"Truth: The Columbia Recordings 1969-1970" by THE FLOCK (September 2017 UK Esoteric Recordings 2CD Reissue - Ben Wiseman Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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PROG ROCK, PSYCH, AVANT GARDE...
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Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

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"...Big Bird..."

Reading the liner notes on the rear cover to "The Flock" - you knew your were in good hands - they'd been penned by the much-admired and musically trusted British Bluesman John Mayall. He talked of their July 1969 "Whiskey A Go Go" live debut in the famous Los Angeles musical bolt hole - and how only two months later with the US September 1969 release of their self-titled debut album on Columbia Records - it was time for both the British Press and Public to wake up to their Chicago based Fusion-Rock headed by the Vocals and Guitar of Fred Glickstein and the wild bow magic of Violinist Jerry Goodman.

The Bluesbreaker mainman was of course right. Sporting a seven-man line-up, The Flock joined with the likes of Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears in that initial flowering of Fusion-Based Rock coming out of America in 1969 - a sound that encompassed a little bit of Blues, complicated and challenging Rock, Jazz, Psychedelic and even Gospel. In fact along with the Latin Fusion of Santana – Columbia Records was the big-label home of innovation and this kind of music at the time. And how good is it to see their small but tasty legacy of Art Rock be treated so well by England's champions of all things complex and well 'Flocky' - Esoteric Recordings. Let's get to those high-flying big birds...

UK released Friday, 29 September 2017 - "Truth: The Columbia Recordings 1969-1970" by THE FLOCK on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 22606 (Barcode 5013939470644) is a 2CD anthology which offers both of their studio albums - "The Flock" from 1969 and "Dinosaur Swamps" from 1970 – six outtakes first issued in 1993 (two from the debut and four from an abandoned third album) and six US and European single sides/edits (Previously Unreleased on CD). This new twofer plays out as follows...

Disc 1 (65:30 minutes):

1. Introduction [Side 1]

2. Clown

3. I Am The Tall Tree

4. Tired Of Waiting

5. Store Bought - Store Thought [Side 2]

6. Truth

Tracks 1 to 6 are their debut album "The Flock" - released September 1969 in the USA on Columbia Records CS 9911 (Stereo) and April 1970 in the UK on CBS Records S 63733 (Stereo). Produced by JOHN McCLURE - it peaked at No. 48 in the US LP charts and No. 59 in the UK.

7. What Would You Do If The Sun Died?

8. Lollipops And Rainbows

Tracks 7 and 8 first appeared on the April 1993 CD compilation of Remasters - "Flock Rock: The Best Of The Flock" (Columbia CK 53440 – Barcode 74645344027). Both were unreleased outtakes from the debut album sessions recorded 6 June 1969.

9. Tired Of Waiting (Single Version, 2:40 minutes)

10. Store Bought - Store Brought (Single Version, 2:41 minutes)

Tracks 9 and 10 are edits (for both sides) released as a US 45 on Columbia 4-45021 in October 1969 and in the UK in April 1970 on CBS Records 4932 (Previously Unreleased on CD)

11. Clown (Part One)

12. Clown (Part Two)

Tracks 11 and 12 released as two-part 7” single in France only (with a picture sleeve) on CBS France 4965 (Previously Unreleased on CD)

Disc 2 (65:19 minutes):

1. Green Slice [Side 1]

2. Big Bird

3. Hornschmeyer's Island

4. Lighthouse

5. Crabfoot [Side 2]

6. Mermaid

7. Uranian Sircus

Tracks 1 to 7 are their second and last studio album "Dinosaur Swamps" – released October 1970 in the USA on Columbia Records C 30007 (Stereo) and in the UK on CBS Records S 64055 (Stereo) – both in Gatefold Sleeves. Produced by JOHN McCLURE – it peaked at No. 96 in the US charts but didn’t chart in the UK.

