various artists - Monitor This! Oct/Nov 2010

I like to play this little game when I come across this, a sampler that came from the missus' collection. It's "which record did she buy to get this free with purchase?"

Was it Superchunk, whose "Majesty Shredding" was a heavy spin for the two of us in our first year dating each other? She's always been a big Ben Folds fan, with loads of CD-R filled with live sets. I bought her a copy of his 2010 collaboration with author Nick Hornby, "Lonely Avenue", during a record-buying binge before she went home for Christmas that year. It seems unlikely it would have been the recent releases by Robert Plant (not a Zep fan, as far as I know) or Jerry Lee Lewis (she's a Sun Records purist). Maybe it was KT Tunstall; she's the right age to have blasted "Suddenly I See" while bombing down I-97 to her job in Annapolis. Or perhaps Anberlin, as she listened to a fair amount of emo-adjacent alt rock for years before meeting me. A Stone Sour purchase would confuse me. A late-catalog Ice Cube CD would be very out of character for her. And Maroon 5? Well, in this house, that's grounds for a serious conversation.

With any luck, it was a Mark Ronson record that I've yet to turn up in our shared collection. Or maybe somebody just tossed it in her bag to be nice, one fall day in 2010.

Discogs

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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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various artists - A389 Summer 06

Let's take it back 20 years to the summer of 2006. I was in my second year of my first marriage, living in the southwest corner of Baltimore County. And while I was separated by location and duty from my scene, I tried to stay up to date with what was happening. On a fleetingly short visit to Reptilian, I snagged this sampler, a collection showing off what was coming from the relatively-new label A389 Recordings.

"Tough guy hardcore" (whatever that means) wasn't ever really my bag. But label owner Dom played in Slumlords with my friend Doug, and had just started Pulling Teeth with fellow CCASer Mike, so I was willing to give it a shot. Plus...free, you know? And what you see is what you get here. It's unpolished (meant in a strictly positive sense) hardcore, suited more for the basement than the Warped Tour. There's good representation from Canadian HC bands, an Integrity/Ringworm-related project, and a healthy dose of what Baltimore was doing at the time. It was a honest snapshot of what was in the books over the first 12 releases from a label that's now up to A389-182. And today it makes me wish I'd picked up that Gut Instinct discography when it came out.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Music Is Love! (15 Tracks That Changed The World)

I'm dubious of the conceit that these are fifteen songs that changed the world. By my count, maybe a third of these would make my top 100 compositions of popular music. But, hey, I've never been invited to assemble a Mojo compilation before, whereas Dave Henderson has been doing it for more than 20 years. So what the hell do I know?

None of this is to say this is a bad compilation at all. It's actually really good, a nice one to play from start to finish. It takes real brass to lead off with the Edgar Broughton Band covering Captain Beefheart on a comp that purports world change, but it works. Then it's on to the Dream Syndicate playing Neil Young, and Willie Nelson (& Family!) covering Hank Sr. I'm going to shout out any time the Gun Club makes an appearance; "John Hardy" is a fine contribution. There's a reggae performance of Radiohead's "Airbag", an arrangement for strings of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn", and Laibach caps it all off with their version of "Sympathy For The Devil".

I would have constantly returned to this comp had it crossed my path during a time when we still made mixtapes for each other. That's not only because you have tracks like Siouxsie & The Banshees playing Billie Holiday and Al Green performing the Beatles, but because it serves as a guide for things to explore. It's not like anyone around me was playing Robyn Hitchcock when I was younger, but hearing him perform "Like A Rolling Stone" would drive me to check him out. Likewise with Penetration playing Patti Smith and Madeline Peyroux interpreting Joni Mitchell. That's the goal of things like this, innit? To inspire the listener to dig deeper, to explore 100 years plus of recorded sound. You should know Donny Hathaway and Big Star and the Doors and Minnie Riperton and Nina Simone

Discogs

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various artists - The Roots Of Fleetwood Mac: Mojo Presents 15 Classic Tracks That Inspired The Mac

This one showed up as part of a Discogs "buy a bunch of $2-$3 CDs from a single seller" order a few weeks ago. How am I going to turn down picking up a Mojo comp for a few bucks when I'm already buying a bunch of 90s and 00s punk/HC/indie? And this one had a ton of cool blues tracks, some early rock & roll, even a Kingston Trio cut. So I threw it in the basket and BAM!, here I am presenting it to you.

But that cover...PHEW! It reminds me of how off-putting I've always found the "Tusk" cover to be. It was only in the writing of this blog post that I discovered Vigon Nahas Vigon were nominated for a Grammy for their design. VNV were only together for a few years, but they also did a ton of work making covers for ABC Impulse!, repackaging the 60s Impulse! catalog into compilations that, ultimately, ended up in the young Ape's collection. But I digress.

It's never not going to be fascinating to me how a pair of English blues fans ended up pivoting after losing most of their band, emigrating to the States, picking up a pair of country rockers along the way, and made one of the biggest selling records of all time. Is this comp going to give you any greater insight how they ended up writing "The Chain" or "Rihannon"? Probably not, but it's a good way to get Elmore James and Fabian onto the same disc.

