MOJO 4-Stars
4 Jun
I’m a big fan of MOJO magazine. They’re British, they’re cheeky and they cover lots of different kinds of music (including obscure old guys who are now pumping gas in Jersey).
I read all their reviews and often buy records based on their recommendations. I’m envious because I’m not a particularly good reviewer. I have trouble equating a song to a “wispy, Beatlesque bit of puff pastry”.
Awhile back, they started awarding “stars” to records based on their, um, pastry-like qualities. I think it’s silly to award “stars’ to records, especially since every other one they mention gets four of them.
But, I still like their magazine and think it’s worth at least three donuts on the magazine pastry scale.
Here are some cuts from albums that got four stars and my own personal wisps of Beatlesque logic as to why you should go forth and consume them heartily.
I owned a Bob Mould record once. I think it was Workbook but I’m not sure. I don’t know if I bought it, stole it or inherited it. I distinctly remember there was a girl attached to it in some way. We were sleeping together, as I recall, and I wanted to impress her with my expansive musical tastes if not my Barry White-like lovemaking prowess. She’s gone, the record’s gone but Bob Mould’s still around and making better records than Barry White. This one is from The District Line.
I like Sheryl Crow. She’s pretty, dynamic and stylish. She has a fantastic figure. She hung out with Lance Armstrong. She makes great records, sings about beautiful things. This one is from Detours.
Willie Nelson – Gotta Serve Somebody
I like Willie Nelson. He’s pretty, dynamic and stylish. He has a fantastic figure. He hung out with Johnny Cash. He makes great records, sings about beautiful things. This one is from Moment of Forever.
Tegan and Sara – Relief Next To Me
I thought Tegan and Sara were lovers from Canada. Turns out they’re sisters from Canada, which is not exactly the same thing. They appear unphased by the difference in exchange rates between the Canadian and American dollar. This record is Beatlesque, an expression that’s been used more than “It’s All Good” and “Puff Pastry”. Even so, they make good records. They seem to be smart girls who make records for smart people. This one is from The Con.
Nada Surf – Film Did Not Go ‘Round
I confess to knowing absolutely nothing about this band except for hearing their name mentioned casually while taken to jail during a drug bust at a neighborhood bar. “Hey, did you hear the new Nada Surf album. My desire to be free of these nasty plastic handcuffs make me think of their wispy, delicate puffs of vocal magic”. Today, they have a beautiful website, fitting of this beautiful song. This one is from Lucky.
When I saw their ad on the back of the magazine, I thought: Argh, another bad idea (like Scissor Sisters). When I saw a song titled, Without You, I thought: Argh, another butchering of Harry Nilsson. Turns out they’re a whole lot better than Scissor Sisters and are smart enough not to attempt a Nilsson song (for the time being, anyway). I’m not sure how to describe this song except to say it could’ve fit well on AM radio in the 70′s, somewhere between Chevy Van and Torn Between Two Lovers. I like it. This one is from Join With Us.
Okkervil River – It’s Not Kicks
I’m not sure what to make of this band but, hey, they’re sporting four stars from MOJO so they must be good. Big Country meets Rusted Root? I don’t know. This one comes from The Stage Names.
Setting aside that she’s exotically beautiful and attractively strange-sounding, I figure she could’ve been doing her thing back in the 60′s as well as in the 00′s. I promised I wouldn’t say this but: if Melanie and Tom Waits has a love child back in the 60′s, it would’ve been Thao Nguyen. This one is from We Brave Bee Stings And All.
Jim Lauderdale – All Roads Lead Back To You
A country music legend and, actually, the perfect song to follow Bag Of Hammers. This one is from The Bluegrass Diaries.
Any band that can sound like a combination of the Partridge Family and the soundtrack to Godspell without sounding completely inane deserves all the hype they can get. I love this song. It wasn’t a MOJO four-star album (that I know of) but so what. This one is from Hideaway.
Namaste,
Music Junkie @ Fusion 45
i like mojo too. good features and the free cd they throw in make it worth spending my hard earned $$$$. Nada Surf have been around for a while… they did that song ‘Popular” which was, well, popular a few years back.
thanks for the turn-on’s to some of this other stuff.
You’re welcome, Nazz. Thanks for dropping by. That’s what’s cool to me about pop music…it’s never too late to discover something new that’s actually old. I’ve just started reading a book called “Temples of Sound,” about some of the classic recording studios. I didn’t know that the first tape recorders were invented in Germany in the 1930′s and that Bing Crosby had a hand in developing the first American version — built by the legendary Ampex corporation.