8. Chanja

9. Atlantians Truckin’ Home

10. Afrika

11. Just Do It

Tracks 8 to 11 first appeared on the May 1993 US CD compilation of Vic Anesini Remasters - "Flock Rock – The Best Of The Flock" (Columbia/Legacy CK 53440 – Barcode 074645344027). They were outtakes to their unreleased third album recorded 16 December 1970.

12. Mermaid (Single Edit, 2:43 minutes)

13. Crabfoot (Single Edit, 2:48 minutes)

Tracks 12 and 13 issued a US 45 7” single in January 1971 on Columbia 4-45295 (Previously Unreleased on CD)

The 16-page booklet has new liner notes from noted writer MALCOLM DOME featuring photos of the band, the outer and inner gatefold sleeve to "Dinosaur Swamps" and of course that famous photo of Jerry giving it some wired violin. MARK POWELL of Esoteric did the compilation and archiving whilst long-standing Audio Engineer BEN WISEMAN handled the superb Remasters. Last time Columbia/Legacy handled the Flock was 25 years ago on the "Flock Rock...Best Of..." CD compilation from May 1993 – which featured Vic Anesini Remasters of 15 tracks – here we get comparable Audio – beautifully clear and powerful.

THE FLOCK was:

FRED GLICKSTEIN - Lead Guitar and Vocals

JERRY GOODMAN - Violin and Vocals

RICK CANOFF - Tenor Sax

TOM WEBB - Tenor Sax

FRANK POSA - Trumpet

JERRY SMITH - Bass

RON KARPMAN - Drums

JERRY GERBER on Saxophones, Flute, Banjo and Vocals replaced Tom Webb for "Dinosaur Swamps"

Most British fan's introduction to The Flock came not through the belatedly released debut album in April 1970 - but through a 6 March 1970 double-album sampler designed to promote CBS UK's roster of artists - the David Howell compiled "Fill Your Head With Rock - The Sound Of The Seventies". CBS Records SPR 39/40 was the third release from the British side of Columbia Records capitalising on the June 1969 chart-placing of their first two budget LP samplers - the fondly remembered "Rock Machine I Love You" and "The Rock Machine Turns You On". I mention all this because on the front cover of the 6 March 1970 2LP sampler "Fill Your Head With Rock" was Jerry Goodman of The Flock giving it some full-colour bare-chested Rock-God Prog-Jazz-Fusion Violin-Virtuoso (yeah baby). The image had graced the back cover of the debut album "The Flock" - but in black and white. Here he looked amazing - the 2LP set contained the album-cut of their Ray Davies and The Kinks cover "Tired Of Waiting". Although the double wasn't issued Stateside - it was a hit across loads of European and Asian/Australian markets. The Flock played Rotterdam 26 June 1970 on the back of it - only to stand naked and tall two days later at the Bath Festival in the UK where a certain Led Zeppelin made a pivotal impression. On that bill were other Prog acts like Pink Floyd, Colosseum and The Nice as well as Rock acts like Rory Gallagher's Taste, Ten Years After and their British pal/champion - John Mayall.

I must admit it’s been decades since I played their debut and I’m struck by how damn good most of it sounds after all these hairline-receding years. Opening sweetly with Acoustic strums - "Introduction" – the first of five original band compositions - soon succumbs to Jerry's ever-present Violin - sounding not unlike Fiddler On The Roof on acid. For sure the overly long "Clown" has some very dated vocal passages before the music takes over and romps to its 8:49 ending - but Glickstein proves himself a rocking guitar player – battling it out with Jerry Smith’s Bass lines (they released the wildly un-radio-friendly "Clown" as a two-parter single in France with a picture sleeve – wow – them was the days!). "I Am The Tall Tree" features some toe-curling lyrics vying for space with soulful playing - while it’s not surprising that Columbia and CBS both tried the band’s cover of The Kinks 1965 hit "Tired Of Waiting For You" (shortened to "Tired Of Waiting") as a 45 to plug the album – it’s probably the most (dare we say it) commercial cut on the record. Unrecognisable here – The Flock do the tune proud with some suitably grungy guitar work that ups the garage feel of the Kink Size original (the single edit is particularly impressive). Side 2 has only two tracks – the guitar-laden "Store Bought – Store Thought" which features wicked guitar and brass passages – and the seriously challenging but brilliant fifteen and half minutes of this compilations namesake - "Truth". Part Blues, part Prog, part Jazz Rock – it’s an amazing tour-de-force of Violin vs. Guitar vs. Brass - even if by the end the Bluesy jam – the song threatens to overstay its welcome. Having said that - if I were asked to point a singular finger at an example of this American band’s brilliance – it would be at this musicianship-showcase track "Truth".

