Mojo Magazine: Classic Or Dud

have to admit, i had a little emotional moment as the man who got my mojo magazine archive for 99p drove away into the sunset.

xpost I dunno, all the Borders' are gorn in the UK, so...

Has Mojo just stopped doing a cover mounted cd after like a decade and whatever.
Wasn't sure what to think when I saw a new edition with no cd on its front.
Monkees as cover stars.,
Oh yeah finally got the Album Classics set of solo Michael Nesmith cos i wanted to check my credit card was working on Tuesday morning thanks to the nonsense with 3 not topping up my phone

That used to blow my mind how magazines and sometimes newspapers in the UK had CD's in them. Especially felt that way the first time I ever visited the UK was around 2007 or 2008, when publishing was already collapsing in the U.S. I also noticed a LOT more people reading magazines and especially newspapers everywhere I went, so I guess that helps prop up the cost of doing so.

a few years ago i decided to call it quits re mojo (same stories, same bands, no longer relevant to what i listen to etc etc)
so, i went online and logged into my account place, and cancelled my sub.
for about 9 months after i was still getting it sent to me.
do like the whole subscribers covers thing though.
they are much better than the covers with all the text all over the place.
also, i do miss the monthly drop through the letterbox and the quick flick through to find the odd reviews for electronic music ...

I think Mojo are testing the waters with regard the free cd withdrawal.

There’s a note in the mag about it, production costs, etc. Think there’ll be one next month.

But. Didn’t do Flexipop any good!

right, I've just seen th ecover.
Maybe the format is getting less popular. A download code or some music platform playlist might substitute but doesn't work with th eway I listen to those things. Not sure if it would get the multiple plays these things do for me .

Something that still makes me chuckle from the cover of Viz "Free Prince CD for Eddie Reader! If you are Eddie Reader, don't hesitate to contact us today to claim your FREE Prince CD"

I remember when Mojo didn’t always have a CD!

I do too it's just a very long time ago. IK remember when they started being an occasional thing and normally seemed to be done quite well. Which might be why it became a standing thing

I thought the CD production costs were covered by the ludicrous amount magazines charge the artists/labels for inclusion, maybe not then

I have kept 2x MoJo CDs, both great compilations

https://www.discogs.com/release/2088114-The-Amorphous-Androgynous-A-Monstrous-Psychedelic-Bubble-Exploding-In-Your-Mind

https://www.discogs.com/release/782404-Various-Made-In-Britain

Yes, and also these ‘artist compiled’ jobs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/6137554-Various-Its-A-Wonderfull-Life-A-Journey-Into-Sound

https://www.discogs.com/release/2290694-Various-Step-Right-Up

Hmm, what to have as a closing track?

I still have a “Drugs in Music” one from nearly 20 years ago. It came in a plastic baggie. But for the last decade or so those CDs have been not of interest to me. All those “Current Indie Bands Play ‘Revolver’” are just landfill.

Yeah, you have to keep an eye on them for the occasional goodie.

This is my all-time favorite Mojo comp, an excellent addendum to the Nuggets box:
https://www.discogs.com/release/520015-Various-Instant-Garage-Music-Guide-Vol1

i found that the best ones were the cds that stuck to a particular genre.
the AA is brilliant and sits in amongst my FSOL/AA collection as opposed to in my box of Mojo freebies.
also, that Instant Garage one is really good, as GMM says, totally fits with Nuggets.
oh, the reggae based ones are always superb.

Oh those music guide ones were nice, about four of them I believe

yeah, they really were.
the "Raw Soul" or the "Roots of Hip Hop" one was originally meant to be a David Holmes sequenced mixtape, but problems re track clearance, meant it ended up as a standard compilation.

I still have several of those CDs around: Instant Garage, Raw Soul, Roots of Hip Hop, and Stax Soul Power. Had the Made in England one but let it go out in a purge.

There's a review of my book in the latest issue of Mojo, which is kinda cool if you're me.

My favourite Mojo CD is Change The Beat (14 Tracks From Madonna's New York Scene):

https://www.discogs.com/release/6614131-Various-Change-The-Beat-14-Tracks-From-Madonnas-New-York-Scene

There's a review of my book in the latest issue of Mojo, which is kinda cool if you're me.

― but also fuck you (unperson)

ooh this is very cool.
bravo.
going to have to try and find a copy and have a scan to figure out which review.
don't have access to a WH Smiths these days (or a lunch hour !) which was always the way to check on reviews/articles without buying the magazine.

Clostridium

Ok, how did my spelling corrector get that word from me typing xpost?

Anyway.. message starts:

Xpost (but yes that is cool)

Yeah, that’s another mojo save cd.

I’m loathe to throw cds away (but have done) so I have a lot of the uncut/mojo cds going back. Some have sold to completion nuts (I assume) via discogs. Some have made it to my ‘keep’ boxes, most if not all of the ones mentioned so far (I think someone bought that ‘drugs in music’ one but)

Will check out others that are in the keep box…

Heavy mod
Heavy soul
heavy nuggets

Most o fthe psychedelic ones even going back to early days have been good.
The stuff like the Grapefruit compis on hard rock, britfolk and things
I think there's at least one New York Punk one.

