Mojo for Music

I'd promised to do this back in November's Bert Jansch-Led Zeppelin post. I regularly buy some of the import British music magazines - mainly Mojo, but sometimes Uncut. And at least as much as an issue's articles, I consider what's on the 'free' cd that's loosely tied with the content.

So, here are 10 of the best Mojo comps that I've bought or heard, with most all the tracks via YouTube. I've embedded a YouTube playlist re-enactment, and each song title links to the individual video. I tried to balance quicker load-times with worthwhile videos. And *** indicates that the exact song and/or artist wasn't available, so I've picked something related. Oh, and I've tacked on the four volumes of Mojo's essential Music Guide series!



A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble Exploding In Your Mind (Jan 2010)
Compiled and Mixed by The Amorphous Androgynous

The Amorphous Androgynous is a BTWS-ish (#1, 2008) side-project of The Future Sound of London. They do psychedelic treatments and mixes of old-school psychedlia and freakbeat. This one includes prevous Top 10'ers The Yellow Moon Band (#8, 2009), Dungen (#5, 2008) and Can (#4, 1972).



1 Pop Levi - "Blue Honey"
2 The Yellow Moon Band - "Entangled"
3 July - "Dandelion Seeds" (Single Version)
4 The Amorphous Androgynous - "Falling Down"
5 Dungen - "Sätt Att Se" (Instrumental)
6 Donovan - "Three Kingfishers"
7 Can - "Flow Motion"
8 White Noise - "Love Without Sound"
9 Betty Davis - "Game Is My Middle Name"
10 Ed Askew - "Love Is Everyone" ***
11 Jean Claude Vannier - "Les Mouches" ***
12 Comus - "Diana"
13 Shogun Kunitoki - "Mulberg" ***
14 The Amorphous Androgynous - "Opus Of The Black Sun"



The Score: 20 Ultra-Cool Soundtracks (June 2002)

This thing is packed to the gills with absolute classics! This one and the next, both 2002, made me notice these magazine/cd combos might be worth checking out. If your internet can handle the playlist-buffering, check this one out. Then go ahead and buy it on cd.



1 Johnny Pate & Adam Wade - "Brother On The Run (Opening)"
2 The Kinks - "God's Children"
3 Quincy Jones - "Something's Cookin'" ***
4 DJ Shadow - "Dark Days"
5 Roy Budd - "Get Carter"
6 Elmer Bernstein - "Frankie Machine" ***
7 Jo Armstead - "You Cut Up The Clothes"
8 Booker T. And The MG's - "Time Is Tight"
9 John Barry - "Midnight Cowboy"
10 Peter Cook And Dudley Moore - "Bedazzled"
11 Henry Mancini - "Arabesque"
12 Mongo Santamaria - "Watermelon Man"
13 Vince Guaraldi - "Linus And Lucy"
14 David Shire - "The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three"
15 Isaac Hayes - "Truck Turner"
16 Wil Malone - "Death Line"
17 Ennio Morricone - "A Fistful Of Dollars"
18 The Slickers - "Johnny Too Bad"
19 Moby - "God Moving Over The Face Of The Water"
20 Nick Cave - "Let It Be"



Feed Your Head: 16 Mind-blowing Classics (Dec 2002)

Drugs, it's all about drugs. Good balance of classics and obscurities, lots of anti- testifying against less pro- celebration. The Sonics may be the apex of '60s fuzz-garage-punk, just recently had a post on Sebadoh, and Chris Bell was with Big Star for their debut (#2, 1972).



1 The Dramatics - "The Devil Is Dope"
2 The Sonics - "Strychnine"
3 Nat Adderley - "Quit It"
4 The Small Faces - "Here Comes The Nice"
5 Dillinger - "Cocaine In My Brain"
6 Donovan - "Sunny Goodge Street"
7 Country Joe & The Fish - "Bass Strings"
8 The Pretty Things - "Defecting Grey"
9 The Flamin' Groovies - "Slow Death"
10 Chris Bell - "I Am The Cosmos"
11 Grandmaster Flash - "White Lines"
12 Sebadoh - "Too Pure"
13 The Mighty Hannibal - "The Truth Shall Make You Free"
14 James Booker*** - "Junco Partner"
15 Funkadelic - "Maggot Brain"
16 Harry "The Hipster" Gibson - "Who Put The Benzedrine"



ok_computer (Feb 2008)

I actually can't remember what the theme of this one was. Given the title, probably something to do with Radiohead. British magazines occasionally write stories about them, cover stories even! But this is old and new pop and avant electronic stuff, and a little in-between. Where I first heard Fujiya & Miyagi (#10, 2006), and Xela runs Type Records - which released The Alps III (#9, 2008), and more recently Alphabet 1968, I'm Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, and Perdition Hill Radio.



