1972

1972, the year Mungo Jerry became Ray Dorset a.k.a Mungo Jerry.

It saw the break-up of the very successful Mungo Jerry band that had charted with four hit singles, including two UK number ones and two hit albums.

Banjoist, Paul King and pianist, Colin Earl left the band to form their own, King Earl Boogie Band. Lead singer Ray Dorset carried on as Mungo Jerry with bass player John Godfrey staying with Ray.

The ‘new’ Mungo Jerry had a much harder, rocking approach and now for the first time, had a permanent drummer and new keyboard player.

Together, they recorded what many fans considered to be the best ever Mungo Jerry album – Boot Power.

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THE FAR EAST TOUR

The tour of the Far East and Australia was notable as the last tour the band, in its current form, would undertake.

Despite an undercurrent of tension, the guys still managed to have a great time with many memorable gigs.

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Ron Cooper, Zabadak Magazine, 1972… Saw Mungo Jerry in Perth, Australia in January 1972.

“It was summer and an open air concert at night. They gave a really great performance…goodtime, fun music!

“They didn’t need a drummer, they got such a great pumping sound from the bottle.

“Mungo also gave an impromptu performance on the local beach – MAGIC” !!!

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Ray Dorset on the tour… “It wasn’t all gloom and doom, we did have a lot of laughs and met some interesting characters.

“We broke attendance records in New Zealand previously held by Elton John and had big audiences in Australia.”

Colin Earl on the tour… “Sydney Cricket Ground, moving on to New Zealand, where at the open-air concert, we broke all previous records.

” Also Wellington City Hall was packed and the atmosphere was electric – we could still do it”!

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Thanks to Robert Pell for the photographs from this gig at the Festival Hall, Melbourne.

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MUNGO JERRY, NEW ZEALAND, 1972

8,000 Rise To Music… Clouds of dust were raised by the enthusiastic dancing crowd during the frenetic finale of the Mungo Jerry-Edison Lighthouse ‘Summertime Spectacular’ at the Addington Show Grounds last evening.

Mungo Jerry’s last number, Baby Jump, left the large audience of about 8000 in no doubt about the group’s musical ability or entertainment value.

Frizzy-haired Ray Dorset, by far the most extrovert member of Mungo Jerry, stomped on the floor of the open-air stage to reverberate the piece of tambourine nailed there. He played the kazoo and harmonica and electric guitar and uttered amusing crudities to the delight of the crowd.

Adding to the hoe-down, ragtime style of the group was an excellent honky-tonk pianist, electric bassist and guitarist and effects man who played an enormous jug with considerable vigour.

Altogether, Mungo Jerry more than made up for the inadequacies of what had preceded their act. Edison Lighthouse failed to offer anything that one of the better New Zealand groups might produce; their act, a facsimile of many popular groups, was unable to engage the audience fully.

This group cannot, however, be blamed entirely. A faulty public address system played havoc with the early part of their show.

In spite of the anger at being kept waiting for the show to begin and slow and unappreciative clapping when the sound system failed to work properly. The large crowd was generally well behaved; only one man had to be removed from the stage by the many security officers and policemen who were present.

Gradually, an antipathetic audience was warmed to the event, and throughout the concert, one by one, they rose to their feet and joined in with the singing, clapping and dancing.

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THE BREAK-UP

Ray Dorset on the band splitting… “I think that it was wrong for the band to split when and how it did, the differences should have been sorted out.

“We could have included a drummer/percussionist in the line up and gone forward and work on becoming a respected album and concert act.

“We definitely had the platform to do this and we together with our management/production were all learning about the mechanics of the music business”.

Paul King said… “In the beginning, we took the music world by storm, not only because of our style of music, but because of the rough and ready image and carefree attitude we displayed on and off the stage.

“We were a hit all the way around the world and from Eskimos to Aborigines they loved us.

“Mungo was a blend of us all, colourful, a bit roguish and above all totally different in the way we sat down and pumped out our earthy but happy-go-lucky style of music.

“We were if you like at one with each other and the world and it worked”…

Colin Earl said… “The original Mungo Jerry, and by that I mean Ray, Paul and myself, with genuine help from Joe Rush was an original.

“It could have been great…it nearly was. Ask any of those 35,000 that were at Hollywood on that early summer evening in 1970. They’ll remember ’til the day they die how the music, their music, moved them.”

