Sunday 30 November 2014

The Whiskey Kittens Bag

Final Whiskey Kittens of the year last night. We've run for almost three years now, and that's a long time for a club night. When I first started out, it was almost all Rock and Roll records, gradually shifted to Northern Soul, Southern Soul, and more recently, Disco.

In the current incarnation of my set, there are some standard go-to tracks. Every DJ pledges to keep their set fresh by integrating new records, and that's entirely admirable, but not always possible. The internet makes a lot of compilations available to the needy or greedy for free; and if you work in record shops or know someone who does, well, there's an option to update easily. But if your time and funds are limited, there's always a charity shop next to a bus stop. I've always been a huge fan of the charity shop genre compilation. Mojo comps have always served me extremely well, as have a variety of Time/Life 2 CD sets.

But Mojo CDs are where it's at, frankly. Always cheap, sometimes LOADED with good stuff.

This is my top 5. If you see these and you don't have them, pick them up. Discogs links show these available for very, very little.

Mojo Music Guide Vol 1 Instant Garage
Incredible rocking comp, this dominated my set for the first few months. MC5, New York Dolls, Artesians.... Smash after smash, mixes nicely with the New Rock Revolution (*cough*) stuff and 00's Detroit - Soledad Bros / White Stripes / Von Bondies.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Music-Guide-Vol-1-Instant-Garage/release/520015

Mojo Music Guide Vol 3 Raw Soul
Too good to be true. Mixes well to big Motown production value tunes, tempo stays peppy until towards the end. Albert Washington - Hold Me, and the better known and very Isley Brothers number, It's Your Thing, dominate. Closes with Otis Redding doing These Arms of Mine. A real heartbreaker.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Music-Guide-Vol-3-Raw-Soul/release/552303


Mojo Mod Club Party
Extremely useful for moving back and forth from Northern Soul to rockier Mod territory. You Can't Sit Down (Parts 1 & 2) by the Phil Upchurch Combo and perennial floor filler Bert's Apple Crumble by The Quik.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Mod-Club-Party/release/519850


Mojo Southern SoulWhole thing is sensational. First half has more impact, Sam and Dave doing I Thank You and Etta James' Tell Mama are choice, but the stand out is I'll Take Her by Eddie Floyd.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Southern-Soul/release/994194

Mojo Presents Let's Move
A selection of faster blues songs. Ultimate killer track is Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor and The House Rockers. My favourite song on a Mojo comp. Really quick. Version on the disc sounds a lot thicker in the mix than the youtube versions.
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Lets-Move-A-Heavy-Blues-Collection/release/3999166