Discogs

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various artists - Revolver Reloaded: Mojo Presents Their 1966 Masterpiece In Full

I'm no one's idea of a Beatles fan. As I've stated before, I've always chosen the Stones over the Beatles, and I prefer other artist's performances of any Harrison, Lennon, McCartney, and/or Starkey penned songs. But "Revolver" is the only Beatles record I've ever held onto, so when I got a chance to pick this up 20-year-old freebie at a reasonable cost, I figured, "Eh, I've written about worse." The things one does to continue a theme...

This particular Mojo collection pulls together covers of all fourteen songs from the Beatles' 1966 transitional record, along with a version of "Rain", which appeared as the B-side of "Paperback Writer". The highlights for me are Jim Reid's cover of "And Your Bird Can Sing", Lampshade covering "Good Day Sunshine", and Seattle's own Green Pajamas' version of "Got To Get You Into My Life". The rest is just fine; I cannot beat the drum on behalf of a body of work that, even now, I can at best tolerate. If nothing else, it just makes me want to listen to Pol Inate's Kinks kompilation he posted up last month. Now THAT's a body of work you could set your clock to.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Move On Up (A Modernist Compendium)

It's a lovely mod revival giveaway, bookended by a pair of Jam cuts and named after a Curtis Mayfield song. The cover evokes "Sound Affects", and all this is missing is a Geno Washington contribution and a set of keys to your own Vespa. Spinning this one makes me miss the late night dance parties at Lithuanian Hall in West Baltimore, the homebrew hooch we'd do shots of, smoking cigarettes, dressing sharp, and greasy eggs the next morning. Move on up, indeed.

Discogs

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various artists - Dylan's Scene: The Sound Of Greenwich Village

This is one of those good "liner notes"-type compilations where you're guaranteed to learn about your favorite artist's favorite artists. In this case, the boundary is the coffeehouses of early 60s New York City. And only a fool would try to deny the greatness of the artists contained herein. John Lee Hooker and Allen Ginsberg bookend this 15-track CD. In between, there's a range of primal music, from various blues artists to English traditional music to folk music of the day. I'll always co-sign Karen Dalton and Pete Seeger, and encourage you to look into Bukka White's catalog if you've not done so before.

It's hot outside. Slap this on and find yourself a shady spot to just listen this week.

Discogs

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various artists - Bad Seeds - Nick Cave: Roots & Collaborations (Mojo Presents A 15 Track Celebration)

I'm worn the fuck out, having spent all my writing time this past weekend repacking 500 square feet of storage space. So you're not going to get much insight from me about this 2009 Mojo compilation.

Regardless of how one might feel about Nick Cave (editor's note: I'm a'fer 'im), the dude has always had style and taste. All that is reflected here. There's not a skippable track on the entire disc. When I first heard this, it had me seeking out Karen Dalton, a name I knew but have never listened to. The Saints, Johnny Cash, John Lee Hooker, Lydia Lunch, Mississippi John Hurt? Know them all, love them all, love the songs compiled here. It's one of the front to back good ones, kids.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Studio One Selecter (The Originals)

There's still a lot of ink that could be spilled about Studio One and its heart, Coxsone Dodd. After all, do we music lovers elevate his name to the status of Berry Gordy, Jerry Moss, Jac Holzman, or Moses Asch? We should; Dodd gathered the legends for 20+ years and put them on wax, shared it all with the world to experience.

This sampler, assembled by Soul Jazz Records head Stuart Baker for Mojo back in 2005, eschews a lot of the expected hits ("Simmer Down" excepted) for a survey that spans the progression of JA music. Starting with the Skatalites and Delroy Wilson in 1964, moving to Jackie Mittoo and rocksteady, pop reggae with Lloyd Williams, then dub, roots, deejay, and lovers rock. It's a pretty grand spin any time of the year, but now, in late June, on the second-longest day of the year, I think it's perfection over 49 minutes.

Discogs

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various artists - Radio Clash

I'm having a hard time mentally with it all right now, so I won't go on much about this, except to say that Mick Jones and Paul Simonson can program a mix for me any time they like. Special attention shall be paid to Janie Jones (she of the eponymous song) backed by The Clash on a Strummer-penned song, as well as Lee Hazlewood's "Run Boy Run". Not a bad cut in the lot, if you ask me.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Kidology (A Radiohead Companion)

Side note: I moved a bunch of old links over from Mediafire to Workupload. So if you've encountered a dead link in the past, it's high time you gave it another shot.

This is another Mojo freebie where I really wish I had the issue that this comp came with. Yet again, I find myself wondering how some of these songs relate thematically. Sure, I can get Mingus and Messiaen and Slint as inspirational touchpoints. And clearly there are a pair of Radiohead covers present. But it's another instance where how this was compiled would be a lot clearer if I just had the copy of Mojo. The "why" matters to me. It probably shouldn't, but I'm kinky that way.

