The eagerly awaited brand new MUNGO JERRY studio album, CANDY DREAMS has finally been completed. As you are all aware, it's been a long time coming and I think it would be fair to say, it's gonna surprise a lot of people. Having received a promo CD of the album from Ray, and playing it a few times, I'm still struggling to come up with an accurate description of what I am hearing. That's not a criticism at all, because I have enjoyed listening to it - it's just different! Ray describes it as "chill out & party" and that's just about right. I thought that I would give you a track-by-track run down, so here goes;

So what's in a name? MUNGO JERRY - remember them? 'IN THE SUMMERTIME', 'LADY ROSE', and what's the other one called? 'LONG COOL WOMAN IN A BLACK DRESS', that was it! I think every MUNGO fan at sometime in their life has encountered hearing a conversation like that. In fact the other week, I was promoting a brewery fund raiser when the video screen moved onto RAY DORSET and the lads giving 'ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT' loads. "He's skint, him you know, that 'Ray Dorsey' fellow", spluttered a drunk at the bar. "I heard he couldn't play a chord", said his mate - Oh, piss off, I thought!

That is the problem a lot of 'once famous' artists suffer from, so how do they go about promoting something new - in this case, new MUNGO albums, 'CANDY DREAMS' and the blues project. Do you feature twelve songs in the old hit days style, do you try to bring it up to date and be 'modern'. Or do you fall in-between two stools and end up doing neither.

I don't think there is an easy answer to be found with MUNGO live being a different sound to a lot of the recorded product. Playing it live is one thing, transferring that to an album could also be very daunting. From the demo tracks I've heard of the two new albums, I'm glad Ray has taken up the challenge and put together some really well crafted product. Every track may not satisfy old fans/new fans/gig goers, because it's RAY DORSET now, it's what he wants to be heard, so accept it. I have my favourite tracks, there are a couple of songs I don't like one bit, then again, if I recorded an album, Ray wouldn't like half of that either! So what does Ray have to prove? Nothing is the answer. RAY DORSET is putting out MUNGO JERRY albums in the 90's, that are not the 70's re-visited - they are now and are worth hearing, and hoping someone, somewhere in business has the clout to make sure that enough people hear them to make a difference.

KEEP ON ROCKING RAY!

DEREK WADESON.

November - '97 that is - should see the release of the new MUNGO JERRY blues album, 'OLD SHOES,NEW JEANS'. Was it really back in issue 7, August'95 when I first gave out the initial track listing.

Performed very much in a 'live' sounding style, similar to 'SNAKEBITE', it is a collection of brand new RAY DORSET compositions, and new re-recordings of some old numbers from Ray's past. Track by track;