Mojo Presents: Love Will Tear You Apart CD

For its February issue, Mojo selected the theme Love Will Tear You Apart for their CD. Isn't it romantic? Maybe not, but it does tie in with their cover stories about Ian Curtis.

"Inspired by the brutal honesty" of "Love Will Tear Us Apart", the disc contains fifteen songs that "celebrate the bad times" in a way that's intended to be "nothing short of uplifting."

Unsurprisingly, a rendition of "Love" is included. Unfortunately, it's rather boring, and too dreary to uplift me, except by reminding me there are many better covers of the song.

Also on the disc: an exclusive track by Jim Reid, a sweet (and not boring) Hüsker Dü cover by Jon Auer, and Jarvis Cocker singing one of the songs he originally wrote for Nancy Sinatra.

In the mag: coverage aplenty about Ian Curtis, promoted with an exploitative cover line about "the demons that drove" him. And there's more disturbing content inside. When Curtis killed himself there weren't suicide-prevention websites and the public was less educated about what to do in a crisis situation. It's still hard to read Genesis P. Orridge's account of knowing what Curtis was about to do, and placing calls to assorted friends in Manchester "to go round and try and stop Ian" instead of making one emergency phone call. Hindsight may be 20/20, and second-guessing a stranger in such a tough situation is kind of harsh, but there's an easy way for him to avoid that. Yet he feels compelled to share the intensely personal details of everything Curtis told him, how he sounded and seemed to feel. He tell us, "I know it wasn't my fault." Is he trying to convince us, or himself? How about exploiting his death and their final conversation? Whose fault is that?

Possibly less disturbing (I haven't read them, so no promises): a brief article about the forthcoming Ian Curtis biopic Control, an article by Peter Hook about Ian Curtis, and assorted remembrances by others, including Factory Records founder Tony Wilson.

No time to check out the rest of the mag. at the moment but hopefully it's a cracker. Not sure whether Mojo and The Word have raised their cover price for UK residents as of 2007, but I'll have to check. I paid the most I've ever paid for the latest issues of both Mojo and The Word, and I'm wondering whether the price bump is across-the-board or just across-the-pond (or for all foreigners). I think the higher price might interfere with that "uplifting" sensation they want the CD to achieve...

Mojo Presents: Love Will Tear You Apart Track Listing:

1. Sparklehorse - Shade And Honey
2. Jim Reid - I'm Stranded (specially recorded for Mojo)
3. Nina Simone - Little Girl Blue
4. Jarvis Cocker - Baby's Coming Back To Me (available on Jarvis)
5. Chris Farlowe - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
6. Townes Van Zandt & Willie Nelson - Marie
7. Elbow - Scattered Black And Whites (available on Asleep In The Back)
8. Elliott Smith - Twilight (available on From A Basement On The Hill)
9. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra - Love Will Tear Us Apart
10. Jon Auer - Green Eyes (available on 6 ½)
11. Jane Weaver - Once You'd Given Me Up
12. Galaxie 500 - Sorry
13. Buffseeds - Sparkle Me
14. The Ivy League - My World Fell Down
15. Thirteen Senses - Follow Me