This one leads off with Clinic, Can, and Charles Mingus, and that's pretty solid a trifeca as you'll find on one of these. Truth be told: I think I'd rather listen to each of the artists here, rather than Radiohead. I won't give any sort of Pitchfork-y snark; I'll just say I'm kind of worn out by them. And that's as someone who definitely queued up for a couple of midnight Radiohead releases.

Discogs

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various artists - Heavy Nuggets Vol. 4 (13 Sabbath Inspired Tracks)

Rabbit, rabbit, my friends. We've made it this far into 2026; let's keep going. Happy June.

An old friend of mine, the last person I attended high school with who I still stay in contact with, celebrated their 50th birthday last weekend. When I think of bands like BORIS and Sleep and the Obssessed, I think of him. Where I dove deeply into the the numerous branches of punk, he explored the world of metal. So when I'd want to know if it was worth picking up a new record from Sunn O))) or Boredoms, I'd turn to him. Matt's a fountain of information, and has impeccable taste. Just a good dude.

Happy birthday, old pal. I wish I'd been back home to celebrate you in person.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: The Dreamers (15 Tracks Of Kate Bush-Inspired Dream Pop)

I don't have the October 2014 issue around which to contextualize the claim, but can one truly say this collection is Kate Bush-inspired? This stretches the definition of what "dream pop" is, and I always found Kate Bush (who I love...don't get me wrong) to be more akin to Peter Gabriel on the art rock tip, so I'm casting a gimlet eye towards the title. But there's a Wye Oak song here, and one by Julie Holter, and I can always skip over The War On Drugs, so I guess I'll just throw this one out to you, my people, and wish you not only a happy Mojo Monday, but a solemn Memorial Day.

Discogs

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various artists - Made In Britain: Mojo Presents The Sound Of A New England 1977-1983

"I don't want to change the world/I'm not looking for a new England/I'm just looking for another girl." What a perfect chorus. What a great song.

And this freebie, tacked onto the cover of September 2005's cover of Mojo Magazine, is chock full of songs like the Billy Bragg classic quoted above. Some, like "Too Much Pressure" or "The Modern World", are ones I've known by heart since long before this comp landed in my hands. Then there's deeper cuts, like the cuts from the Ruts and Soft Cell compiled here, that I came to when I finally landed myself copies of the full-lengths they originally appeared on. Then there's music from Alien Sex Fiend and the Meteors, who I'd never in a million years buy a record by. Yet, here, I found it all pretty compelling, which, knock ME over with a feather. Also, there's a Pop Rivets cut present. I probably should be a bigger Billy Childish fan.

The point? Ah, yes, the point. The point is that this 21-year-old is jam packed with pretty amazing 40+ year old songs, all of which where created by people who were in their early 20s, and probably just wanted to get laid and make music (not necessarily in that order). And that's pretty awesome for this old man. Just keep writing, keep chopping...you'll get there soon enough.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Beyond Saturn (Mojo Presents 15 Mind-Blowing Cosmic Tracks Approved By Paul Weller)

It's another Mojo Monday, another compilation "approved" by Paul Weller. I'm not going to complain. They bring me Sun Ra and Charles Mingus and NEU!; I'm going to listen to the entire thing. Space music is always going to grab my attention.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: It's A Wonderfull Life (A Journey Into Sound)

It only took me around 40-something years before I finally came around on what made Siouxie & The Banshees so great, so this wasn't something I would have sought out even just a few years ago.  This is just an unbelievably cool collection, curated by Siouxie Sioux and Steve Severin. You know, those two.

Primarily comprised of film and stage music, spanning the 1940s to the early 60s, and loaded with sounds you've almost certainly absorbed throughout your life, whether you're 12 or 80. C'mon, you don't have to have been a Disney kid to know "When You Wish Upon A Star" or "A Night On Bare Mountain"...but it helps. For those of us who grew up on the western side of the Atlantic, maybe we didn't get turned on to the themes from "Whiplash", "The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre", or "Fireball XL5". But they left indelible marks on they who did encounter them; hence their appearances here.

This is also a good introduction to Satie, Lotte Lenya, not Bernard Herrmann; not to mention Siouxie & The Banshees representing with their 1987 cover of a song from "The Jungle Book". That's why I'll be packing this off in a care package to my 11-year-old niece, who deserves to hear only the finest.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Island Folk (An Acoustic-Led Celebration)

This one called to me from a darkened shelf in a Monterey record store last winter. It was the pink spine that caught my eye first. It's something I associate more with the Pagans' "Pink Album" reissue than anything associated with Chris Blackwell. Yet here it was, a comp of British folk, recorded by Joe Boyd and released initially on Island Records. I had to have it. My tastes have expanded greatly since the first time I heard Nick Drake (who, oddly, doesn't appear here), and I've grown to love the records Richard & Linda Thompson made together, the music of Sandy Denny, the songs of John Martyn. I quit giggling about how poncy the Incredible String Band looked, and started humming along when I listened to them in the car.

I ultimately paid $5 for this one, more than I typically would for a Mojo free CD. And I still won't fuck with Jethro Tull.

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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