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Various Artists - Mojo Magazine: Piece Of Cake (20 Years Of RYKO) (2003)

Track listing:
  1. Thank You Friends Big Star 3:05
  2. Slaveship Josh Rouse 3:10
  3. Numb As A Statue Warren Zevon 4:07
  4. Chain The Fire Theft 3:45
  5. Chrome Plated Suicide The Flaming Lips 5:33
  6. I'm The Slime Frank Zappa 3:34
  7. Cure For Pain Morphine 3:13
  8. Barrio Superstar Pilot To Gunner 2:56
  9. Plateau Meat Puppets 2:21
  10. Jarabi Toumani Diabate 3:38
  11. Lullaby For Hamza Robert Wyatt 4:28
  12. Mama Guela Spanish Harlem Orchestra 3:31
  13. I Will Dare The Replacements 3:17
  14. Freaks Soul Asylum 3:27
  15. Crooked Frame Alejandro Escovedo 4:00
  16. Still Alive Joe Jackson Band 3:41
  17. Fourth Of July Galaxie 500 5:35
  18. Untitled #1 Spain 6:35
  19. Wait Until Dark Kelly Willis 3:40
  20. Window Grin Kelly Joe Phelps 6:10

Notes

1. Big Star - Thank You Friends
Named after a Memphis supermarket, Big Star's fan base includes Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (oddly), the late Jeff Buckley and R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, who once described them as "a Rosetta Stone for a whole generation".
Available on: Big Star Story

2. Josh Rouse - Slaveship
Wanting to create a 'retro' sound, Rouse took a vintage 1972 Fender Telecaster, a harmonica and added erm, handclaps for this up-tempo ditty about the slave trade.
Available on: 1972

3. Warren Zevon - Numb As A Statue
With an illustrious career spanning 33 years, Warren Zevon's recent passing was felt by the music community. A touching track wanting to set things right with the friends and fans who have loved him, an alt-country song with melodic piano, gritty slide guitar and sweet harmonies.
Available on: The Wind

4. The Fire Theft - Chain
The latest Incarnation for Seattle musicians Will Goldsmith and Nate Mendel, formerly of early 90s outfit, Sunny Day Real Estate. The latter part of the 90s saw drummer Goldsmith join Dave Grohl for his new musical project, Foo Fighters, along with Mendel, who still remains the Foos' bassist.
Available on: The Fire Theft

5. The Flaming Lips - Chrome Plated Suicide
Taken from The Flaming Lips third, 'difficult' album, Telepathic Surgery, released on Ryko in 1989, this is a collection of ambitious, experimental tracks you'd expect from the Oklahoma trio.
Available on: Finally The Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid

6. Frank Zappa - I'm The Slime
Zappa's music always stopped short of falling foul of pretension by his often scatological humour and appreciation of his role as an entertainer as much as that of an artist. "I'm obsessed 'n' deranged," he growls on I'm The Slime, from '73's Overnite Sensation, which was just that - his first commercial and critical breakthrough record.
Available on: Overnite Sensation

7. Morphine - Cure For Pain
Comprising of Mark Sandman's two-string slide bass (which actually started as a one-string), and Dana Colley's baritone sax, this Boston trio's sound was a three linear instrument melody with a twist.
Available on: Best Of Morphine

8. Pilot To Gunner - Barrio Superstarrio
After forming in 1998, this foursome promptly packed in their secure jobs and embarked on what was to become three years touring the US. Barrio Superstarrio is an example of their heavy, guitar driven rock.
Available on: Get Saved

9. Meat Puppets - Plateau
The Meat Puppets were barely more than a year old by the time of this career high. Their eclecticism earned them fans among America's alt-rock royalty - Peter Buck, Eddie Vedder and Kurt Cobain having been among the more vocal disciples of the Meat Puppets' diverse and often comic talents.
Available on: Meat Puppets II

10. Toumani Diabate - Jarabi
Invited to join Mali's National Ensemble at the age of 13, Diabate released his solo debut Kaira a decade later, bringing the 21-string kora (an African harp lute) to a global audience.
Available On: Jarabi- The Best Of Taumani Diabate - Master Of The Kora

11. Robert Wyatt - Lullaby For Hamza
Wyatt was one of the principal artists of the Canterbury sound, drumming for the Wilde Flowers and The Soft Machine. A fall from a fourth-floor window in June 1973 left him paralysed from the waist down - undaunted, Wyatt has continued to produce his own blend of folk-tinged jazz ever since.
Available on: Cuckooland

12. Spanish Harlem Orchestra - Mama Guela
New York's very own Puerto Rican Social Club, the 14-piece Spanish Harlem Orchestra is led by acclaimed pianist Oscar Hermandez and features a number of salsa veterans including Jimmy Sabater, bassist Ruben Rodriguez and bongo player Bobby Allende.
Available on: Un Gran Dia En El Barrio

13. The Replacements - I Will Dare
Initially called 'The Impediments', this foursome emerged as a driving force behind the post-punk explosion in Minneapolis along with the likes of Husker Du and Soul Asylum. Like a thrift store Rolling Stones, they combine a tough tenderness with a cocksure drunken swagger.
Available on: Let It Be

14. Soul Asylum - Freaks
Spending nigh on a decade as unnoticed punk rockers, Dave Priner's willingness to abandon the Minneapolis thrash scene helped several million new fans familiarise themselves with '92's Grave Dancers Union. Freaks is a testament to their earlier material, released in 1986.
Available on: While You Were Out

15. Alejandro Escovedo - Crooked Frame
Establishing legendary San Francisco punk-outfit, The Nuns, who opened for the Sex Pistols' final gig at Winterland, Escovedo has since continued to challenge his own musical boundaries through various incarnations over the decades.
Available on: All These Hands

16. Joe Jackson Band - Still Alive
They disbanded after a trilogy of albums in the late '70s. Now, Jackson, Gary Stanford, Graham Maby, and Dave Houghton nave renewed their creative comradeship with 11 new compositions on Ryko, reviving the chemistry from 25 years ago.
Available on: Volume IV

17. Galaxie 500 - Fourth Of July
Given that the New York / Bostonian three-piece set out with ambitions that didn't stretch beyond releasing a single, their debut LP, Today, was critically lauded as "astonishing". Yet it took another two albums before members Damon Krukowski, Naomi Yang and Dean Wareham became full-time purveyors of the billowy, sonic daydream pop that earned them such acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
Available on: This Is Our Music

18. Spain Ð Untitled #1
The brainchild of Josh Haden, son of legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden, Spain takes on much of the spaciousness found in old jazz arrangements. Formed in 1994 while at the University of California, having produced three albums, the four-piece are now primarily a studio act, with members living in separate US cities.
Available on: Spirituals... The Best Of Spain

19. Kelly Willis - Wait Until Dark
Although she's now left Nashville, Willis couldn't be more country if she tried. This new collection features collaborations with friends Alison Krauss and Vince Gill, and perfectly orchestrates Willis' blend of country rock and bluegrass. Wait Until Dark is a tender invitation.
Available on: Easy

20. Kelly Joe Phelps - Window Grin
A talented young guitarist from Portland, Oregon, inspired by Mississippi Fred McDowell and Robert Pete Williams, his 1995 debut Lead Me On juxtaposed renditions of classic blues with his own original material. Slingshot Professionals is more richly orchestrated than his previous efforts, although Window Grin retains a live-sounding allure for which Phelps is justly praised.
Available On: Slingshot Professionals