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 - Steal This Disc 3

In fact, I did not steal this disc. I paid a dollar ninety-nine for it mere weeks ago.

A quick one, as I prepare for a full-day training session on my Sunday. It's fascinating how the music you're introduced to at an early age shapes your entire listening existence. While I didn't own an exact copy of this in the early 90s, my early CD collection was littered with Ryko releases. The Bowie and Zappa reissue series, Hendrix's Radio One sessions and "Live at Winterland" set, "Hardcore Devo" Vols. 1 & 2, and Mission of Burma's Ace of Hearts output all populated my shelves before I graduated high school. They were mostly appointed in the distinctive green Rykodisc jewel cases, making them stand out that much more amongst the other pieces of my slowly-growing collection.

This one broadens my decidedly-narrow view from junior year. There are a trio of Beatles-adjacent tracks from Ringo, Badfinger, and Paul McCartney's brother. Rykodisc really leaned into world music with the likes of 3 Mustaphas 3 and the Oyster Band. I had no clue Jerry Jeff Walker and Evan Johns had put out records on Ryko until I snagged this; Nils Lofgren was less surprising, as was a Henry Kaiser project.

I don't know if it says more about the priorities of the music industry or the tastes of listeners that you just don't get this sort of awesome shotgunning any more. I suspect it's the former; I know that amongst my own aging group of freaks that we're even more likely to acknowledge that we want to listen to Ornette Coleman, Lack Of Interest, Wendy Carlos, and Barbara Dane, often times one right after the other.

The fold-out cover, exhibited below, is just the cherry on top of a collection that still fucking slaps.

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various artists - Dali: The Endless Enigma

I had an "uncle", the husband of my mom's best friend, who was a literal rocket scientist. Today, he'd almost certainly be noted as on the spectrum, but in my childhood, he was called, at best, eccentric; at worst, a goddamn weirdo. But he was always kind to me, letting me dub tapes from his CaseLogic whenever he and his family would come to visit. It's how I got my first listen to a lot of the posthumous Reprise Hendrix recordings, a ton of the Rolling Stones' ABKCO tapes, and even Tangerine Dream.

I was out over the weekend, ostensibly on a trip to pick up a late lunch for Mrs. Mummy & I, but I figured I'd hit a couple of shops I hadn't visited since last year, and saw the spine of this peeking up from amidst the dross. "Dali: The Endless Enigma"? It's the sort of title that grabs my attention, regardless of the content.

I saw names like Robert Rich and Klaus Schultz on the front cover, ringing an image of Dali's "Atmospheric Skull Sodomizing a Grand Piano", and it was a done deal. The pathway to late 80s ambient and new age is paved with film scores and Krautrock. It's how I ended up spending $3 on this, 10 tracks of abstraction inspired by the titles of the surrealist's paintings.

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