Barry Murray said… “When the band came back from Australia, I got a call from Paul and Colin, they wanted Ray out of the band.

“I was totally frank with them. I told them to ride the storm, you’re near to cracking it on a very big scale. The band could be huge worldwide if it sticks together. If you don’t, it could be the end for you.

“So, the band split at a time I wanted to tour the States over and over and crack it. Savoy Brown did it, so could they and with album sales instead of singles”.

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THE NEW LINE-UP

Following the break-up, a new line-up was quickly announced.

Paul King and Colin Earl were replaced by Jon Pope on keyboards, and Tim Reeves on drums.

This was the first time that Mungo Jerry had included a permanent drummer in the band.

A UK tour was already in place for the previous line-up but was amended and undertaken by the new band in March, 1972.

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MARGATE DREAMLAND : 1st April, 1972

SET LIST
Maggie/Take This Hammer/O’Reilly/You Don’t Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War/Lady Rose/Little Bit Of Love/Brand New Car/Midnight Special/Mighty Man/Baby Jump/In The Summertime/Long Tall Sally

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PALACE LIDO, ISLE OF MAN : 4th June, 1972

 (from fan club newletter, June – August, 1972)

Sunday 4th June, Mungo played the Palace Lido, Isle Of Man, for the first time.

From the response the 3,000 packed crowd gave to each number, it was obvious that their visit had been long delayed.

The crowd did not seem to be able to enough of Mungo’s music. They were still calling out for more (after two encores) long after Mungo had finished playing.

A few over-enthusiastic fans grabbed Ray’s leg and nearly pulled him off the stage!

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BUCHANAN CASTLE PARK : 20th June 1972.

“It was one heck of a night, String Driven Thing and The JSD Band were the supporting acts.

“It was held in a large marquee on the flood plain of the river Endrick just below Buchanan Castle. I really enjoyed it as it was the first ever concert.

“Going to the concert was a spur of the moment thing seeing as it was my birthday that day and.

“After the concert my father was deaf in his left ear for the rest of his life!

“It was maybe a high price to pay but we both enjoyed it.

Andrew Paul, March 2017.

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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY : 8th – 9th July, 1972.

(from fan club newsletter, June – August, 1972)

After flying back from Glasgow, Mungo flew to Budapest for two days.

This another place they have never played before. They played in an open-air stadium to an audience of 15,000 each night.

The crowd went really mad trying to get on stage!

Because of Mungo’s popularity, they were asked to make a return visit in a couple of months.

This was the first time a band has been re-booked on the spot”!

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BENIDORM, SPAIN : 16th – 20th July, 1972.

(from fan club newsletter, June – August, 1972)

On Sunday 16th June, we flew from Heathrow to Palma, Majorca. After a four hour delay we caught a connection flight to Alicante.

From there, we drove to a small village called Calpe, where we stayed at ‘La Manzenara’, a freaky pop-village.

That night, Mungo were supposed to open a new club in Benidorm. The Club 3000 and play there for four nights.

Unfortunately, Chris and Ray (the roadies) had trouble with the van and reached the French/Spanish border just after it had closed.

Mungo were unable to open the club officially that night, although they went to the club and made an appearance. Theyexplained to the crowd what had happened.

However, after looking at the stage, they realised that even if their equipment had been there, they would probably not have been able to play.

The piano was out of tune. There was no power and water was dripping on to the stage from the ceiling.

Mungo were assured that everything would be fixed for them to play on Monday. It seemed that the owner of the club wasn’t very good at keeping his word.

On arriving at the gig on Monday, the same un-tuned piano was on stage, water was still dripping. Worst of all, the power that they were meant to use kept fluctuating in its voltage.

Ray pointed out that with the power in that state, it would be impossible to play.

About two hours later, they had altered it, though it still fluctuated slightly. Mungo played a one hour set with water dripping on their heads and an un-tuned piano for the next two nights”.

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CHELSEA COLLEGE : 21st October, 1972

SET LIST
Somebody Stole My Wife/Take This Hammer/You Don’t Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War/Little Bit Of Love/No Girl Reaction/Lady Rose/Brand New Car/Mighty Man/O’Reilly/Open Up/Baby Jump/In The Summertime/Long Tall Sally/Really Had a Goodtime

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