1 The Human League - "Circus Of Death"
2 Gary Numan / Tubeway Army - "Down In The Park"
3 The Knife - "Silent Shout"
4 Fujiya & Miyagi - "Ankle Injuries"
5 Matthew Dear - "Fleece On Brain"
6 John Foxx - "Burning Car"
7 Arthur Russell - "Place I Know / Kid Like You" ***
8 Xela - "Afraid Of Monsters"
9 Tangerine Dream - "Rubycon" (Part One)
10 cLOUDDEAD - "Dead Dogs Two" (Boards Of Canada Remix)
11 Severed Heads - "Dead Eyes Opened"
12 Farley Jackmaster Funk - "The Acid Life"
13 The Peppers - "Pepper Box"
14 The Gentle Rain - "Plastic Man" ***
15 The Sounds Of Tomorrow*** - "Space Child" ***



The Man Machine: Celebrates The Electronic Revolution (Nov 2009)

Maybe just goes to show how much Mojo equates Radiohead with Kraftwerk. O no! More F&M, more Tangerine Dream, O.M.D. instead of Human League. Also a section of Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygène, otherwise known as the Battlefield Theme to Star Laser Force.



1 Kraftwerk - "The Robots" (2009 Digital Remaster)
2 LCD Soundsystem - "45:33" (Pilooski Remix)
3 Ultravox - "Slow Motion"
4 M83 - "We Own The Sky"
5 Clark - "Growls Garden"
6 Flying Lotus - "Roberta Flack"
7 O.M.D. - "Dazzle Ships" (Parts II, III And VII)
8 Tangerine Dream - "Sequent C"
9 Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt - "We're Looking For A Lot Of Love"
10 Fujiya & Miyagi - "Goosebumps"
11 Jean-Michel Jarre - "Oxygène Part IV"
12 The Orb - "Outlands"
13 Four Tet - "My Angel Rocks Back And Forth"
14 Audion - "Mouth To Mouth"
15 Komputer - "Like A Bird"



I Can See For Miles: Mojo Presents Lost Tracks from America's Psychedelic Underground (Apr 2009)

Sweet comp of Nugget-y pysch-garage, pleasantly focused on Texas and International Artists, themed around an article about the big 13th Floor Elevators box-set. I filled in video gaps for the first track (not Texas, great song) and Endle St. Cloud (Texas/IA, good song). 13th Floor, The Red Crayola, Golden Dawn, Bubble Puppy, Lost & Found, these are good Texas psych!!



1 First Crew To The Moon - "The Sun Lights Up The Shadows Of Your Mind"
2 The Mystery Trend - "Johnny Was A Good Boy"
3 Terry Manning*** - "Guess Things Happen That Way"
4 13th Floor Elevators - "(I’ve Got) Levitation"
5 The Red Crayola - "Hurricane Fighter Plane"
6 Bubble Puppy - "Days Of Our Time"
7 The Balloon Farm - "A Question Of Temperature"
8 The Music Machine - "The People In Me"
9 Chocolate Watchband - "Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In)"
10 Ashes*** - "Let’s Take Our Love" ***
11 Lost & Found - "Don’t Fall Down" ***
12 The Free Spirits - "I’m Gonna Be Free"
13 Golden Dawn - "Starvation"
14 Endle St. Cloud - "Come Through"
15 13th Floor Elevators - "You Don’t Know (How Young You Are)" (Live At The Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco)



Heavy Mod: A weighty 15-track wig-out! (Dec 2008)

Very, very broad overview of the Mod phenomenon. 13th Floor?! Aphrodite's Child?! Could have used some Jam, but quality stuff nonetheless.



