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Calling Generation Mojo
© 2003 the badge

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Calling Generation Mojo

Total Time: 52:05
Cost: $9.98 +s/h*

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STYLE: Rock 'n' Roll for Mods

HOME TOWN: New York, NY


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1. Calling Generation Mojo
2. It Girl
3. Dawning of a New Day
4. Join the World
5. Hole in My Head
6. Together
7. All for Love
8. Reach Out, I'll Be There
9. Where Luv Will Take You
10. Shoot Me Down
11. I'm Not Your Man
12. Tick-Tock
13. Telephone Line

Check out the badge's newest release  Telecasts - The Bootleg Series Vol. 6
as well as their CDs: 
The EP Collection (2004-2005) & ...digital retro...

Issue #57                                Dec. '03

Calling Generation Mojo, the 2nd release by the NYC based Beatlemanics, the badge, is subtitled “File under 60s mod beat pop.” Therein lies the tale of the tape. Do you know what mod beat pop is? Do you feel that there still hasn’t been a band to rival, let alone match, The Beatles as the total musical package? Do you wish the influences of the 60s could still be reproduced with a faithfulness that escapes all the so-called retro-popsters that are currently attempting to reconstruct it with results that teeter between “almost there” and “what the hell is that?”? Or, as the badge states on the title trackEverything you’ve heard before / sounds like it’s been done before / and now we’re gonna blow your mind  / Yeah, do you believe in love? / do you want to be free?” With Pete Townsend power chords ripping through the George Harrison sitar-style guitar solos, vocal harmonies, and a backbeat that is total Mod, the badge lives up to their pretensions of stepping into the musical void created by the absence of The Beatles.

And fill it they do, along with every other influence gathered along the way, from the 60s Motown Holland/Dozier/Holland 4 Tops classic “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” to the 70s Beatles disciple, Jeff Lynn penned ELO song “Telephone Line.” These are two covers that you’d never expect to find on the same CD, let alone covered by the same band, yet the badge proves their versatility by fleshing out both these songs with original interpretations that do homage to the roots of each.

But even more so than the covers, it is the original songs written by the badge founder Jeff Slate (vocals, bass, organ), as well as partner Marc Teamaker (guitar, vocals, piano), that establish the badge as a band worthy of creating thoughtful intelligent musical compositions. These show a maturity not only through lyrics of poetic significance that engage each of us on a human level, but also with arrangements and studio finesse that convey a passion not only to the songs, but the craft as well.

Where their 1st album, “…digital retro…” (IndepenDisc’s Dec. ’98 Feature), took the baton and carried on from where The Beatles left off, Calling Generation Mojo is the badge’s white album. The areas covered, the places we are taken, and the range in which it sweeps, are epic in that same white album proportion. Yes, the similarities are drawn from the range and influences copped from that monumental LP. To write about and point out every one would be too overwhelming a task, for this is the type of CD where every time you sit down and listen to it, you find more and more, and it is then that you realize to what extent the members of the badge are pure Beatles scholars.

The perfect example would be “Hole In My Head” and “All For Love.” Penned individually by Teamaker and Slate respectively, these two songs are the heart and soul of this CD and form the ideal center for the band, which also includes Drew Edwards (keyboards, vocals) and Nelson Pla (drums, percussion, vocals). “Hole In My Head” is a ballad of sincere proportions that uses the metaphor of contemplating suicide to establish the helplessness we all sometimes feel in the face of the staggering complications brought forth through the rigors of everyday life and the complexities and anxieties that accompany them. With a solemn vocal set to a melancholy piano and a light traipsing drum beat, we are drawn to the realization that this is not an uncommon individual mindset, but one of universal significance in which we become aware of not only our own personal faults and feelings, but also of those of our fellow man. So fine (that’s
F - I – N – E fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine) a song that it fills you with wonder and leaves your senses agape.

A homily of John Lennon’s philosophy of “All You Need Is Love,” “All For Love” takes us in another direction and creates what would’ve amounted to a #1 record in 1967 with all the psychedelic wonder of that most mystical of musical times. High harmonies of “Love, Love, Love” abound and draw us into the 60s culture again, where Peace and Love ruled the day and “though no one is perfection / we all shine on.” We understand and believe when we are told (and consciously sing along) that “yeah, it’s all for love.”

Perhaps what the badge is trying to get through to the mojo generation (or should I say the generations that were, could be, and should be Generation Mojo) is that the 60s, and mostly The Beatles, got it all right when they based their brand of Rock-n-Roll around not only the necessity, but the power of Love. And for all those who think and believe that it all begins and ends with them, that they are the Mods of their time and their generation – you are, but there were those who came before you, and you really should take note and learn from their accomplishments which helped to establish the standard, that paved the way for you not only to break the mold, but to have the platform and the means to even attempt to. And when all is said and done, before you shut out the lights, give thanks for what was, what is, and what can be.

So open your eyes / for the first time / everything you’ve known before / is gone and further more / and now we’re gonna blow your mind / Yeah, do you believe in love? / do you want to be free?

the badge is Calling Generation Mojo. That’s you. Are you listening?

You should be.

    Calling Generation Mojo by the badge
is available now for: $9.98 +s/h*

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*Shipping & Handling charges:
USA - $3.00 for the first 2 CDs ordered,
                     Add $1.50 per each CD after.
Canada - $5.00 for the first CD ordered,
                          Add $2.00 per each CD after.
Everywhere else -$7.00 for the first CD ordered,
                                        Add $3.00 per each CD after.

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Last Revised: May 10, 2012