Mungo Jerry

Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry (2013)
General information
Genre (s)	Rock , blues
founding	1970
Website	www.mungojerry.com

Mungo Jerry is a British rock and blues band around the front man , singer , songwriter and guitarist Ray Dorset , who from 1972 also took over the band name as his personal stage name . Mungo Jerry was one of the most successful British groups of the 1970s . The band's biggest hit was In the Summertime . Other successes included Lady Rose , Baby Jump , You don't have to be in the army , Alright Alright Alright , Open up , Long Legged Woman Dressed in Black , Hello Nadine and Feels Like I'm in Love. Mungo Jerry still plays numerous concerts today, mainly at festivals.

Band biography

Beginnings

Mungo Jerry had a number of names before the final name was given in the course of the 1960s, such as The Buccaneers or The Conchords (who made demo recordings for which Dorset's father paid for), The Tramps (who won a beat competition in Essex in 1964 ), The Sweet and Sour Band (the Opened for Captain Beefheart in England in 1967 ), Camino Real, Memphis Leather and The Good Earth Rock 'n' Roll Band. The line-up also changed frequently. In 1969 the group played as The Good Earth joint concerts with well-known bands such as The Moody Blues , Stan Webb's Chicken Shack and Soft Machine . Under this name she brought out the album It's Hard Rock & All That .

1970 to 1979

It was not until 1970 and with a record deal with Pye Records that the band called themselves Mungo Jerry. The name comes from a cat in TS Eliot's Book of Practical Cats . Their first EP under this name was In the Summertime with the additional titles Mighty Man and Mungo's Blues , which reached # 1 in the UK. The success was supported by the media hype surrounding Mungo Jerry's live appearance at the British Hollywood Music Festival in Newcastle-under-Lyme , where Black Sabbath , Grateful Dead , Traffic , Family and José Feliciano also played. Mungo Jerry was voted the best band by the audience and was therefore allowed to perform at the festival a second time. In the Summertime developed into the summer hit of 1970 and with 30 million records sold, it became one of the most successful summer hits to date.

The first album Mungo Jerry was released in July 1970. This was followed by a tour of the USA, where they performed with Faces and Humble Pie, among others . In early 1971 the second EP followed, Baby Jump, a rock title without drums, which also reached number 1. The second album was Electronically Tested . That year, the band was named Best New Group by Melody Maker and made it into the top 5 best live bands, along with the Rolling Stones and The Who . This was followed by appearances at some of the biggest festivals of the time, such as the Isle of Wight Festival , the Rotterdam Festival and the Fehmarn Festival .

Mungo Jerry had another top ten hit in May 1971 with Lady Rose . The next album was You Don't Have to Be in the Army with the single You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War . Although numerous radio stations did not play the piece because of its political message, the song hit the charts. The song followed on from the anti-war song Peace in the Country , which appeared on the debut album in 1970. You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War became the anthem for young European conscientious objectors and found out 36 years later on the album When She Comes, She Runs All Over Me (2008) entitled Gotta Get out of the Army in the context of foreign deployments of Western soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq .

After a tour of Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 1972, the band surprisingly broke up due to disputes about the further musical direction, because Ray Dorset wanted to install a drummer in the band for the first time. Dorset also recorded solo albums with Blue Cold Excursion and Paul King with Been in the Pen Too Long to follow their own musical ideas. When two members of the band, Colin Earl and Paul King, wanted to dismiss Dorset in 1972, as he became more and more the personified "Mungo Jerry" for the media, the management finally took this as an opportunity to let Ray Dorset renew the band himself.

From the original occupation, in addition to the now known as “Mr. Mungo Jerry “acting Dorset bassist John Godfrey. Then there was John Pope (piano) and, for the first time, Tim Reeves, a drummer. Earl and King had to leave and formed The King Earl Boogie Band, which broke up after recording their first album Trouble at Mill . The old-time blues single Open Up , released by the new Mungo-Jerry formation, made it back into the UK's top 20. The following album, Boot Power , produced a new, experimental sound that didn't pay off commercially for the band. The single release My Girl and Me in the phasing sound did not reach the usual chart positions. From now on the music was more electronic, keyboard and drums heavy. After a band reshuffle and a harder sound based on the drummer Paul Hancox, success came back in 1973 for Mungo Jerry. The rock song Alright Alright Alright reached top ten positions worldwide, including third place in the British single charts.

