John Barry - The EMI Years Volume One (1957-1960)

It's pretty daunting to write about John Barry in light of his contributions to popular music, especially for a spud such as I. Far better writers have covered just about everything worth covering about the British composer/arranger, and all I can contribute is sharing this first volume of his pre-scoring work.

What appears here is Barry's rock 'n' roll and theme work, reflecting the earliest years of British rock. You can hear the last moments of light music in the first recordings of the John Barry Seven, how England first reacted to the likes of Duane Eddy in the JBS's cover of "Rebel Rouser", and Barry's first film theme work from "Beat Girl" and "Never Let Go", a pair of 1960 films featuring teen idol Adam Faith.

"Is it good, dude?" you might ask. Well, this isn't get the spins from me that the second and third volumes will. But there's parts contained herein that are definitely worth revisiting, which is exactly what I'd expect from a legendary composer like Barry.

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 - Mojo Presents: Life Companion (15 Tracks That Shaped Keith Richards)

Well, it's the last Mojo Monday of the year for me. And let's end the year with one from ten years ago, celebrating our Keef. Keef will not be touring in 2026, for reasons yet to be announced publicly. But if you're old enough to have played with half the performers on this selection, then you have the right to stay your ass home and enjoy the rest of your life. After all, the Stones aren't some weekend warrior shit. They're a machine, well worth the four figure tickets for the stadium seats. Better to leave your feet up if you don't have it in you anymore...or for the time being. You're Keith Richards; you shit where you want and you owe nothing to anyone.

Discogs

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Little Richard - Rock And Roll Ressurection

We do a piss poor job of respecting our legends in this country, sadly. It's worse when they're black, and worse still when they're queer. And so it was that, 20 years after he helped blow the doors open for rock & roll, Little Richard cut a re-recording of his greatest hits for K-Tel. Fucking K-Tel. Now, work is work, and the fire is there in these performances, but Ms. Penniman's little boy shouldn't have had to slum it on the oldies circuit. But Little Richard, a legend amongst legends, in a particularly fallow period, deserved better than recutting his finest songs for a "As Seen On TV" label.

This is the 1987 UK reissue on oldies' specialist label Charly, who are still going strong 51 years after their first releases. It has that really rad picture of Richard on the cover; plain artwork, yet still better than the other releases on K-Tel and Madacy over the years. I'm fairly certain I picked them up for a buck a few years ago, but only just got around to ripping it to share.

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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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 - Johnny Hanson Presents Puck Rock Vol. 1

As the weather gets colder and wetter, a man's sporting mind moves to hockey. And what better soundtrack than a Canadian, hockey-themed punk rock compilation, fronted by the heretofore-unknown fourth Hanson Brothrer, Johnny?

Released by Wrong Records in 1994, this one features all the mid-80s Canuck luminaries you'd expect to find on a release like this. Joey Shithead makes two appearances; one fronting D.O.A., the other fronting Cub. SNFU stands side by side with NoMeansNo side project Hanson Brothers. The greatest discovery for me was hearing Jughead's "Hockey Song", who sound like Motörhead playing bluegrass, with the attendant fantastic results.

There's a second volume that, if I find it for a less than $5, I'm guaranteed to pick up. Just a real fun time.

Discogs

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various artists - Blues Masters, Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics

Look, you really shouldn't need a reason to download this, populated, as it is, with some sick Chicago Blues, early rock & roll, and a couple of random blues rarities, none of which are younger than 35 years old.

But if you do need a reason, do it because it has Blind Willie Jefferson's "Dark Was The Night - Cold Was The Ground", a song so exemplary that Jack White regards it as the finest example of slide guitar to be recorded, and one of a handful of musical pieces to make it onto the Voyager Golden Record, wedged between pieces by Kesarbai Kerkar and Beethoven. Fine company, to be sure.

Discogs

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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?

Discogs

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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.

Discogs

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various artists - Hi Records - The Early Years Vols. 1 + 2

I grabbed this off a shelf at Value Village a number of years ago b/c I'll check out anything that came out of Memphis. And while this has no more in common with the likes of Al Green and Willie Mitchell than a record label and city, this was a pretty rad find, chock full of sounds that I wouldn't typically check out.

Ace Cannon is the one name I was familiar with going in, making an early appearance backed by Bill Black's Combo. Along with Bill Black's Combo, there are other names to look deeper into here: Gene Simmons, Tommy Tucker, Jerry Jaye, and Jay B. Loyd all turn in multiple cuts from Hi's first round of singles, released over the first couple years of the label's existence.

