The Mojos - Everything's Alright: The Complete Recordings (19

The Mojos - Everything's Alright: The Complete Recordings (1963-67 UK Beat) CD (1994) To MP3 320 Kbit/s. Included: CD Covers, Booklet & This Info. Biography by Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder Known mostly (if at all) in the States for doing the original version of "Everything's Alright" (covered by David Bowie on his Pin Ups album), the Mojos were one of the best Liverpool groups of the British Invasion. Besides "Everything's Alright" -- a Top Ten raver in the U.K. -- they never scored any other British hits of note, though a couple squeezed into the Top 30. Bob Conrad (drums), Keith Karlson (bass), Stu James (vocals, harmonica), and Adrian Wilkinson (guitar) had first gotten together in the early '60s as the Nomads -- though based in Liverpool, they were a bit different from most of the other Merseyside bands in that their first love was American blues rather than R&B and rock & roll, preferring to cover the works of John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters to those of Chuck Berry or Little Richard. They did manage to cross paths with the Beatles on more than one occasion, as evidenced by the fact that it was George Harrison, having heard the Nomads' roadie Terry O'Toole play jazz piano at a club, who suggested they make him a member and resident keyboard player. The four became five and they occasioned sometime after that to lay down their first permanent account of their sound, "My Whole Life Through," as part of a live showcase captured for posterity on one volume of Oriole Records' This Is Merseybeat. It was sometime after this that they were forced to relinquish the Nomads name to a London band who had an earlier claim, and they became the Mojos. By then the Beatles had launched the Merseybeat boom nationwide and Decca Records -- who'd passed on the latter group -- was playing catch-up by signing any group in sight. The Mojos got a contract and were among those bands that actually deserved that honor and effort -- their debut single was consisted of "They Say You Found a New Baby" b/w "Forever," the latter an original by guitarist Adrian Wilkinson. It was a solid effort, probably a little poppier than their stage sound of the time but not jarringly so, and though it failed to chart it was a credit to everyone involved. It was their second single, "Everything's Al'right" b/w "Give Your Lovin' to Me," cut in early 1964 -- both group originals -- that proved the group's worth, making number nine in England in the late winter of that year and spending 11 weeks on the charts, and even earning a U.S. release. Sad to say, they were never able to follow up that success, possibly because they never found a suitable song or approach. Their next single, "Why Not Tonight," seemed an awkward pop/rock vehicle for the group, the musical equivalent of a man forced into wearing a very uncomfortable suit of clothes (and in this case, the "suit" seemed to belong to either Gerry Marsden or Billy J. Kramer). Much better were the contents of their one EP, which included -- in addition to "Everything's Al'right" -- "I Got My Mojo Working" and Smokey Robinson's "The One Who Really Loves You." It was already the second half of 1964 when that four-song platter appeared, and as the group had only scraped the Top 30 since their solitary hit, the label began losing interest around this time. They did make it into a post-Hard Day's Night British Invasion cash-in film, Seaside Swingers, doing "Nobody But Me," but none of their singles from 1965 got anywhere near charting, and it was during this time that Conrad, O'Toole, and Karlson left the band to pursue other opportunities. Stu James kept the outfit running, and among the replacements he recruited were the bassist son of their road manager, a musician with acting aspirations named Lewis Collins, and Aynley Dunbar on drums. It was this version of the group -- although in all probability Stu James was the only one present -- that recorded some fairly lackluster songs for Decca in 1966; "Goodbye Dolly Gray" was a pointless cover of a World War I song, and "I Just Can't Let Her Go" is a little too close to Tom Jones territory -- which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, but was a bad end to an R&B-based band -- for comfort, given this group's history. James used the name the Mojos in the studio at least once more, on Liberty Records in 1968, before closing out the history. And had it not been for Bowie's cover of their one hit, that might have been as much as anyone knew or cared about the Mojos. At times they could be pretty wimpy, with vocals and material that would have been at home with Gerry & the Pacemakers. But at other times, with their electric keyboard-driven sound, they echo the much tougher Manfred Mann. Not quite at the level of the Beatles and even the Searchers in terms of quality, they were, except for the Swinging Blue Jeans and the Merseybeats, the best of the rest in their home city. Review by Richie Unterberger There have been a couple of other good Mojos compilations that have gathered most of this Merseybeat group's work, focusing wholly on their mid-'60s Decca output. Since their Decca recordings comprise almost everything they released, there's not room for much more on a Mojos anthology. But Everything's Alright: The Complete Recordings does manage to beat out previous Mojos collections by a nose, for it includes not only all 17 of the tracks they issued on Decca between 1963-1967, but also the one they did for the 1963 This Is Merseybeat, Vol. 2 compilation when they were still calling themselves the Nomads, as well as their obscure 1968 single for Liberty. These additions aren't exactly crucial: the Nomads cut, "My Whole Life Through," is basic to the point of rudimentary Merseybeat, while the 1968 single shows them moving into somewhat more modern late-'60s pop/rock with unmemorable results. Still, with these additions and good historical liner notes, it stands as the absolutely definitive compilation of the Mojos' work. The 1963-1966 Decca sides comprising the bulk of the disc will remain what they're most known for, however, including some decent if somewhat second-rank Merseybeat (highlighted by the hit "Everything's Alright"), the game attempt at pop-folk on their 1964 single "Seven Daffodils," and some poppier 1965 singles that show them moving in something of a Righteous Brothers direction. Tracklist: 01. They Say You Found A New Baby (1963) 02. Forever (1963) 03. Everything's Al'right (1964) 04. Give Your Lovin' To Me (1964) 05. Why Not Tonight (1964) 06. Don't Do It Anymore (1964) 07. Seven Daffodils (1964) 08. Nothin' At All (1964) 09. I Got My Mojo Working (1964) 10. The One Who Really Loves You (1964) 11. Nobody But Me (1964) 12. Comin' On To Cry (1965) 13. That's The Way It Goes (1965) 14. Wait A Minute (1965) 15. Wonder If She Knows (1965) 16. Good-Bye Dolly Gray (1967) 17. I Just Can't Let Her Go (1967) Lineup: Nick Crouch - Lead Guitar, Vocals Keith Karlson - Bass Guitar Stu (Slater) James - Harmonica, Vocals Terry O’Tool - Piano Bob (John) Conrad - Drums See my other Torrents: http://thepiratebay.se/user/Iron_Horse/

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 Iron_Horse (2010-05-31)

All comments are wellcome!

raysir (2010-06-17)

thanx for great uploads shame there`s no one seeding this i used to get them off you from mininova (ah memories) keep up the good work much appreciated

 Iron_Horse (2010-06-21)

Thanks "raysir" i missing mininova to, I had lot's of fans there that followed my uploads. And they gave me manny good comments and requests. (I remember you now, when you talk about mininova Thanks again "raysir" :) )