Mojo Magazine: Classic Or Dud

Uncut is better - has better writers and an overall less stuffy outlook. They need to cut down the amount of 'Americana' though, and they seem to fall for any singer songwriter who comes along (Slaid Cleaves, Eileen Rose, Jim White -no thanks). We could do without coverage of Neil Young's every fart, too. That said, I have to say it's great as Mr. Jones the esteemed editor and doyen of rock journos is a neighbour and we use the same fish and chip shop. OK - no more namedropping in future.

Uncut covers more of what I like but in a True Path Of Rebel Rock way I find increasingly rubbish. Too much mythology, not enough insight.

Take the March issue for example. Though it has a disturbing amount of space devoted to ELP and a wretch inducingly hideous front cover, there is a really fantastic article on the Pixies by David Cavanagh. It is worth buying just for that, though I did feel embarassed buying it.

But on other occasions when covering people I like, Mojo pull it off magnificently. The Gainsbourg piece was the last such example.

Tom and Dr C are right about Uncut, I think. Half the time it's fascinating (Reynolds's Kid A thinkpiece, Paul Morley's everlasting way with the language, Chris Roberts making even the hackwork of the film soundtracks roundup read as though he's taking the utmost pleasure from the whole thing), but often you feel as though those involved should get out a little more and stop thinking Americana and singer-songwriters are, like, timeless and worth covering in perpetuity. It's all Jonesy's fault, of course. I could rerun some of Taylor Parkes's jokes about Jones spending most of his spare time roaming the prairie but actually knowing so little that he thought a Jimmy Nail track was by Mark Eitzel, etc., but you've probably got the idea.

I think there'd be a consensus round here about who the good and the bad Uncut writers are. And the bad ones would be those who would fit best into Mojo.

Whatever I may have thought of Mojo, I've never considered it to be nauseatingly smug and self-satisfied as Q is. Q, after all, is edited by the sort of people who jack it all in to write scripts for EastEnders.

Anyway let me spring to the defence of Allan Jones. I think it's to his credit that he's managed to put together so many interesting writers (Penman, McDonald, Morley, Stubbs, Roberts) on one journal. For that we should let him have the odd Waylon Jennings interview.

Does anyone else find Nigel "5 stars" Williamson as unintentionally funny as I do. Is there an artist or genre that this man does NOT like? He seems to give everything from Spooky Tooth to Sade the same cheerily favourable review.

"Anyway let me spring to the defence of Allan Jones."

Oh, I wasn't trying to criticise him - I think even the MM writers who took the piss had a respect for him, and an admiration for him; he wrote hardly at all for the Maker in his last few years there, and he was probably wise to adopt a background role, but he's clearly the sort of person who knows how to hold the thing together (more than he actually knew the music it was covering by then), and he mercifully steered it away from dumbed-down discourse, tacky features and flagwaving during his last 3 years there (when such things were already a disease over at the NME). Jones was the sort of editor whose importance you didn't realise until he left; the speed of the MM's decline immediately after his departure in March 97 proves that, and I'm ultimately prepared to forgive him however many dodgy things he may like. Reynolds excepted, you've listed all the "good" Uncut writers I was thinking of.

"Does anyone else find Nigel '5 stars' Williamson as unintentionally funny as I do"

He was the sort of "bad" Uncut writer I was thinking of. Dreadfully gushing writing and horribly retrogressive tastes for the most part. Uncut's bland dadrock downside.

Question: How come all the obsessive mags like this come out of the U.K.? Are there ANY American mags that cover music in the manner of a Mojo? I honestly can't think of one. Somebody point me in the right direction.

DUD!!!

But the long historical pieces I do find useful, especially when regarding acts/artists about whose history I feel I ought to know more, e.g. Patto or ELO.

As great as The Beatles, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Neil Young are, there is still a limit to how much new stuff you are able to dig out about them.

Which makes Mojo more interesting because they aren't afraid to do a feature on Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Moody Blues, The Animals, Pete Seeger or David Crosby instead.

Plus Mojo does actually attempt to turn their (mainly 30-40-50 something) readers into more recent stuff too, that is, recent stuff that Mojo finds good (and the Mojo staff has a considerably broader taste in recent music compared to the Americana crazed Uncut staff)

Stevie Chick does get some good bands in Mojo(and Kerrang too).
I suppose having read Mojo for years now ive read about every band they cover. If they stopped repeating themselves and covered some more obscure acts I either haven't read much about/or heard of, i might buy. Then again would that sell?

Its time they gave Parliament/Funkadelic a front cover and just devoted the entire magazine to them and all the spin offs. That would make great reading.

Someone should write a really good pfunk book.