The single was followed by other top twenty chart successes with Wild Love and Long Legged Woman Dressed in Black, as well as the album Long Legged Woman . The Mungo-Jerry live formation with bassist Bob Daisley recorded the album Blitz , the recordings of which were only found later and partly released by the Mungo-Jerry fan club in the 1990s. The group played at many major European festivals at that time and was among other things headlining the largest Scandinavian rock festival Ragnarock. After the return of the original band members Colin Earl and Joe Rush, the singles Hello Nadine and It's a Secret were released in the mid-1970s . 1978 Mungo Jerry appeared at the Golden Orpheus Festival in Bulgaria with a cross-border television broadcast throughout the Eastern Bloc .

1980 to 1989

After that, things got quieter for Mungo Jerry. Ray Dorset worked as a composer and music producer for other groups and created the "high-energy disco sound". His biggest success was the global hit Feels Like I'm in Love, which he originally composed for Elvis Presley . In the meantime appearing in a Mungo Jerry version, Dorset released it in 1980 with the Scottish singer Kelly Marie in disco sound and made it a number one hit in many countries. Mungo Jerry band members were drummer Boris Williams in the early 1980s, as well as bassist Doug Fergusson (ex- Camel ), who was later replaced by Les Calvert .

The biggest Mungo Jerry project in the 1980s was the blues supergroup Katmandu . Dorset reactivated the famous guitarist Peter Green , who had withdrawn from the music business. Dorset himself was the band's singer, composer, guitarist and harmonica player. Vincent Crane (keyboards) and Jeff Whittaker (drums) completed the quartet that released the critically acclaimed album A Case for the Blues in 1984 .

In the 1980s there were no further chart hits for Mungo Jerry in Europe, although the band released the British version of Sunshine Reggae as "Mungo Jerry & Horizon" . Only a new version of In the Summertime , recorded in 1987 by Mungo Jerry & the Brothers Grimm, reached number one on the British indie charts. In some African countries, Ray Dorset and his band were more successful with their new Latin American sound. The songs Forgotten Land , On a Night Like This and a reggae version of Bob Dylan's Knockin 'on Heaven's Door , for example, took top positions in South Africa .

1990 to 1999

Mungo Jerry released a new pop album in 1990 with Snakebite after a long break from albums . In 1995 Ray Dorset produced for the reggae star Shaggy In The Summertime and re-recorded the music for it with his band. With this cover version Shaggy took top positions worldwide. a. # 1 in the US and UK charts. In 1996 there was another new version of the song, which in turn hit the charts and was part of the soundtrack of the movie Flipper . In 1999 the band  hit the charts again in Great Britain with Toon Army  - an anthem for the English football club Newcastle United . 1997 a blues rock album was released with Old Shoes New Jeans . The singles Red Leather and Chrome and All I Wonna Do became continental successes . Musicians at Mungo Jerry in the 1980s and 1990s were mainly bassist Les Calvert, guitarist Tim Green (ex- Rock Island Line ), drummer Jamei Roberts and keyboard and accordion player Steve Jones (ex- Heron ).

2000 until today

Ray Dorset live with Mungo Jerry at the Lake Zurich Festival

Even after the turn of the millennium, Mungo Jerry presented new releases, with Ray Dorset working alongside old band members with young musicians. The album Candy Dreams , whose title Where Are You was selected for a Hermann Hesse compilation, was released in 2001. Ray Dorset appears today with three different Mungo Jerry formations: The British Mungo Jerry Band plays live with a focus on pop and Rock pieces, the Mungo Jerry Bluesband with international musicians is more blues-oriented and Mungo Jerry & the Goodtime Gamblers bring the original Mungo-Jerry sound to life with jug, pop, skiffle and blues. In 2002 Mungo Jerry contributed several songs to the European Union / Macromedia's international multimedia project Learn Interactively , including a new recording of Woody Guthrie's piece Car Car . In addition to Leadbelly , Guthrie had a great influence on the original sound of the band, for example with the Dust Pneumonia Blues, which was Mungo's Blues in 1970 Mungo Jerry's first radio track.