By the time the band reached mid 1970 – a chemically enhanced visit to Boston became the basis for their ELP vs. The Mahavishnu Orchestra second album – the ambitious and occasionally brilliant "Dinosaur Swamps". With a doomy fade in - "Big Bird" then suddenly and unexpectedly becomes the Fiddle of Area Code 615 meets the Brass section of Blood, Sweat & Tears. By the time the voices arrive – it may have lost its way a tad – but structurally its impressive stuff nonetheless (and the Audio is fab). The near nine minutes of "Hornschmeyer’s Island" offers more of the same – our seven-piece heroes floating jazzily upstream in a musical canoe. The bopping "Crabfoot" is almost a single similar to Chicago’s "25 or 6 to 4" and the mad "Uranian Sircus" ends the album on loony laughter and dense rhythms that sound like they’re too stoned for their own creative good. Of the four jams that were to make up the unreleased third album supposedly to be entitled "Flock Rock" – the short "Chanja" offers up wild Zappa-like guitar – while the trumpet-soloing of "Just Do It" shows how far they’d veered towards Jazz and away from Rock.

For sure The Flock won't be everyone's idea of a fun night in with a bottle of Chardonnay and a scented Michael Buble candle. But if your like your Prog Rock and Fusion with a dash of Jazz Brasso and some Vim Violin as a chaser – then this wicked reminder of headier days is the "Fill Your Head With Rock" bare-chested brat for you...

"Decade" by NEIL YOUNG (July 2017 UK Reprise Records 3LP Set Remastered onto 2CDs in Card Slv - John Nowland and Neil Young NYA Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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1976

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"...Both Feet On The Ground..."

When I worked in the Rarities Dept. of Reckless Records in both Islington and Soho's Berwick Street - Neil Young's "Decade" was the kind of booty you hoped would be in a collection sold in across the counter. Once out in the racks - it had a shelf life of point six of a par-second or two electrons in a geo-dimensional quantum entanglement (whichever is quicker). And on hearing this 1977 triple-LP set transferred onto these shiny-new 2CD remasters in 2017 - it's easy to know why. What a winner...

"Decade" referred to 1966 to 1976 but was delayed because Young changed two songs and it eventually arrived in the autumn of 1977 as a 3LP set in an elaborate gatefold sleeve complete with inner flap and (barely legible) handwritten liner notes. While retrospectives and anthologies are passé nowadays - back in the kick-em-in-the-goolies one-chord wonder of Punk and New Wave's 1977 - a triple album roundup by an old fart might not have seemed to be the wisest move commercially. But Neil Young's combo of new versions, rarities (five unreleased), fan faves, latest stuff and clever sequencing made for more than an impressive listen (even the critics at the time thought so). I can remember £25 being the price for this set secondhand (when others barely pushed £15) long before such sums became commonplace. Expecting to fly indeed, let's get to the AADs...