(I speak from the perspective of someone who for two years unsuccessfully lobbied U***t to give Todd Rundgren the front cover and 30 pages inside)

4-5 Public Enemy
Evens Beastie Boys
7-4 Outkast
2-1 Eminem
4-1 Wu Tang Clan (Up from 5-1)
8-1 Jay Z
12-1 50 Cent (down from 8-1)
15-1 Run DMC/LL Cool J
40-1 Dizzee Rascal
50-1 bar

Odds to appear on the front cover

Wire 20-1
Throwing Muses 40-1
The Stranglers 75-1
Underworld 100-1
King Crimson 200-1
Killing Joke 250-1
The Associates 400-1
The Chameleons 500-1
Rush 1000-1
Porcupine Tree 10,000-1

Nick Hornby - evens

Again that's the problem about funk/hip-hop fans. Your extreme intolerance towards anything that is not funk/hip-hop/R&B related.

Mojo have never devoted their entire magazine to one single genre, and never will. They have done funk specials, and they will again. They have also done hip-hop specials, and the likelyness of Mojo putting Public Enemy on their front page is way bigger than the likeliness of Mixmag or Kingsize putting Coldplay on their front page. Who who is the most intolerant here?

Daddy you're a fool to cry....

weirdly, i wouldn't have thought that would be a tough pitch there - isn't paul lester a huge Todd fan?

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.

Rolling Stones and a cd of "old weird blues"

https://images.bauerhosting.com/marketing/sites/16/2023/10/MOJO-361-cover-Rolling-Stones.jpg?auto=format&w=1200&q=80

Disappointing that "Bob Dylan's Secret Treasures" isn't a revelation that he's been burying caches of gold along the stops of the never-ending tour for dedicated fans to find after he's passed.

was kinda hoping the people who regularly get Mojo would update this thread on every new issue, save me having to make a special trip to whsmiths every month (or whs as it is now)

anyway, i think december's cd was a roundup of the year, featuring nobody that i can remember, and january's, which is in the shops now, is another Heavy Nuggets volume

I get the digital version which does not come with the cds or even a download, which I somewhat regret. I’m generally not a fan of the new stuff Mojo champions but I liked the heavy nuggets series in the past and other historical trawls.

(December was a Beatles cover, Jan is Stevie wonder

i could just post this and then have to remember to click it once a month
https://www.mojo4music.com/magazine/latest-issues/ )

Doesn't sound completely terrible xps

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is The Best Of 2023. Features tracks from MOJO’s favourite albums, by artists including: Lankum; Everything But The Girl; Rickie Lee Jones; The Coral; Wilco; Grian Chatten; Julie Byrne; Young Fathers and more!

Last act calculated to outrage the Mojo core reader on name alone

Still very “chuffed” the album I made the art for won Mojo’s Best Electronic Album Of The Year. Been reading this magazine for 20 something years, I think.

Congrats!

Thanks!

It's a great album (and cover).

Still think of James Holden as a progressive/trance DJ so didn't realise he was now making albums like this

Thanks, groovypanda.
His albums have morphed and progressed over the last few releases. Check out his Animal Spirits project if you haven't. It was a huge honor and surprise to be asked to contribute since I've been a fan of his recordings for a while.
As for the artwork - I also made a 12 page booklet that comes with the vinyl and cd (and pdf with Bandcamp digi) versions of the album.

It's a lovely sleeve, Captain - congrats!

I'm obliged to mention that someone Out There is posting most/all of the Mojo CD comps to alt.binaries.sounds.lossless.rock. If you know what that is, you'll know how to find them.

Feb was Wings, including a compilation called Jet

Mar is The North Will Rise Again with a compilation of Manchester bands and liam on the cover. didn't entice me to buy it.

sucks so bad that as a digital subscriber I don't have access to the CDs.

Must have been in another thread that I posted this, but it also sucks that Mojo and Uncut seem to have largely disappeared around here. Between a nearby killer newsstand and the local Barnes & Noble I was always able to pick these up, but I haven't seen a new issue of either in many months.

supermarket stocks mojo so i do notice when they change. anyway the new one.

Jun 2024

Kate Bush – The Early Years is this month’s cover story. Everything from her early demos through Wuthering Heights to Never For Ever. Plus! An insider relives the incredible Tour Of Life. Also in the issue: The Yardbirds – the whole story; Scott Walker’s Climate Of Hunter at 40; Beth Gibbons returns; Tangerine Dream’s synth madness; Labi Siffre – famous at last. And: Crowded House; Curtis Mayfield; Anita Pallenberg; Steve Harley; Nirvana; Leyla McCalla; Richard Thompson; Lou Reed; Buzzcocks; Minutemen.

THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is MOJO WORKING!: 15 slices of raucous, raving, rumbustious British R&B by The Yardbirds, Manfred Mann, Graham Bond, Cyril Davies, Geno Washington, Alexis Korner and more!

I wrote the Minutemen story - 4-page oral history on the making of Double Nickels, with new/unpublished interviews with Mike Watt, Bob Mould, Kira Roessler, Joe Baiza, Joe Carducci, Ray Farrell and David Fricke.

Buy magazines, they rule.

Greatt article! Gotta go back and listen to the album

Haven't read it in age, but I was at an airport, saw it and thought now is the time. Enjoyed all of it, but especially the Minutemen article - nice work stevie! Quite moving tbh.

Yeah Mojo and The Wire have just completely disappeared around here, haven't seen an issue in bookstores or newsstands for many, many months.

For me it's that I don't really go into newsagents much any more - I never see it to think about buying it. Anyway, just subscribed.

Ah thanks Boring and Woof! Have interviewed Mike W a number of ties and he never fails to leave me verklempt - the thing about thinking Ulysses was a happy, exciting book until rereading it when he was 40 ("The book didn't change, but I had") hit me hard on this one.

yeah it was very insightful. I love autodidacts

[xp by which I mean when he reread it at 40 he found it to be a sad book]

I wrote the Minutemen story - 4-page oral history on the making of Double Nickels, with new/unpublished interviews with Mike Watt, Bob Mould, Kira Roessler, Joe Baiza, Joe Carducci, Ray Farrell and David Fricke.

Wonderful. I was actually hoping for this earlier this month when I played through all of their records after seeing so many people on social media commemorate D. Boon's birthday on April 1. Still frustrating that Mike Watt was never able to release an uncut remastered edition of Double Nickels - he definitely tried but I guess Greg Ginn blew him off.

Have yet to hear anyone (other than Mugger) speak fondly of Ginn.

How did other bands get their masters back? Offer Ginn a lot of money or go through the courts? Money something I assume Watt and others don't have.

Mojo is absolutely killing it as of late. I know rock is dead and all but it's kind of wild that there's no American magazine left that's going to put Pearl Jam on a cover in 2024

xp I think you just need to get some solid lawyers to confront SST and Ginn rolls over. A couple of catches: doesn't work if the band members can't agree to terms and clear the way for lawyers to move forward (see Hüsker Dü) and even if Ginn concedes, he hasn't done shit to properly maintain or store the masters, so even though you get back the rights, the physical masters may be lose (see Meat Puppets)

*lost

I know it's the wrong mag, but Select has a cover mount of Can Live tracks this month..

I think that's Uncut, didn't Select go away a long time ago?

Oh yeah. Uncut. Opps.

xp I think you just need to get some solid lawyers to confront SST and Ginn rolls over. A couple of catches: doesn't work if the band members can't agree to terms and clear the way for lawyers to move forward (see Hüsker Dü) and even if Ginn concedes, he hasn't done shit to properly maintain or store the masters, so even though you get back the rights, the physical masters may be lose (see Meat Puppets)

― birdistheword, Tuesday, April 30, 2024 3:29 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i spoke with this directly with terry katzman about the husker du stuff (terry ran reflex records for the huskers) before he died, they did have lawyers - the same lawyers that dino jr. and meat puppets used i think he said -- but the husker contract was different and had some more onerous language in it that they could not overcome. the band was actually all fairly united (at least as united as huskers get) and behind the project. ginn does not just roll over by any means.

so they could do the savage young du boxset, because that was largely based on terry's tapes and pre-sst. the original plan was to work with numero on a reissue series of the entire catalog - i think he said the idea was to have sets where it would be a remastered album then another disc of outtakes and/or live performances of that era.

^^^ oh maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

yeah it's a tragedy that it never happened and now that Terry is gone it never will, he had so much energy to make it happen he cared way more about that band than the members did

Yeah, the impression Bob gave me last time I interviewed him is that they had lawyers, they'd approached Ginn, but that it was just too hard, and in the end he's just written it all off as a lost cause. It's such a shame.

SST seem to have bumped up their vinyl represses over the last couple of years, but I don't see them doing any deluxe reissues with outtakes, etc, and that's a shame. I remember telling Carducci when I was researching my Flag book that it was a tragedy they weren't celebrating the back catalog that way, and that the CDs didn't sound great and could do with a remaster at the very least, but he argued that they sound fine. Still...

Interesting and very sad. I was going by that interview Grant did where he claimed Bob was asking for too much control and too big of a share of the catalog in order to get it away from SST, but I guess a lot happened after that bump in the road.

https://www.mojo4music.com/magazine/latest-issues/mojo-368-july-2024-paul-weller/

Weller cover, Byrds related cover cd