If you're into the depths of early rock 'n' roll, this is a good one to tune into.

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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various artists - Oh, Merge: A Merge Records 10 Year Anniversary Compilation

I got this for the Rocket From The Crypt song (an outtake from "RFTC") (and it was cheap). I kept it because it has a bunch of unreleased and rare indie rock from the late 90s. It's a pretty good lineup: the Karl Hendricks Trio, Magnetic Fields, Neutral Milk Hotel, Rock*A*Teens, Seaweed, and Superchunk (of course). And that's all the insight I can offer here.

Sorry, they can't all be deep dives into my mediocre history. /emoji shrug

Discogs

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Dead Low Tide - self-titled

Spencer from Dead Low Tide (photo from 10 Things Jesus Wants You To Know)

I was later than I should have been, falling in love with the Murder City Devils. I had written them off initially as hipster rockabilly wannabes, based solely on a picture I saw of Spencer Moody in some fanzine. Nothing about music, mind you. I'd just get hip deep into these weird ass takes throughout my early 20s where I'd lean real hard into hating on something, no matter the evidence to the contrary. I mean, if you're going to have shitty, baseless opinions, your 20s are probably the best time to get them out of the way. So I missed every MCD show that came through Baltimore during their run. Ol' Schmucky Magoo over here didn't get hip until I heard "Press Gang" on a Sub Pop sampler that came thru word in an ADA promo box. And BOY did I feel dumb!

I wasn't going to repeat my mistake when I heard of Dead Low Tide, the band comprised of three ex-Devils and Mike from godheadSilo. They'd self-released a 7" in 2002 that I'd picked up and played to death. When they finally made it East, we had heard they were soon to record their first LP, to be released on NYC's Tiger Style Records. Tiger Style was a label I was already paying attention to; they'd put out the second Convocation Of LP, and had put out some killer Rye Coalition records. They had proven they possessed good taste. Between that, the pedigree, and the 7", I figured I'd be due a good time when I saw them.

All I recall of the night is whiskey, and copious amounts of it. So it's fair I don't remember much more than:
1) I saw them at the Ottobar.
2) I remember Gabe, their roadie of some renown, capering about throughout their set and drinking

Description

Jägermeister with me at some point.
3) I woke the following day at 1pm, having missed a film class and wearing a series of mysterious cuts/scratches on my face and down my body to my knees.
I couldn't tell you who else they played with, how they sounded, who I attended with, or how I traveled the two blocks from the show to my 3rd floor apartment. Did I have a good time? Apparently.

As it turns out, Dead Low Tide were not long for this world. They went home to Seattle, recorded this here slab, and promptly broke up. The end. How anticlimatic.

The record's pretty good, tho.

Discogs

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various artists - Boot Power Vol. 5 - 1970-1979

PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images

We've reached the end of our Boot Power adventure with today's post of Volume 5. By now, you've found a boot's full of new bands to dive further into. My mission is complete.

Standout tracks here? Well, I'm partial to the punk tracks on the comp: Menace, Sham 69, Slaughter & the Dogs, those guys playing "Government Action". I'd never heard the Sensational Alex Harvey Band until downloading this. Now "Next" is a go-to record when making a glam tape. I also think I've mentioned it before; if you haven't checked out the (Hammersmith) Gorillas, do it now.

I'll admit to some real sadness when I come across an awesome blog with dead links. It's doubly bad when I consider a blog like Crazee Kids Sound, where I was aware of it in its heyday, but didn't dive in until they were defunct. So many cool comps and rarities, now lost to time. Enjoy it while you have it, I suppose.

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various artists - Boot Power Vol. 4 - 1970-1979

One of the fun things about the "Boot Power" series is how many awesome songs one discovers over the course of 100+ tracks. When would I have heard the Gorillas, or Protex, or the Sensational Alex Harvey Band? Possibly: my enthusiasm for seeking out music I don't know anything about hasn't waned as I've gotten older. I'm not sure, however, if I'd come across a track like Supernaut's "The Kids Are Out Tonight" if I would have been able to put it in a similar context that this curation provides.

That said, my favorite here is, and will always be, Cock Sparrer's "Trouble On The Terraces". Recorded in the same sessions that produced their self-titled 1978 debut, but not released until 14 years later, "Trouble..." is a perfect football anthem, as well as a great example of how pub rock transitioned into punk in 1976 and 1977. It's hard to believe that "Cock Sparrer" only came out in Spain, and wouldn't come out in England until it was released as "True Grit" in 1987. An OG pressing is rarer than hen's teeth, so, you know, now you know what to get me for my birthday.