UK released Friday, 21 July 2017 - "Decade" by NEIL YOUNG on Reprise 9362 49154-5 (Barcode 093624915454) offers a 35-Track 3LP set Remastered onto 2CDs (without extras) in a gatefold card sleeve with Insert and plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (74:24 minutes):

1. Down To The Wire - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (Previously Unreleased, features BF's Stephen Stills and Richie Furay with Dr. John as a Guest)

2. Burned - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (from their 1966 debut album "Buffalo Springfield")

3. Mr. Soul  - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (from their 1967 second album "Buffalo Springfield Again")

4. Broken Arrow - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (from their 1967 second album "Buffalo Springfield Again")

5. Expecting To Fly - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (from their 1967 second album "Buffalo Springfield Again", only Neil Young plays on this)

6. Sugar Mountain - NEIL YOUNG (non-album B-side to the 1969 7" single "The Loner", recorded Live at Canterbury House, Ann Arbor in Michigan)

Tracks 1 to 6 made up Side 1 of the original triple album

7. I Am A Child - BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD (from the 1968 third and final album "Last Time Around", features Neil Young and Dewey Martin only)

8. The Loner - NEIL YOUNG (from his debut 1968 solo album "Neil Young")

9. The Old Laughing Lady - NEIL YOUNG (from his debut 1968 solo album "Neil Young", full version at 5:58 minutes, previous 2Cd set used an edit)

10. Cinnamon Girl - NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE (from the 1969 album "Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere")

11. Down By The River - NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE (from the 1969 album "Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere", full 9:19 minutes version)

Tracks 7 to 11 are Side 2 of the 3LP set

12. Cowgirl In The Sand - NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE (from the 1969 album "Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere")

13. I Believe In You - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1970 album "After The Gold Rush")

14. After The Gold Rush - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1970 album "After The Gold Rush")

15. Southern Man - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1970 album "After The Gold Rush")

16. Helpless - CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG (from the 1970 album "Deja Vu")

Tracks 12 to 16 are Side 3 of the 3LP set

Disc 2 (71:21 minutes):

1. Ohio - CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG (non-album June 1970 7" single with "Find The Cost Of Freedom" on the B-side)

2. Soldier - NEIL YOUNG (from the 2LP 1972 Set "Journey Through The Past", an edit - see notes below)

3. Old Man - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1972 album "Harvest")

4. A Man Needs A Maid - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1972 album "Harvest")

5. Harvest - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1972 album "Harvest")

6. Stars Of Bethlehem - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1977 album "American Stars 'N' Bars - recorded 1974 - features Emmylou Harris)

Tracks 1 to 6 are Side 4 of the 3LP set

7. The Needle And The Damage Done - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1972 album "Harvest", recorded live)

8. Tonight's The Night (Part 1) - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1975 album "Tonight's The Night" - recorded in 1973 featuring Nils Lofgren)

9. Tired Eyes - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1975 album "Tonight's The Night" - recorded in 1973 featuring Nils Lofgren)

10. Walk On - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1974 album "On The Beach")

11. For The Turnstiles - NEIL YOUNG (from the 1974 album "On The Beach")

12. Winterlong - NEIL YOUNG (Previously Unreleased)

13. Deep Forbidden Lake - NEIL YOUNG (Previously Unreleased)

Tracks 7 to 13 are Side 5 of the 3LP set

14. Like A Hurricane - NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE (Previously Unreleased version)

15. Love Is Like A Rose - NEIL YOUNG (Previously Unreleased)

16. Cortez The Killer - NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE (from the 1975 album "Zuma")

17. Campaigner - NEIL YOUNG (Previously Unreleased)

18. Long May You Run - THE STILLS-YOUNG BAND (Previously Unreleased mix that features all of CSNY - the 1976 "Long May You Run" album version excluded David Crosby and Graham Nash on Vocals)

Tracks 14 to 18 are Side 6 of the 3LP set

By now everyone will know of Young's insistence on 'exact' replicas of the original packaging - but here the 2017 gatefold card sleeve and the gatefold insert maybe sweetly repro'd but are unreadable making them somewhat useless and irritating. This is absolutely one of those occasions where someone in NYA should have gone the extra mile and filled this with a separate booklet - a brilliant release that deserves it (way better than the single disc "Greatest Hits"). In fact - although these are part of the JOHN NOWLAND and NEIL YOUNG ARCHIVES (NYA) CD Remasters - it doesn't tell you that anywhere on the packaging - you're left to guess. What's not in doubt is the AUDIO - amazing on every song after 1969. Re-listening to the "American Stars 'N Bars", "Tonight's The Night" and "Zuma" tracks anew like this is hair-raising stuff - AAD baby. Let's get to the music...

