1 	Rocket 88 	
2 	Off The Wall 	
3 	It's My Own Fault 	
4 	Me And Piney Brown 	
5 	My Dream (Blues In My Sleep) 	
6 	Don't Start Me To Talkin' 	
7 	Bring It On Home 	
8 	Break It Up 	
9 	Back Track 	
10 	Aw Baby 	
11 	Meet Me In The Alley

Johnny Mars - Vocal, Harmonica
Bob Hall - Piano, Mandolin (2,4)
Bob Brunning - Bass Guitar
Pat Grover - Electric Guitar
John Hunt - Drums
Boogie Woogie Red and Baby Boy Warren - Vocals (2,5)

Songwriter, harmonica player and singer Johnny Mars was raised in a sharecropping family. He was given his first harmonica at age nine. His family lived in various places around the South, including North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. When Mars' mother died in 1958, the older family members settled in Florida, while Johnny and his younger brother went to live in New Paltz, N.Y. After he graduated from high school, he played club shows around New York and recorded with his band 'Burning Bush' for Mercury Records. ---johnnymars.com

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1-I'll Go Crazy
2-Imagination
3-Mighty Mars
4-Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash
5-Watch Yourself
6-If I Had a Woman
7-High Temperature
8-You Don't Have To Go
9-Mellow Down
10-Desert Island
11-Horses and Places
12-Rocket 88
13-Johnny's Groove

Lead Vocals, Harmonica – Johnny Mars
Bass Guitar – Wayne Elliot
Drums – James Matthews
Electric Guitar – Colin Fletcher

Johnny Mars has been described as the Hendrix of the harmonica. He experiments a lot with effect pedals and other electronic gizmos. --- harmonicalinks.com

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01 - Horses & Places [00:03:20]
02 - Imagination [00:03:17]
03 - Desert Island [00:08:32]
04 - Johnny's Groove [00:06:31]
05 - Cash Ain't Nothing [00:03:00]
06 - I'll Go Crazy [00:02:28]
07 - If I Had A Woman [00:08:42]
08 - Watch Yourself [00:02:44]
09 - Mighty Mars [00:02:19]
10 - Rocket 88 [00:02:24]
11 - Mellow Down [00:02:15]

Johnny Mars – harmonica, vocals
Wayne Elliott - bass
Colin Fletcher - guitar
James Matthews - drums, percussion
Mel Simpson - organ (Hammond), piano

Originally released in 1980, this JSP reissue of Mighty Mars features the blues harmonica of Johnny Mars in a rock setting that rarely works. Mars is a ferocious harmonica player full of raw emotion, but unfortunately this material doesn't come close to matching Mars's intensity. Recorded in London with members of the pub rock scene, versions of "Mellow Down Easy," "Rocket 88," "Your Cash Ain't Nothing but Trash," and "I'll Go Crazy" sound forced and unnecessary. It's regrettable Mars didn't give up the idea of mixing rock and blues and create a record that would defy genres. ---Al Campbell, allmusic.com

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1.Born Under A Bad Sign 	3:30 	
2.Don't Start Me Talking 	3:00 	
3.Back Door Man 	4:14 	
4.Steal Away 	5:00 	
5.Standing In Line 	3:32 	
6.Hot Lips Boogie 	3:00 	
7.I Can't Take A Jealous Woman 	3:32 	
8.Get On Up 	3:01 	
9.Desert Island 	5:44 	
10.Keep On Swinging 	5:46 	

Johnny Mars – vocals, harmonica
Ray Fenwick – guitar
Nick Magnus – keyboards
Terry Pack - bass
Bimbo Acock – saxophone
Steve Sidwell - trumpet
Peter J. Shaw – drums
Colin Fox – backing vocals

Songwriter, harmonica player, and singer Johnny Mars was raised in a sharecropping family. He was given his first harmonica at age nine. His family lived in various places around the South, including North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. When Mars' mother died in 1958, the older family members settled in Florida, while Johnny and his younger brother went to live in New Paltz, N.Y. After he graduated from high school, he played club shows around New York and recorded with his band Burning Bush for Mercury Records.

In the mid-'60s, Mars moved to San Francisco, where he met Dan Kennedy and formed the Johnny Mars Band, playing clubs and festivals in northern California, as well as shows for rock promoter/impresario/producer Bill Graham. However, Mars could not seem to expand his audience much in San Francisco. After hearing about the greener pastures across the pond from his friend Rick Estrin of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, he toured England in 1972. There, he recorded a couple of albums, eventually moving to West London in 1978. Working with producer Ray Fenwick, who also worked with Spencer Davis and Ian Gillan, Mars met with success on the much praised album, Life On Mars.

In 1991, Mars became a featured soloist with the British new wave pop group Bananarama. The group used him on their singles "Preacher Man," "Megalomaniac," and "Long Train Running," and he appeared in the group's video of "Preacher Man." Throughout the '90s, Mars retained his strong European fan base, and he enjoys particularly strong followings in Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia. Critics there have called him "the Jimi Hendrix of the harmonica." Over the years, Mars has shared bills with Hendrix (before he was well-known) and Magic Sam. In 1992, after a long absence from the Bay Area blues scene, owing to his new foothold in England and the rest of Europe, Mars was invited to play at the San Francisco Blues Festival. Mars' 1994 U.S. release for MM&K Recordings, Stateside with Johnny Mars, features brilliant, original, topical compositions and superb, unique harmonica playing, unfettered by the standard Chicago blues conventions. --- Richard Skelly, allmusic.com

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1 	I've Been Down So Long 		
2 	Nine Below Zero 		
3 	Rocket 88 		
4 	Call Me 		
5 	Love Is A Wonderful Thing 		
6 	Honey Bee 		
7 	Blue Midnight 		
8 	Cruisin' 		
9	If I Had A Woman 		
10 	My Dog Can't Bark

Johnny Mars – harmonica, vocals
Bruce Langsman, Pat Grover – guitar
Bob Hall – piano, mandolin (3)
Paul Riley – bass
John Hunt - drums

Johnny Mars found his stride on his second album, Oakland Boogie. Recorded in London with producer Ray Fenwick, the album is a powerful collection of hard-edged blues rockers, highlighted by Mars' searing vocals and impassioned, slurred harmonica. ---Thom Owens, allmusic.com

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