In June 2005 Dorset celebrated the 35th anniversary of the band at the original location of the Hollywood Festival in Newcastle-under-Lyme with former (double bassist Mike Cole of the original band) and current (for example his long-time lead guitarist Tim Green) band members and numerous fans and guests. The most successful album of the new century so far has been Adults Only (Mungo Jerry blues band, consisting of the German musicians Klaus Wenske (bass), Klaus Otto (drums), Achim "Ako" Patz (keyboards, harp), Michael Pohl (guitar)) - in Released in Germany on Easyplay Records , in Great Britain in 2004 on Voiceprint Records , and critically referred to as the best Mungo Jerry album since Boot Power . With Mr. Midnight, a piece from Phantom of the Opera on Ice , an unusual single by Mungo Jerry was released in March 2006. The song was produced by Dorset's companion Roberto Danova, who had previously worked on the Mungo-Jerry title It's a Secret . In 2007, Mungo Jerry was on the Zounds CD The Definite Smoke on the Water Show with a blues version of the Deep Purple classic Smoke on the Water , which accompanied a German guitar world record project of the same name.

In 2008 two new Mungo Jerry CDs were released, in which Ray Dorset briefly returned to his roots. Recorded in the style of the first three albums from 1970 to 1972, Ray Dorset recorded the album Naked by the Heart with his English formation (including Mike Cole) - and the album When She Comes She Runs All Over Me with the Mungo Jerry Blues Band . In 2009 Mungo Jerry appeared at many international music events, such as the Boogie Nights in Baden Baden, the Acoustic Festival of Britain, the English Weyfest and the American Salmon Days Festival in Seattle . In addition, the band went on a tour of various English theaters. Ray Dorset was supported by numerous international musicians: Heini Altbart (drums), Tony Sheridan (guitar), Christoph Steinbach (piano), Pete York (drums), Siggi Schwarz (guitar) and Alan White (drums).

2010 saw another chart success in Great Britain. For the 40th anniversary of Mungo Jerry, the single In the Summertime - Touch the Sky in the version of Mungo Jerry & Bluestone feat. Skibadee the British Top Twenty (No. 15 / Upfront Dance Chart). The album Cool Jesus , recorded in Hanover, was released in summer 2011. The line-up Ray Dorset (vocals / guitar), Torsten Luederwaldt (keyboard / banjo), Winnie Martin (electric bass) and Martin Troike (drums) enliven a sound that is reminiscent of the early 1970s. In 2011 Mungo Jerry played 25 sold out live concerts in the Vienna Metropol Theater with an international line-up of musicians. Mungo Jerry was particularly active as a live band until the end of 2013. Performances - mostly in the tried and tested long-standing British line-up Ray Dorset (git / voc) / Jon Playle (b) / Toby Hounsham (key) / Mark David (dr) - there were among others. a. several times at the Bansko Jazz Festival and the Lake Zurich Festival. They played a gig with Status Quo at the Inaugural Junction 16 Concert and toured the US in 2013.

In 2016 the band went on a tour through Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. The tour started with a concert at the Berlinale , which arte showed live in its Berlin program in May . The album Rewind , which was released in the same year, features Ray Dorset (git, voc, harp), Toby Hounsam (keys), Bob White (dr) and Jon Playle (bass) as well as Howie Casey (sax), who was previously responsible for Paul McCartney played the saxophone. Since 2017 the band has also supported the German cello musician Franky Klassen at live concerts and since 2018 the saxophonist Adam Davy . This musician, formerly with Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts , with Ben Waters and Kinks boss Ray Davies (LP "Americana Part 2"), is also on the new Mungo Jerry long player "Xstreme" with his instrument. This new studio album was released in August 2019 on the 7Music label, on which "Cool Jesus" was already released in 2010. As a guest musician, Ray Dorset's wife Britta played the second saxophone on the recordings. Regular bassist Jon Playle was represented at the recording by Darren Jones.

Significance for the history of pop music

Mungo Jerry is considered by some to be the band with the first maxi single ( In the Summertime / Mighty Man / Mungo's Blues ; released by PYE Records on the new Dawn label in 1970). This contained the hit In the Summertime, which was sold 30 million times (not counting cover versions of Shaggy , Elton John and Billy Idol, among others ). The Mungo-Jerry band emerged from musicians who later played for other well-known bands and artists - such as Bob Daisley (including Rainbow , Ozzy Osbourne ) and Boris Williams ( The Cure ).