While this set allowed fans and curious newcomers alike to re-appreciate forgotten songs like "Cinnamon Girl", "The Old Laughing Lady", "Cowgirl In The Sand" and "Down By The River" - it also reminded punters of his distinctive contributions to Buffalo Springfield and CSNY. His sequencing worked. The 'Neil Young' lone acoustic rendition of "Sugar Mountain" done live in Michigan (the non-album B-side of "The Loner" 45) ends Side 1 - but is followed perfectly by Buffalo Springfield's "I Am A Child" as it opens Side 2. You don't jump back - yet they match and suit. Things start to cook as he rocks it out with "The Loner" and the nine-minute wig-out "Down By The River" offered here in its full album version of 9:19 minutes and not the nine-minute edit used for the first 2CD reissue of "Decade" back in the Nineties. "Cowgirl In The Sand" sounds fantastic too - beautiful Bass clarity and those guitars chugging and soloing. But its songs like "The Old Laughing Lady" that remain so moving - a gorgeous melody and observation of life even if it is sad - "I Believe In You" is exactly the same. Although I find "Southern Man" overplayed - I'm always moved by his "Helpless" on CSNY's magisterial "Deja Vu".

Young wrote the 'four dead in' "Ohio" as a stand-alone 7" single for CSNY with the fabulous Stills composition "Find The Cost of Freedom" on the flipside. "Ohio" opens CD2 perfectly - their collective rage at Nixon and his Vietnam heavy-handedness screaming out of the lyrics (still such powerful stuff). A hissy but haunting “Soldier” follows it from the 1972 double-album "Journey Through The Past". Famously edited down to 2:27 minutes from the LP's 3:39 minutes - and given that their is space - it's odd that Young hasn't taken the chance to reinstate it fully here like he has done on those other unnecessary chopped-to-fit tracks? But I suspect he likes this version - maybe the "Jesus I saw you walking on the river...' edit is all the more powerful for being shorter. Certainly when the studio brilliance of "Old Man" kicks in - the contrast between it and "Old Man" is both stark and effective. Speaking of "Harvest" - the four from it featured on "Decade" only hammer home his brilliance at that time - each one sounding spectacularly good. Emmylou Harris guests as a second-vocalist on the lovely "Star Of Bethlehem" - forgotten on 1977's "American Stars 'N Bars".

The acoustic slightly stoned ramshackle miserable-git feel of 1975's "Tonight's The Night" was in fact recorded in 1973 (most of it in one day apparently but only released two years later). Featuring Grin's Nils Lofgren (Guitar and Lead Vocals on the title track), Crazy Horse's Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot alongside multi-instrumentalist sessionman Ben Keith - "Tonight's The Night" is all the more potent for its Ryan Adams sloppiness. Along with On The Beach's stayed-up-all-night "Walk On" (Neil rocks out) and the fabulous plucker "For The Turnstiles" (Ben Keith on Dobro with Neil on Banjo) - the combo of that early to mid Seventies material makes for a fabulous listen that still somehow feels new and fresh. Those are smartly followed by a previously unreleased double-whammy - an Americana Alt-country rocker called "Winterlong" and a beautiful Acoustic Guitar and Pedal Steel ballad called "Deep Forbidden Lake" - both cuts surely being the big prizes here and both sounding huge without being over-trebled for the sake of it. "...Even Richard Nixon's got soul..." Young sings on the campaigned-all-my-life towards-that-goal song "Campaigner" - another unreleased winner. It ends on the four boys harmonising on "Long May You Run" - beautifully rendered here.

