various artists - Jon Savage's 50 Pre-Punk Missing Links

I'm writing this blog about 35 minutes before it's scheduled to post. It's less than an hour to Labor Day, so I don't feel particularly obliged to do much more than post something up.

One of the homies over at Twilight Zone originally posted this up last year. Apparently, very early on in Mojo's history, Jon Savage made a list of 50 songs predating punk that led to its explosion. It's a list that runs from 1969 (Gong) to 1977 (Richard Hell & Devo). And it is an incredible playlist. For every "T.V. Eye" or "Final Solution", there are songs like Lucifer's "Fuck You" or George Brigman's "Jungle Rot"; total outsider rock that never made it to the cut-out bin.

My contribution was properly dating each song, attaching the original release it appears on, and adding a genre. Put this on today and tell the boss you ain't coming in.

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Iggy And The Stooges - I Got A Right

Both Jesus and I love the Stooges. But I've never been one of those obsessive Stooges collectors, tracking down all the post-"Raw Power"/pre-"The Darkness" pseudo-legal releases and variations on songs that were already damned perfect. Give me the Rhino expanded versions of "The Stooges" and "Fun House", both the Bowie & Iggy mixes of "Raw Power", and a copy of "Metallic K.O." and I'll be pretty satisfied.

But I'm no sucker. When I stumble across a $1 copy of anything from the Iguana Chronicles, I'll snatch that up in two seconds flat. This 1995 CD release of the two classic "Raw Power" outtakes "I Got A Right" and "Gimme Some Skin" expands both the 1977 7" and the 1991 12" on BOMP! You get a pair of instrumental versions of "I Got A Right", a live version from 1977 that was performed in Paris nine days after I was born, and a fresh take of "Gimme Some Skin". I've always felt "Gimme" was a pretty jive song, but "Right" is a total ripper, and I like getting so many versions all together.

Maybe it's all a bit superfluous, but, like I said before, I'm no sucker. I'll take it whenever I get it.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Buried Treasures (15 Key Tracks From The Greatest Albums You Never Heard)

It's a late evening drop for this week's Mojo Monday. So for those of you waking up Tuesday to see this fresh in your feed: my apologies. I've reached that stage in life where I can't read without my cheaters. Nor can I type with any sort of accuracy. And I couldn't find my reading glasses Sunday; hence, no midnight Monday AM post.

But enough of that. This one is about the ability of music to still surprise you. This one landed in my lap earlier this year. I'm sure I didn't pay more than a buck or two for it, and I snagged it on the basis of completion, more so than any other factor. I have the Third World War and Creation Rebel records from which their tracks here originate. And, at the time, other than Joe Meek, there was nothing here that piqued my interest. But it's a buck, and I like sharing and writing about Mojo comps, so why not splash out? It arrives, I rip it, it goes in a box, and I move on.

At some point between then and now, I decide I'm going to load a bunch of comps I've yet to write about onto my phone. It''s the way these things go for me; I'm at work, I want to hear something new, I put one on, I write about it later on. Onto the phone goes "Mojo Buried Treasures". I hit Shuffle. The phone plays me a ton of different stuff: Augustus Pablo, Masshysteri, Stiv Bators, LeeHi. Y'all should know by now that there's little I won't give a shot to. A song settles in on my headphones. It reminds me of Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch, the British folk music that I used to shelf at my first record store job a million years ago, back when I thought it was all dusty tea sippers with long beards. There's a percussive nature to the way the guitar's being played, like m'dude is beating the hell out of his acoustic while singing a tale about a drowned miner. I gotta say, I was enthralled. So I played it again. And again. And one more time on the way home, as I drove north into the gray Washington fall.

And that's how I discovered Nic Jones. Off a Mojo comp that I barely even paid attention to.

I ended up ordering the Shanachie reissue of "Penguin Eggs" a few weeks ago. I've not really dug into yet. But I'm taken aback that I've discovered this 30 years after I probably first grudgingly placed the same recording between Sandy Denny and Iain Matthews solo records. These things can still sneak up on your ears and grab hold of your brain and make you seek out more. What an amazing thing.

Discogs

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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.

Discogs

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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.

