The Mojos

Known for performing the original version of "Everything's Alright" (covered by <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a> 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 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) first got 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 <a href="spotify:artist:1yNOfXGQNGjAynk77wv85x">John Lee Hooker</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a> to those of <a href="spotify:artist:293zczrfYafIItmnmM3coR">Chuck Berry</a> or <a href="spotify:artist:4xls23Ye9WR9yy3yYMpAMm">Little Richard</a>.

They did manage to cross paths with <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> on more than one occasion, as evidenced by the fact that it was <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">George Harrison</a>, 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. They became a quintet and released "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 <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> had launched the Merseybeat boom nationwide and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Decca+Records%22">Decca Records</a> -- which had 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 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. It was their second single, "Everything's Al'right" b/w "Give Your Lovin' to Me," cut in early 1964 -- both group originals -- that hit, making number nine in England in the late winter of that year and spending 11 weeks on the charts.

Their next single, "Why Not Tonight" swung toward the poppier side of Merseybeat, indebted to the crooning sound of <a href="spotify:artist:3UmBeGyNwr4iDWi1vTxWi8">Gerry & the Pacemakers</a> or <a href="spotify:artist:7m2WaGqLDhPRdhdw5MOxjX">Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas</a>. Much closer to the rumbling beat of <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">the Beatles</a> were the contents of their (only) EP, which included -- in addition to "Everything's Al'right" -- "I Got My Mojo Working" and <a href="spotify:artist:0h9smro0z3HqUbD94jotU8">Smokey Robinson</a>'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 were 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 <a href="spotify:artist:133bGgO12lrbEtxRewzSeb">Aynsley Dunbar</a> on drums. It was this version of the group -- although in all probability Stu James was the only one present -- that recorded some fairly good songs for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Decca%22">Decca</a> in 1966; "Goodbye Dolly Gray" was a cover of a World War I song and "I Just Can't Let Her Go" crept close to <a href="spotify:artist:1T0wRBO0CK0vK8ouUMqEl5">Tom Jones</a> territory. James used the name the Mojos in the studio at least once more, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Liberty+Records%22">Liberty Records</a> in 1968, before disbanding. ~ Richie Unterberger & Bruce Eder, Rovi