The Borderline & Ray's Jazz & Blues record store in Central London on May 13th saw the UK launch of the, MUNGO JERRY BLUESBAND's, latest album, 'ADULTS ONLY', thought by many fans and judges (me included), to be the best MUNGO JERRY album since 'BOOT POWER'.

A few fans were able to attend after seeing the ticket information on the website and even STATUS QUO drummer, MATT LETLEY was there and e-mailed Roland to say - "Really enjoyed the lunchtime session at the Borderline - I was watching from the 'stage left' side with a good view of the drummer who I thought had a lovely relaxed style. Ray looked like he could have played all afternoon. He obviously enjoys himself - nice to see!"

ANONYMOUS REVIEW

"I picked up my invite to the launch of the RAY DORSET a.k.a MUNGO JERRY new blues album, 'ADULTS ONLY' with a rye smile on my face, you see the other people in the promotions office were either too young or too cynical to remember the part that this MJ had had to play in the history of the British blues scene.

So with this in mind, I caught up with Ray and his latest version of his band at Borderline on the Charing Cross Road in May this year, half expecting to see a set of pensioner rock, I was knocked back by a rip-roaring gig that had those present wishing that this was midnight instead of midday so as you drink yourself into the same frenzy that the Mungo-Man led his group. I quickly grabbed a freebie copy of this latest CD to check-out that the track listing was what I was witnessing. It was and the CD quickly slided into a jacket pocket to be played at regular intervals on the home and car systems.

If you get to check-out the album, blues standards 'STATESBRO' BLUES', 'MORNIN'DEW' and 'ROCK ME MAMA' stand out and add to these Dorset’s own 'ALL I WANNA DO' and 'SHE LOVES ME LIKE A WOMAN' and you get to realise where the album is coming from. These are the pick of a thirteen-track blues epic that will have you running for the replay button and volume control.

Counting through the years in my head as the gig progressed, I remembered that this was the fourth time I had encountered MUNGO JERRY in gigging form and once again it was to be memorable in the fact that every time the energy and aura of the occasion made you want it to go on forever. It couldn’t but that didn’t stop ex-Radio One DJ, DAVE CASH call the band back onstage to hit us with some more favourites and a barnstorming finale of 'JUST CAN'T SAY GOODBYE'. Not long afterwards, I caught up with RAY DORSET backstage to recount and recall some moments of days and songs gone-bye with him as we sipped soft drinks and instead of hard liquor, which is maybe why Dorset still looks and acts like a man many years younger.

Going back in my time machine the second time I saw MUNGO JERRY was way back in 1972 when the support band was a northern rock band called GEORDIE whose claim to fame was that their lead singer later went on to join AC/DC. When BRIAN JOHNSON made that move to the Aussie rockers, I remember thinking that if you had been present at the gig I was at, a betting man would have taken RAY DORSET a.k.a MUNGO JERRY instead. As Mungo, Dorset screamed his way through his blues chart anthem of the time, 'OPEN UP' and you got the feeling that his vocals started in his boots.

You see Mungo’s history is a long and varied one from the conception in 1970 by taking festivals by storm, by going against the grain of 'hey man' progressive rock. The band played jug/skiffle, rock an’ blues in the old sitting down stomping and blowing style of the old yesterdays blues godfathers themselves. And this was the first time I was blown away by the gutter/gravel like vocal charms of RAY DORSET and the fact that he could match this with some chunky riffing guitar only added to his growing reputation, confirmed by being voted in Melody Maker as one of the Top Ten live acts of the year, lying in-between THE FACES and THE WHO.

By the mid-70’s, I was to see MUNGO JERRY for a third time, and by the time of the 90’s, I thought the last time. RAY DORSET was by then leading a more conventional pure blues outfit consisting of ex-CHICKEN SHACK drummer, DAVE BIDWELL and bassist BOB DAISLEY who was to shortly join RAINBOW, URIAH HEEP and OZZY OSBOURNE to name but a few.