Yeah I've got a handful I keep around that I like, even relatively recent ones:

In Search of Syd: MOJO Presents 15 Mind-Bending Freak-Outs!
This Is A Call! (15 Brainmelting Dispatches From The Golden Age Of U.S. Alt-Rock) (despite the Foo Fighters namecheck, it's a nice little comp with The Grifters, Built to Spill, Shudder to Think, Red Red Meat)

Yeah those Music Guide ones were great! Lovely cover art too; I’ve still got them and I’ve chucked out a million other free CDs.

https://www.discogs.com/release/9092883-Lou-Reed-A-Life-In-Music

One track from each of his first (however many) solo albums.

Including Metal Machine Music!

The fave Mojo comp is The Score, an outstanding comp of movie soundtrack music.
https://www.discogs.com/release/979016-Various-The-Score

^ Yes, that’s one of the ones I’ve kept

I missed that one!

what would be nice is of this thread could be bumped every time mojo has an interesting cd on the front of it to prompt me to visit whsmiths...

Punk Nuggets this month featuring a few bands i know but no individual tracks.

but i think that one is only on the shops for a few more days - someone on Twitter posted that he already had his subscription copy of the next one, smiths cover

actually, found it...

It scares the health out of me... Here we go, the full tracklisting of this month's delectable @MOJOmagazine CD. In UK shops by Tuesday; in subscribers' letterboxes already, or imminently. pic.twitter.com/O893LoeS4U

— John Mulvey (@JohnRMulvey) August 12, 2023

The Beatles avant garde CD looked pretty cool, but annoyingly the mailer the magazine came in split and it fell out en transit.

Ugh, sorry

Note that US newsstand copies no longer have the CDs, only way you can get them in the US is with a print subscription.

Completely missed that Beatles avant-garde CD. Going to have to buy it second hand now, it looks great.

This was the last one I bought on the strength of the CD https://www.discogs.com/release/15945258-Various-Escape-From-Reality-15-Baroque-N-Roll-Art-Rock-Fandangos

The Smiths cover posted above is now in shops so i've just bought my second copy of Mojo in 5 days

Mojo is the only mag that I still persist with, my wife used to get a copy sent to her workplace for years too.

I do enjoy reading it although if I'm honest, it's probably out of habit really as the subscriptions are very cheap and nowadays I live nowhere near decent newsagents. I don't have all of them but I've been buying it since the beginning and have a bunch stacked away in a Kallax shelf that I can reach for. I dug out an issue the other day that was made when Blur were recording The Great Escape.

I suppose they're akin to the back catalogue departments of record companies, and can keep knocking out articles about heritage acts and only filter through newer bands that they feel are in keeping with the general aesthetic rather than worrying about having to write about more modern, off-brand trends.

there's a smiths cover every year, a beatles cover probably every 6 months

(seemingly)

I think people still share the cd on pirate bay regularly.

I get a digital subscription and the music is not included, unlike The Wire.

Sometimes, when flicking through this at the big supermarket, the CD will fall off into my trolley and only be discovered once I have left the shop.

dardnest thing....

Last time that happened was the Grateful Dead live CD.

I tried that with the Bob Dylan "Blonde on Blonde"

#WhatThese2LPSOfficer?

#notreally

I think people still share the cd on pirate bay regularly.

Someone has been posting the monthly PDFs of the magazine to usenet since 2015. Also, they're very easy to find on slsk, just search on "mojo 2023 pdf" (or whatever year). You can find many other mags on slsk the same way.

30th anniversary edition out now

"THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is Buried Treasures – a compendium of tracks from the secret classic albums uncovered by MOJO’s Buried Treasures column. Features The Prisoners, R.J. McMahon, Joe Meek, Nic Jones, Connie Converse, The Beau Brummels, Third World War and more!"

didn't actually pick up a copy because the contents didn't look great, Dylan, oasis... probably more

It’s a rather self indulgent issue. Includes a short article for each year of the magazine’s existence featuring the usual suspects among a bunch of articles on how great the magazine is and has been. The cover disc is pretty good though.

yeah enjoyed teh cd. Still don't have it all elsewhere which just ain't it.
Don't know why I don't have Third World War
& hadn't heard of that closing folk track.

I keep buying magazines that I don't read all of and still intend to. Mainly reading books and not keeping up with what I'm picking up there either. May be reading more tahn I did last year still though not sure.

They've announced that starting with this 30th anniversary issue, the CDs will once again be available on international newsstand copies.

my experience of working on magazines when they achieve eg their 30th is that everyone (justifably) sees it as a good excuse for a little holiday

hence all the reprinting of ancient content: it doesn't need re-copyreading or re-proofing so we have time pat ourselves properly on the back for longevity and general amazeballsness

I'm still waiting on mine.

It's in the shops, but.