Discogs

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The Afrika Korps - Music To Kill By

I wouldn't typically dive into KBD territory, but having gotten this 2001 reissue for a fantastic price a bit ago, I couldn't resist sharing it. The Afrika Korps were a DC-area proto-punk/garage band active in the late 70s. When I first encountered them, it was along with other pre-Dischord punks like the Slickee Boys White Boy, and the Chumps on mixtapes and comps like "30 Seconds Over DC". It was all more new wave than hardcore, which meant I wasn't going to dig it until I was older, but tracks like "N.Y. Punk" and "Jailbait Janet" appealed to me in that scuzzy way that Iggy and Turbonegro did. The older I get, the more I dig it.

This reissue came out on the esteemed, long-lived Gulcher Records of Bloomington, Indiana back in '01, It's topped off with a slew of outtakes from their initial recording sessions, and four tracks from a 1977 show at Cantone's in Boston. This would be followed up a year later with the complete Cantone's set, a 2005 reissue of the Korps' second LP "Hellow World". cBased on how much I dug this one, I'll no doubt be following the link above to pay full freight on those two discs in due time.

Discogs

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various artists - The Groups Of Wrath: Songs Of The Naked City

This one was hanging out on a low shelf, all by its lonesome, when i came across it a few months ago. And the title on the spine gave me doo-wop or jazz noir vibes. So imagine my surprise to discover this was a compilation originally compiled by Marty Thau, owner of Red Star Records and NYC new wave impressiaro. Any look at the emergence of punk and new wave is going to gain my interest; the selections herein grabbed my attention:

• A pair of cuts from the New York Dolls' second LP
• Two Thau-produced Ramones demos from 1975
• The first Blondie single on Private Stock ("X Offender" b/w "In The Sun")
• One of my all-time favorite 45s - Suicide's "Cheree" b/w "I Remember"
• Two contributions each from Bloodless Pharaohs and the Fleshtones, both originally appearing on 1980's "Marty Thau Presents"
• A dynamic duo from Richard Hell & the Voidoids' 1982 LP, "Destiny Street"

There's a good chance that you're like me, and you already own a fair amount of these in their original forms, or as reissues, or part of other compilations. But it's nice to share something like this, with very distinctive curaation, and some Bob Gruen photography on the cover, with someone who hasn't discovered this era yet. I probably would have lost my mind if I had gotten this on cassette in 1991; so many groups I now find influential all gathered in one place, the same year I discovered Sonic Youth and Nirvana and Public Enemy. It's pretty cool to think about, which is why my niece is getting a copy of this in the mail in time for Thanksgiving.

Discogs

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various artists - Mojo Presents: Trash! The Roots Of Punk!

From the ridiculous(ly bad) to the tragic to the sublime: here's yet another killer Mojo comp. This one's chock full of proto-punk, pub rock, glam, and even a smooch of space rock and motorik. The Iggster is on the cover. The Dolls lead things off. There's not a dud in the entire bunch.

But who am I telling? You know what you're getting when you visit Primitive Offerings, my previous post notwithstanding.

Discogs

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Monks - Black Monk Time

End of the month. Summer's turning towards fall. How about a slapper of an album?

Rather than go on about one of the great garage/proto-punk records of all time (a task undertaken by far more vested and interesting types than myself), let's talk about this specific version. You get the original LP, released on International Polydor in Germany back in 1967, along with the two non-LP singles released alongside "Black Monk Time". There's also an interview with two Monks by Mike Stax from Ugly Things Magazine. Not to mention: it was the first time this was available from a Stateside label. Thanks again, Rollins!

I have a hard time understanding why this isn't steadily in print.

Discogs

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Iggy And The Stooges - Metallic 'KO

I typically wouldn't post or write about "Metallic 'KO", because what's more to say about one of the all-time great live records, and the onstage meltdown of one of my favorite bands? I can only jump on top of a pile of great reviews and dry hump my way into the legacy, you know.

It's worth me sharing this, though, in case you're one of the heads who've never received the sacrament of Iggy and his Stooges getting pelted with loose change, threatened by bikers and giving back twice as much hate. And the reason is that Jungle Records just put out a collection of all their Ig releases over the years, starting with this here classic as disc #1. Some kind soul sent me a copy, and it's all I want to listen to. The collection also has both sets (October 1973 and February 1974) that make up "Metallic 'KO"s contents in remastered forms, as well as a number of other cool live and studios rarities.

This, tho...the "Raw Power" lineup of the Stooges, plus Scott Thurston on piano...phew. Give me all the medium drugs and set me loose. It's almost 50 years old and it's still an incredibly sexy, dangerous record.

Discogs

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