Seydel, one of the leading producers of professional harmonicas , honored the band with the production of an official blues harp series called Mungo Jerry .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1970	Mungo Jerry	DE14 (2 months) DE	-	-	UK13 (6 weeks) UK	US64 (11 weeks) US
1971	Electronically Tested / Baby Jump (Electronically Tested) (DE)	-	-	-	UK14 (8 weeks) UK	-

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 1971: Memoirs of a Stockbroker
• 1971: Somebody Stole My Wife
• 1972: You Don't Have to Be in the Army
• 1972: Boot Power
• 1974: Long Legged Woman
• 1976: Impala Saga
• 1977: Lovin 'in the Alleys, Fightin' in the Streets
• 1978: The Golden Orpheus '78 - Live in Concert
• 1978: Ray Dorset & Mungo Jerry (with Ray Dorset)
• 1979: Six a Side
• 1981: Together Again
• 1981: Hit station
• 1982: Boogie Up (with Horizon)
• 2007: A Case for the Blues (as Katmandu feat. Mungo Jerry and Peter Green)
• 1990: Snakebite
• 1997: Old Shoes New Jeans
• 2001: Candy Dreams
• 2004: Adults Only (as Mungo Jerry Bluesband)
• 2007: When She Comes, She Runs All over Me (as Mungo Jerry blues band)
• 2008: Naked - From the Heart
• 2010: Cool Jesus
• 2013: Kickin 'Back (as Mungo Jerry blues band)
• 2016: Rewind (2 CDs; songs 1970–2015 + new tracks)
• 2017: 100% Live in Baden Baden
• 2019: Xstreme
• 2020 Touch the Sky

Compilations

• 1973: Mungo Jerry's Greatest Hits
• 1973: The Best of Mungo Jerry
• 1974: Golden Hour
• 1975: The Pye History of British Pop Music - Mungo Jerry
• 1977: The Mungo Jerry File (2 LPs)
• 1980: Greatest Hits ...
• 1982: Greatest Hits
• 1985: Greatest Hits
• 1987: Too Fast to Live and Too Young to Die
• 1989: The Greatest Hits of Mungo Jerry
• 1990: Golden Hour of Mungo Jerry
• 1991: The Early Years
• 1991: In the Summertime. Greatest hits
• 1991: The Collection
• 1993: Greatest Hits - Vol. 1
• 1993: Greatest Hits - Vol. 2
• 1994: Best Of
• 1994: In the Summertime
• 1995: Snake Bite
• 1995: You Don't Have to Be in the Army / Boot Power
• 1995: gold
• 1996: The Very Best of Mungo Jerry
• 1997: The Best of Mungo Jerry
• 1999: Baby Jump: The Dawn Anthology (2 CDs)
• 2003: Mungo Jerry
• 2004: Baby Jump - The Definitive Collection (3 CDs)
• 2005: In the Summertime: The Hit Collection
• 2005: super hits
• 2005: The Very Best of… Mungo Jerry
• 2005: Together Again
• 2006: super gold
• 2006: Cocktail: Best of Mungo Jerry
• 2007: In the Summertime - The Best of Mungo Jerry
• 2007: Best: Alright Alright Alright
• 2007: The Essential Mungo Jerry
• 2007: Never Mind I've Still Got My Rock 'n' Roll
• 2012: The Dawn Singles Collection

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1970	In the Summertime Mungo Jerry	DE1 (6 months) DE	AT1 (4½ months) AT	CH1 (20 weeks) CH	UK1 silver (20 weeks)UK	US3 gold (13 weeks)US
1971	Mungo's Blues (Dust Pneumonia Blues) hit station	DE45 (1 week) DE	AT14 (1 month) AT	-	-	-
	Baby Jump Electronically Tested	DE11 (12 weeks) DE	AT14 (1 month) AT	-	UK1 (13 weeks) UK	-
	Lady Rose Boot Power	DE7 (18 weeks) DE	-	CH2 (12 weeks) CH	UK5 (12 weeks) UK	-
	You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War You Don't Have to Be in the Army	DE39 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK13 (8 weeks) UK	-
1972	Open up boot power	DE28 (5 weeks) DE	-	-	UK21 (8 weeks) UK	-
1973	Alright Alright Alright Long Legged Woman	DE12 (13 weeks) DE	-	-	UK3 silver (12 weeks)UK	-
	Wild Love Long Legged Woman	DE25 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK32 (5 weeks) UK	-
1974	Long Legged Woman Dressed in Black Long Legged Woman	-	-	-	UK13 (9 weeks) UK	-
1999	Support the toon	-	-	-	UK57 (1 week) UK	-	with Toon Travelers