1 The Move - "Walk Upon The Water"
2 The Yardbirds - "Shapes Of Things"
3 Caravan - "Place Of My Own"
4 Deep Feeling - "Pretty Colours"
5 Deep Purple - "Emmaretta"
6 The Creation - "How Does It Feel To Feel"
7 13th Floor Elevators - "Slip Inside This House"
8 Aphrodite's Child - "The Four Horsemen"
9 Blossom Toes - "I’ll Be Late For Tea" ***
10 The Small Faces - "Song Of A Baker"
11 The Pretty Things - "Baron Saturday"
12 David Axelrod - "Holy Thursday"
13 Humble Pie - "Growing Closer" ***
14 The Attack - "Mr Pinnodmy’s Dilemma"
15 The Bubble Puppy - "Hot Smoke & Sassafras"



Red Hot Chili Peppers Jukebox (July 2004)
Compiled by the band, these are the tracks that influenced, shaped and delighted the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Better compilationeers than they are a band, maybe ever. I think the first three songs explain well the band the RHCP could have been.



1 Gang Of Four - "Natural's Not In It"
2 Circle Jerks - "Group Sex"
3 Ohio Players - "Fopp"
4 Sly & The Family Stone - "Life"
5 Adolescents - "LA Girl"
6 The Weirdos - "Life Of Crime"
7 James Chance - "Contort Yourself" (Original Version)
8 James Brown - "There Was A Time"
9 Blonde Redhead - "Elephant Woman"
10 The Slits - "Typical Girls"
11 Descendents - "Myage"
12 The Wipers - "D-7"
13 Harmonia - "Dino" ***
14 Frank Zappa - "Son Of Mr. Green Genes"
15 Funkadelic - "Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow"



The Roots Of Led Zeppelin (Aug 2004)

Discussed a bit in the Bert Jansch post... Great material, necessary blues for the non-blues white-boy, and I'll take any John Fahey I can get!



1 Little Richard - "Long Tall Sally"
2 Garnet Mimms - "As Long As I Have You"
3 Robert Johnson - "Travelling Riverside Blues"
4 Bukka White - "Shake 'em On Down"
5 Santo & Johnny - "Summertime"
6 Bert Jansch - "Blackwater Side"
7 John Renbourn*** - "Nobody's Fault But Mine"
8 Spirit - "Fresh Garbage"
9 Muddy Waters - "You Need Love"
10 Howlin' Wolf - "Killing Floor"
11 Blind Willie Johnson - "In My Time Of Dying (Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed)"
12 Davey Graham - "She Moved Thru The Bizarre / Blue Raga"
13 Joan Baez - "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You"
14 John Fahey - "Dance Of The Inhabitants Of The Palace Of King Phillip XIV Of Spain"
15 Owen Hand - "She Likes It" ***



Music Is Love! 15 Tracks That Changed The World (June 2007)

Actually, just a hodgepodge of covers. Some are good, some are interesting, some are clearly filler.



1 The Edgar Broughton Band - "Apache Drop Out"
2 The Dream Syndicate*** - "Cinnamon Girl"
3 Willie Nelson & Family - "Move It On Over" (Live)
4 The Gun Club - "John Hardy"
5 Robyn Hitchcock - "Like A Rolling Stone" ***
6 Radiodread - "Airbag"
7 The Balanescu Quartet - "Autobahn"
8 Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Strange Fruit"
9 Minnie Riperton Featuring Jose Feliciano - "Light My Fire"
10 Al Green - "I Want To Hold Your Hand"
11 Madeleine Peyroux - "River"
12 Donny Hathaway - "To Be Young, Gifted And Black"
13 Big Star - "Femme Fatale"
14 Penetration - "Free Money"
15 Laibach - "Sympathy For The Devil"



Music Guide Vol. 1: Instant Garage (June 2003)

Ok, no more from me. The next four make up a series of genre overviews which are well worth checking out. Great stuff if you already dig it. Great introduction if you need one. Kick out the jams!!!