I was at a gig at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, when for two hours MUNGO JERRY belted out rock'n blues that had a near capacity crowd spellbound. The strange thing was at that time, MUNGO JERRY were high in the UK Top Ten with the pure 'pop' sounding, 'ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT' and if you add titles like 'LADY ROSE' and 'LONG LEGGED WOMAN DRESSED IN BLACK' to this, you understood how the public was becoming confused as to the image of MUNGO JERRY.

Mungo’s first output was the perennial summer classic, 'IN THE SUMMERTIME' followed by the rock/stomp thrust of the second UK Number One, 'BABY JUMP' and two Top Twenty chart albums MUNGO JERRY and 'ELECTRONICALLY TESTED'. Somewhere along the line the image and the output got confused, not that it seemed to overly concern Dorset he was, and still is a showman, happy in the knowledge that not many people could get up on a stage and give him a run for his money or be presented with Ivor Novello, NME, Sony and MTV awards at such regular intervals as he was.

By the time of the 1980’s, RAY DORSET a.k.a MUNGO JERRY was involved in TV production writing credits as well, one interesting one was the song he penned for the comedy/drama series, 'PROSPECTS', he supplied the title song on the understanding that it was to be covered by rock hero, ROGER DALTREY. But the song got no further than Ray’s version when it was deemed it couldn’t even be bettered by THE WHO’s front man himself.

If you add to this the white blues album classic, 'A CASE FOR THE BLUES' where RAY DORSET brought into his own recording studios, former FLEETWOOD MAC leader PETER GREEN and ex-ATOMIC ROOSTER front man and keyboard player, VINCENT CRANE and blended his own songs, vocals and guitar to their superb output, you get to understand why this guy has built up a reputation over thirty odd years of being one of our musical greats and long may RAY DORSET a.k.a MUNGO JERRY continue.

And long may I work with a bunch of cynics that leave the best value invites lying around on a office desk for me to walk away with and spend an afternoon being entertained in the way that brought you into the music business in the first place.

ROLAND WRITES...

Sorry we missed you yesterday! The launch went down really well with media, music folks and the fans. The buzz, the vibe, the groove was there and Ray had energy abounding ...even the bankers loosened their ties!

Long time friends of Ray's helped greatly yesterday at the Borderline venue. DAVE CASH, legendary DJ, did the honours with the compering. Orange supplied the backline (CLIFF COOPER is Orange CEO & an old friend of Ray's). The Borderline proved to be the right place for us - thanks to BARRY EVERITT, NOEL and REME there. In the evening we went over to our favourite Jazz / Blues record store - Ray's Jazz Records - where Ray played a rousing acoustic stomping blues - skiffle set. Big thanks to PAUL PACE, manager there... we will post some reviews to the official site in the next few days.

This shot was taken by the Harley Davidson riders who flooded Central London yesterday to support Ray ...bright 'IN THE SUMMERTIME' weather. Many thanks are due to Andy of the New Forest chapter for organising all that.

All is all it was pretty much the perfect day and that's why we wanted to let you know that we missed you!!!

Hope to see y'all soon. We look forward to seeing you in the U.S in a few weeks time and in Australia / South Africa early next year.

Best wishes - ROLAND DUNNE - MUNGO JERRY MANAGER.

P.S - The new album, 'ADULTS ONLY' is released early June in the UK by Voiceprint and a month later in the USA.

Coming soon is the brand new on-line MUNGO JERRY shop. Fans will be able to order direct from the official site - www.mungojerry.com - and orders will be handled by DEREK WADESON who tells me, "To bring you up to date, from August, the MUNGO JERRY on-line shop on - www.mungojerry.com - will have all orders forwarded to me. I will despatch all orders the same day as received. Available from day one will be all the items from the German web site (CD's, video's, DVD's, etc), plus any UK releases that I can get hold of".

Derek is awaiting delivery of stock from Easyplay in Germany and the official website is under construction to accomodate the shop so keep checking it out.