MOJO 304 – March 2019: Joni Mitchell
Latest issue features Joni Mitchell, The Specials, David Bowie, Pete Shelley, John Sebastian, Royal Trux and more.
PEERLESS SINGER, GENIUS songwriter: MOJO celebrates Joni Mitchell over 22 pages, with a classic in-depth interview, plus rare pics and insights and a 15-track CD of post-Joni songs and artists, featuring Julia Holter, Frazey Ford, Nadia Reid, Case/Lang/Veirs, Sun Kil Moon, Tomberlin, Wendy & Lisa and more. Also this month: The Specials – new album, new controversy; fresh light on David Bowie’s watershed 1965; the hair-raising story of Royal Trux; and the adorable John Sebastian in the MOJO Interview. Plus: Pete Shelley departs; The Sugarcubes hit; Cass McCombs uncurls; the Beastie Boys talk waffles; Roy Harper fights back; Yola breaks out. Finally, records by Rustin Man, Jessica Pratt, Sleaford Mods, Julia Jacklin, Michael Rother and Nic Jones, on Nonesuch and Philadelphia International, rock our world.
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CONTENTS MOJO 304
COVER STORY: JONI MITCHELL A 22-page celebration of her genius, with an in-depth interview, Joni’s verdict on her own key tracks, an incredible Norman Seeff photo portfolio, the latest on her health and more.
COVERMOUNT CD: YOU TURN ME ON, I’M A RADIO 15-track collection of post-Joni songs and artists, featuring Julia Holter, Frazey Ford, Nadia Reid, Case/Lang/Veirs, Sun Kil Moon, Tomberlin, Wendy & Lisa and more.
MOJO 304: if you’re a MOJO Subscriber, your magazine looks like this.
THE SPECIALS They’ve defied legal writs and hissy fits to make an album. It’s good, but is it right? The three remaining members, and two former ones, state their case.
JOHN SEBASTIAN How The Lovin’ Spoonful’s jug band philosopher missed the gravy train but regrets rien. “I don’t claim to be a saint,” he twinkles at David Fricke.
PETE SHELLEY MOJO pays tribute to the Buzzcocks’ singer, songwriter, icon, iconoclast. Steve Diggle gets rightly emotional.
BOWIE ’65! A key year in the invention of a legend – from hope to betrayal via Gustav Holst – through the eyes of the Lower Third’s drummer and, now, memoirist.
ROYAL TRUX Don protective clothing to read the filthiest, druggiest, weirdest cautionary tale in ’90s rock, and how it’s playing out, again, in 2019.
THE SUGARCUBES Bjork’s debut on the world stage was “a joke that took off”. But the Icelandic post-punkers were more than a backing band. MOJO goes back to their birth day.
CASS McCOMBS Modern singer-songwriting’s great enigma reveals himself at last. “I knew I had to push myself to the limit,” he tells Bob Mehr. “Almost break my mind…”
REVIEWED Rustin Man / Jessica Pratt / Sleaford Mods / Michael Rother / Ian Brown / Earl Sweatshirt / Family / James Blake / Michael Chapman / Julia Jacklin / Theon Cross / Prefab Sprout / Salif Keita / Bob Mould / Mercury Rev / James Yorkston / Lau / Howlin’ Wolf / Beirut / Panda Bear / Japanese ambient / Yak
PLUS How To Buy… Philadelphia International / indie Scotland gets its close-up / Eleanor Friedberger rocks Athens (Greece) / the stars salute Warren Zevon / Kenney Jones recalls the in and out of Small Faces / Fat White family clean up / Roy Harper hits the road / Beastie Boys drop by / Yola rises up / the great David Cavanagh bows out, with a typically peerless piece of music writing…