1 MC5 - "Kick Out The Jams"
2 The Electric Prunes - "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)"
3 The Sonics - "Psycho"
4 New York Dolls - "Personality Crisis"
5 The Ready Men - "Shortnin' Bread"
6 The Bush*** - "To Die Alone" ***
7 Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - "She Cracked"
8 The Express - "Wastin' My Time"
9 Gil Bateman - "Daddy Walked In Darkness"
10 Love - "Seven & Seven Is"
11 Rocky & The Riddlers - "Flash And Crash"
12 She - "Outta Reach"
13 The Ramones - "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (Demo)
14 The Kinks - "Milk Cow Blues"
15 Little John & The Monks - "Black Winds"
16 The Alarm Clocks - "No Reason To Complain"
17 Count Five, The - "Psychotic Reaction"
18 Artesians - "Trick Bag"
19 Dean Carter - "Jailhouse Rock"
20 The Iguanas - "Again & Again"
21 The Nazz - "Open My Eyes"
22 The Wailers - "Dirty Robber"
23 Paul Revere & The Raiders - "Just Like Me"
24 Bunker Hill - "The Girl Can't Dance"
25 Brave New World - "Train Kept A Rollin'" ***
26 The Amboy Dukes - "Baby Please Don't Go"
27 The Rats - "Rats Revenge" (Part 2)
28 Mouse & The Traps - "Sometimes You Just Can't Win"



Music Guide Vol. 2: Roots Of Hip-Hop (Sep 2003)



1 Grandmaster Flash - "The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel"
2 Lee Dorsey - "Get Out Of My Life Woman"
3 Lowell Fulson - "Tramp"
4 Rufus Thomas - "Itch & Scratch (Part 1)"
5 The Bar-Kays - "In The Whole"
6 The Mad Lads - "No Strings Attached"
7 James Brown - "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose"
8 Blood, Sweat And Tears - "Lucretia Mac Evil"
9 The J.B.'s - "The Grunt (Parts 1 & 2)"
10 The Dramatics - "Get Up & Get Down"
11 Al Green - "Here I Am (Come & Take Me)"
12 Flaming Ember - "Gotta Get Away"
13 The Jimmy Castor Bunch - "It's Just Begun"
14 Kool & The Gang - "NT"
15 Cymande - "Bra"
16 Parliament - "Flash Light" [part 2]
17 The Fatback Band - "King Tim III (Personality Jock)"
18 Funky 4 + 1 - "That's The Joint"



Music Guide Vol. 3: Raw Soul (March 2004)

Too many missing songs, embedding-disableds, and general problems to Playlist this one. Sorry to you Northern Soul fans out there - one at a time...

1 Bobby Angelle - "Too Much For You"
2 Little Esther - "Mojo Hannah" ***
3 Solomon Burke - "Home In Your Heart" ***
4 Felice Taylor - "I Can Feel Love"
5 Ray Charles - "Mess Around"
6 Little Anne - "Lean Lanky Daddy"
7 Bettye Swann - "The Heartache Is Gone"
8 Wilson Pickett*** - "If You Need Me"
9 Maxine Brown - "Baby Cakes"
10 Ike & Tina - "He's The One"
11 The Isley Brothers - "It's Your Thing"
12 Betty Bibbs - "Pounds Of Soul"
13 Albert Washington - "Hold Me Baby"
14 Mary Love - "Baby I'll Come"
15 Otis Redding - "These Arms Of Mine"



Music Guide Vol. 4: Blues Power (April 2004)



1 John Lee Hooker - "Boom Boom"
2 Jimmy Reed - "I Ain't Got You" ***
3 Bo Diddley - "Who Do You Love?"
4 Little Willie John - "Fever"
5 T-Bone Walker - "Stormy Monday"
6 Odetta - "Midnight Special"
7 Howlin' Wolf - "Spoonful"
8 Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones - "Things That I Used To Do" ***
9 Freddy King - "Hide Away"
10 Sonny Boy Williamson - "Fattening Frogs For Snakes"
11 Otis Rush - "I Can't Quit You Baby"
12 Muddy Waters - "Mannish Boy"
13 Hound Dog Taylor & The House Rockers - "Let's Get Funky"
14 Son House - "John The Revelator"
15 Lead Belly - "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?"

[Lesson learned: Next time you want to list 'n' link 166 songs, figure out your formatting beforehand!]