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More singles

• 1970: Mungo's Blues
• 1972: My Girl and Me
• 1975: Hello Nadine
• 1975: Can't Get Over Loving You
• 1976: It's a Secret
• 1976: Lana
• 1976: Sugar Mama
• 1976: Don't Let Go
• 1977: Heavy Foot Stomp
• 1977: All That a Woman Should Be
• 1977: We're OK
• 1978: Hello It's You Again (with Ray Dorset)
• 1979: Dancin 'in the Street (with Ray Dorset)
• 1979: Double hits
• 1980: What's Her Name, What's Her Number?
• 1980: Forgotten Land
• 1980: Summertime Holiday
• 1980: On a Night Like This (with Horizon)
• 1982: Knocking on Heaven's Door (with Horizon)
• 1983: There Goes My Heart Again (with Ray Dorset and the Tarts)
• 1984: Play for You My Drum
• 1987: In the Summertime (No. 1 British independent charts / with Brothers Grimm)
• 1990: In the Summertime (Dance Rave Medley 1990)
• 1995: Red Leather & Chrome
• 1999: Toon Army
• 2000: Mr. Midnight
• 2001: Lady Rose 2001
• 2002: Partyland
• 2007: Staying at Home
• 2010: Give Me a Song
• 2010: In the Summertime - Touch the Sky (No. 15 British dance charts / with Bluestone feat. Skibadee)
• 2019: White Dress
• 2019: Messing Around (Electro Beat Version feat. Frazer Bennett)

EPs

• 1970: In the Summertime / Mighty Man / Dust Pneumonia Blues
• 1971: Baby Jump / The Man Behind the Piano / Maggie, Midnight Special, Mighty Man
• 1971: Lady Rose / She Rowed / Milk Cow Blues / Little Louis
• 1971: Lady Rose / Have a Whiff on Me / Milk Cow Blues / Little Louis
• 1971: You Don't Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War / The Sun Is Shining / O'Reilly / We Shall Be Free
• 1972: Open Up / Going Back Home / I Don't Wanna Go Back to School / No Girl Reaction
• 1972: My Girl and Me / Summer's Gone / 46 and On / It's a Goodie Boogie Woogie
• 1977: Mungo Rox (with Ray Dorset)
• 1980: Mungo's Summer Fun Package

Awards for music sales

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
United States (RIAA)	-	gold1	-	1,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	2 × silver2	-	-	450,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	2 × silver2	gold1	-

Web links

Commons : Mungo Jerry  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Mungo Jerry at Allmusic (English)
• Mungo Jerry at Discogs (English)
• Official international site (English)
• Mungo Jerry Archive and Fanpage (English)

swell

1. ↑ Interview with Eliot Cohen AMI (promoter / organizer Hollywood Festival 1970, for: “Lernprogramme”, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Ed .: Macromedia, 2002): Proof of Mungo Jerry's success at the 1970 Hollywood Festival and two appearances by Band by audience choice.
2. ^ Siegfried Schmidt-Joos, Wolf Kampmann: Rock-Lexikon, 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-62133-8 , p. 1183: around 30 million records sold without compilations.
3. ^ Print editions of the English music magazine Melody-Maker 1970 and 1971.
4. ↑ UK chart placements for Alright Alright Alright.
5. ↑ Print editions Melody Maker and New Musical Express 1987: Proof of No. 1 placement of In the Summertime (Mungo Jerry & The Brothers Grimm / Illegal Records) in the indie chart.
6. ↑ Interview with Ray Dorset (for: “Learning programs”, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, ed .: Macromedia, 2002, for introducing participating partners): Proof of chart placements (also on the African continent).
7. ↑ [Print editions Melody Maker and New Musical Express May 1970]
8. ↑ paytons.com.au .
9. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
10. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
11. ↑ ^{a b} gold / platinum databases: DE AT CH UK US