-shirt onstage? Only in an ironic manner, friends.

Discogs

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various artists - Monitor This! April / May 09

This comes to us courtesy of the Missus' record collection. She brought some truly exceptional recordings to our now-shared collection. And some pieces like this, a freebie that came with purchase of an associated title. I would hope that she purchased Doves' "Kingdom Of Rust"; I fear it was instead Rocco DeLuca & The Burden's "Mercy".

So why share something I mostly don't care about? Well, in the course of researching this series, I uncovered that this was the audio giveaway from the Record Exchange, a branch of which was the first record store I ever spent my hard earned dollars. I bought my first Fugazi record from the Record Exchange in Roanoke, along with demo tapes for a bunch of mostly-forgotten alternative and punk bands from south-western Virginia. "Music Monitor" was just as important a source of information as "Rolling Stone", "HeartattaCk", and "Maximum Rock & Roll". So this sampler, headlined (for me, at least) by Doves, Diana Krall, and Lady Sovereign, brought back a few fond memories of well-spent youth, digging in the crates and discovering a world I knew little about.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Step Right Up!

As Mojo issues go, this was a tough one to beat. I can still remember grabbing this off the shelves at Atomic Books, drawn in by an entire CD curated by Tom Waits. Hell yeah! Even if I only knew about half the artists, I'd still be into it. Definitely worth the high dollar import price.

In retrospect, I'm mad I didn't hold onto the other freebie Mojo Presents CD's that I'd encountered in the wild up to that point. It's not like I was short on space, or one of those "let's sell all my CDs once streaming became a thing" people. Yet I cannot for the life of me recall hanging onto any of that crossed my path until this one. I popped it into the CD player in the Civic, rolled down the windows on one of the first nice days of the year, started singing along with Tennessee Ernie Ford and Ray Charles. I threw it on the stereo at home once I arrived there, jaw agape as I heard Gavin Bryars for the first time, and listened to Burroughs recite a song I'd heard sung by Dietrich. When I reached the end, I was greeted by Cliff Edwards, singing a song I'd known since childhood. It all felt like a blanket of song that had always been there, so long as I was willing to wrap myself in it.

Discogs

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various artists - Chasin' That Devil Music

This is the sound of ghosts. Even the commentators have been dead for over 50 years. So put away the Ouija board and cue this up to invoke the spirits; names like Charlie Patton, Son House, and Skip James who you (should) know by heart, and those like William Harris and the Confiners, whose identities are mostly lost.

This came affixed to the book of the same name by Gayle Dean Wardlow, who by 23 was interviewing the remnants of the first wave of blues musicians and now possesses one of the great collection of pre-war blues records in the world. When I was 23, I barely had a serviceable stack of first wave American hardcore. All of which is to say: you see a copy of Wardlow's "Chasin' That Devil Music" out in the world for less than $10 (like I did), you oughta grab it.

Discogs

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"Mississippi" Fred McDowell - Live At The Mayfair Hotel

I'm not sure why exactly it started, but I got it in my head recently that I was going to start collecting all the Infinite Zero Archive releases. For the uninitiated, Infinite Zero was an imprint that operated under American Recordings from 1994 to 1997, serving as a reissue label. The releases were chosen by Henry Rollins and Rick Rubin, a duo who, regardless of how you feel about their own music, have pretty fucking impeccable taste. I mean, if in 1994 you're going to launch with Devo, the Contortions, and Gang Of Four, you're WAY ahead of the curve.

So I've been slowly accumulating what I didn't already own. There are a couple of Alan Vega reissues, adrift in Postal Service limbo. I've had my eye on a copy of "Black Monk Time", not really wanting to drop $12 before Christmas on something for myself. And I snagged this lil 5" slab of aluminum last week, having appeared in a local record store for less than half what I would have paid online.

Fred McDowell was 55 (so the liner notes say) and had been playing the blues for nearly four decades when he was "discovered" and exposed to a greater audience by Alan Lomax in 1959. He was a master of slide guitar, an influence on the Rolling Stones, and a mentor to Bonnie Raitt. It was on his second trip to the UK that "Live At The Mayfair Hotel" was recorded. It's a nasty-ass record, with McDowell playing a biting electric guitar, so much heavier than his earlier Lomax field recordings or his sides for Arhoolie. "Live" had originally been released across two records on the eastern British blues/R&B label Red Lightnin' in the mid-80s, but was remixed and compiled together for the first time here.

I can't speak with any level of scholarship about the blues; I definitely don't have any authority on the subject. But I do know what I like, and I like this. I can hear the roots of Fat Possum on this record, of the Gun Club and the White Stripes. If you come across a copy in the wild, definitely snag it.

And, yeah, as I grab more of the Infinite Zero releases that are out of print. I'll post them up. It's only fair.

Discogs

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