The Mojos - Everything's Alright (The Complete Recordings) (1964-65) (2009)

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. ~ Richie Unterberger
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Originally called The Nomads, they recorded a track for the ‘This Is Mersey Beat’ LP then discovered a London group had registered the name so changed it to The Mojos. In October 1963 Adrian Wilkinson left and was replaced by Nick Crouch, former Farons Flamingos guitarist. While appearing at the Star Club, Hamburg, they recorded what is now considered one of the classics of the ‘Mersey Sound’ , ‘Everythings Alright’ which entered the UK Top 10 charts. The next two releases were less distinguished and prompted Stu James to say, “We made our name in Liverpool as Blues specialists but were persuaded to do all sorts of lightweight pop stuff. After our initial success, we just stumbled on in a fairly aimless way. The acclaim we got was for our live performances which remained loud and raucous”. In December 1964 Stu James and Nick Crouch split from the others and formed Stu James & the Mojos bringing in Lewis Collins on Bass and Aynsley Dunbar on drums, this line-up continued till 1966 when Nick left the music business and Lewis Collins entered into a successful acting career appearing in the hit TV series ‘The Professionals’