{"id":4453,"date":"2013-12-29T12:07:10","date_gmt":"2013-12-29T17:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4453"},"modified":"2013-12-29T12:07:10","modified_gmt":"2013-12-29T17:07:10","slug":"monday-the-knockouts-mo-jo-got-my-mo-jo-working-pts-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=4453","title":{"rendered":"Monday – The Knockouts – Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working) Pts 1&2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\" <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Knockouts, Bob D’Andrea at right (hugging gorilla…)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen\/Download The Knockouts – Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working) Pt1<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download The Knockouts – Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working) Pt2<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Greetings all<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every once in a while I find myself entranced by a record that despite coming from an artist\/scene outside of the \u2018traditional\u2019 soul\/funk orbit.<\/p>\n

There are countless examples of performers taking a temporary detour down soul street. Granted, most of these folks were on some sort of parallel course, whether it be R&B, jazz, or even (in this particular case) doowop, but the records in question are often extraordinary.<\/p>\n

As far as I can tell Bob D\u2019Andrea and the Knockouts<\/strong> started out like many other Italian harmony groups in the New York area, working a ballad-heavy twist on late 50s\/early 60s doowop.<\/p>\n

There are traces of Dion and the Belmonts<\/strong>, but their ballad performances are not my cup of tea.<\/p>\n

However, there are a few items in their discography (roughly 1959-1965) that suggest that the group had a taste for wilder stuff.<\/p>\n

Their 1961 b-side \u2018You Can Take My Girl\u2019 is a much more raucous affair,<\/a> with touches of actual R&B making their way into the mix, but even then, it barely prepares you for today\u2019s selection.<\/p>\n

Released in 1964, \u2018Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working)\u2019 sounds like Joey Dee and the Starliters<\/strong> got their hands on some slightly poisonous hooch and went right out of their minds.<\/p>\n

The arrangement runs at roughly 100 miles an hour, pushed along by bass, drums, handclaps and a churning combo organ, with a wild vocal by D\u2019Andrea.<\/p>\n

What little information I\u2019ve been able to find on the group suggests that they were first and foremost a live band, working it out in the clubs along the Jersey Shore.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working)\u2019 sounds like 100 sweaty nights of whipping drunken revelers into a frenzy compressed into roughly five minutes (both sides, natch) of madness.<\/p>\n

Someone in this band had a taste for the (musical) hard stuff and it comes through on this record.<\/p>\n

I’ve done the math a hundred times, and no matter how I run the numbers, there’s no sane reason that this record should be as good as it is, but it is.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Knockouts made an LP called \u2018Go Ape With the Knockouts\u2019 that included both sides of this 45 as well as a serviceable version of \u2018I Got a Woman\u2019.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lead singer Bob D\u2019Andrea<\/strong> still performs today in Atlantic City as part of the music\/comedy duo of Andre and Cirell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope you dig the sounds, and I\u2019ll see you all on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <\/strong> \u00a0<\/strong> ___________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong> The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong> They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong> Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/strong> \"Example\"<\/strong><\/a> \"Example\"<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Knockouts, Bob D’Andrea at right (hugging gorilla…)   Listen\/Download The Knockouts – Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working) Pt1 Listen\/Download The Knockouts – Mo Jo (Got My Mo Jo Working) Pt2 Greetings all Every once in a while I find myself entranced by a record that despite coming from an artist\/scene outside of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[58,14,64,12,18],"tags":[166,173,164],"class_list":["post-4453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-funky16corners","category-rb","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-rb","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-19P","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4453"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4455,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4453\/revisions\/4455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}