As with the other collections in the series, there's some real cheeze amongst the rockers. That's fine, because they make a track like "Tired Guy of the Road" by Blood Chains really pop. Speaking of: don't let corny-ass band names sway you from listening. Some of the best cuts across the series come from bands like Giggles and Bilbo Baggins.

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various artists - Boot Power Vol. 3 - 1970-1979

There's a part of me that counts "Boot Power Vol. 3" as the weakest of the four volumes I've heard. I suppose that should tell you something about the quality of the whole series, because there are wall-to-wall rippers here. Maybe it's the sequencing; it just doesn't flow for me. But, damn, if that's the worst thing I can think to say...

The one-offs here really make this comp. I'd never heard Darren Burn before downloading this, but "Quick Joey Small" is just a killer song from a child singer who really didn't make any other records. Bilbo Baggins is easily my favorite Tolkien-inspired glam band of 1974. The Rebels featured Gaz from Angelic Upstarts, and have a fantastic proto-Oi! cut in "All Hate". The best of all of these is Hector's 1974 track, "Bye Bye Bad Days". Label mates of Elton John, they only released two singles as a band before they disappeared in 1976. This is the one that I find myself singing all the time. It's an ear worm in all the best ways.

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various artists - Boot Power Vol. 2 - 1970-1979

Photo by Daniel Meadows

It took seeing Giuda to be open to listening to glam and pub rock; it took "Boot Power" to fall in love.

"Boot Power", ostensibly, is a series of comps curated by the blog Crazee Kids Sound from 2008 to 2010. I'm not sure if Volume 1 was ever posted, despite the appearance of a cover in the "Boot Power" video. Volumes 2 through 5, however, represent one of the best collections of 70s terrace rock that I've ever heard. It's remarkable to me how listenable these tracks are. For every Bowie or Cock Sparrer track, there is a Slade deep cut, or a track like "Always Plenty of Women" by Heavy Metal Kids that I've never encountered. Is it a key difference between the music industries in the UK and US that these songs were big hits in England, but rarely tracked here? I dunno; I wasn't alive for most of it.

So I'm going to post each of the four volumes I have over the next four weeks. The original links on Crazee Kids Sound are dead (old Megaupload links), and I think these are definitely worth keeping alive and available. I'm leaving the Skrewdriver songs in each comp intact (for now); I feel like it's dishonest to remove the Chiswick-era recordings, especially since "All Skrewed Up" stands as a great proto-Oi! record that is a key part of this story. Yet I'll can't ignore that within five years, they had transformed into the leading neo-Nazi/RAC band in the land.

Yeah, come back each Friday, and I'll throw up a new volume. Enjoy.

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various artists - Mojo Ain't Nothing

Here's something I've been meaning to post since I kicked things off again back in April.

I have a lot less need to front on my musical knowledge these days. I know what I know, I know what I don't know, and I know where to go to learn about what I don't know. The incredible posting community at Twilight Zone has played a great role in opening up new musical worlds for me in the past two years; I can only express my gratitude by sharing the occasional post-punk record that someone's looking for. There's a person who posts these big ol' .zip files of 45s from the 60s and 70s, chock full of soul and doo wop and early rock 'n' roll and all kind of tasty treats I would have never checked out on my own. They're the one who got me coming back every day.

Shortly after I got hipped to TZ, I discovered this CD-R in a stack of dollar CDs at a local storage space liquidator. I recognized a few of the names: Curtis Knight and Wilson Pickett, the Pyramids and Little Johnny Taylor. And that cover: that is a killer cartoon. I've wasted more money on worse things. So home it came.

And a damned good thing it did, because this is a really great comp. There's very little you'd randomly stumble across in the world. Sure, you might turn up one or two or even three cuts, but nothing so well curated at such a low price. From what I've been able to research, this appears to have originated out of Rooky Ricardo's Records in San Francisco. When it was made, I couldn't say. But it's a great idea. If you're a seller of obscure records, it makes a ton of sense to put a sampler together of what you stock in the shop.

Since I snagged this, I've kept my eyes open for a lot of 50s and early 60s soul, and heard a lot of "new" artists from the early days of modern pop music. I've also been steadily downloading the East Side Story series, kindly shared by Robert over at Terminal Escape. It covers some of the same ground, while highlighting artists you might be more familiar with. They're all great to listen to, and, who knows? You might get a native nod from the old head in the car next to you in traffic.

Click here to download.