"...We missed that deep ship on the long steep climb..." - Neil Young sings on "Long May You Run" with his old sparring partner Stephen Stills.

At a frankly paltry eight pre-Brexit quid on Amazon - don't miss out on this 2CD Reissue of new Remasters. It's a balls-to-the-wall mountain of goodies...a Harvest indeed...

"The Dawn Albums Collection" by MUNGO JERRY featuring Ray Dorset (September 2017 7t's/Cherry Red 5CD Mini Box Set - James Bragg Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Baby Jump..."

Amidst the tight-trousered, Vahalla-spouting, Beelzebub-worshipping, knob-Gods of Hard Rock, the transitioning eye-makeup of androgynous pop singers working feather boas and lip gloss, the po-faced finger-in-the-ear purity of Traditionalist Folkies babbling on about the Solstice and Ruin Stones and the cheesecloth-shirt bedsit fumbling of emotionally frail singer-songwriters mentally crucified by Zodiac predictions in ponderous sun-sign paperbacks - sat the gloriously simple MUNGO JERRY - an English band that virtually smelt of summer and pretty girls and the seaside and pubs and hard-boiled sweets and damn it – plain old-fashioned fun.

With their throwback Lonnie Donegan Skiffle rhythms and homemade Jug Band washboards - leery side-burned gap-toothed singer Ray Dorset and his banks of Kazoos, Jews Harps, Barrelhouse Pianos and foot-stomping - seemed like a breath of fresh air in a musical scene dominated by so much earnest seriousness and self-importance. And that's what "The Dawn Albums Collection" delivers - five albums and various non-LP single-side sundries worth of 'alright alright alright' in a pint-sized carton with a sticky bun on top and a sugar-lump chaser. There's a shed load to wade through here so let's get to the electronically tested...

UK released Friday, 29 September 2017 (October 2017 in the USA) - "The Dawn Albums Collection" by MUNGO JERRY on 7t's/Cherry Red GLAMBOX166 (Barcode 5013929056626) is a 5CD 81-Track Mini Box Set that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "Mungo Jerry" (66:02 minutes):

1. Baby Let's Play House [Side 1]

2. Johnny B. Badde

3. San Francisco Bay Blues

4. Sad Eyed Joe

5. Maggie

6. Peace In The Country

7. See Me [Side 2]

8. Movin' On

9. My Friend

10. Mother *!*!*! Boogie

11. Tramp

12. Daddies Brew

Tracks 1 to 12 are their debut album "Mungo Jerry" - UK released July 1970 on Dawn Records DNLS 3008 and September 1970 in the USA on Janus Records JXS 700. The US album came in different artwork and on Side 2 (only) dropped "Daddies Brew" as the last track to replace it with the hit single "In The Summertime" which then became the opening song on Side 2 (Side 1 running order same as the UK).

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Mighty Man

14. Dust Pneumonia Blues

15. Santo Antonio Santo Francisco

16. Live From Hollywood - Maggie/Midnight Special/Mighty Man

Tracks 13 and 14 are non-album single sides - the remaining two-tracks to the UK 3-track 'Maxi Single' "In The Summertime" released May 1970 on Dawn Records DNX 2502 (the picture sleeve is on Page 3 of the booklet)

Track 15 is the non-album A-side to an Italian-only 7" single on Pye Records P 67.030 released February 1971 ("Peace In The Country" was the B-side)

Track 16 is a non-album single side - one of two to the UK 3-track 'Maxi Single' "Baby Jump" released January 1971 on Dawn Records DNX 2505 (the other track was "The Man Behind The Piano" (on Disc 2) and the picture sleeve is on Page 5 of the booklet)

Disc 2 "Electronically Tested" (61:49 minutes):

1. She Rowed [Side 1]

2. I Just Wanna Make Love To You

3. In The Summertime

4. Somebody Stole My Wife

5. Baby Jump [Side 2]

6. Follow Me Down

7. Memories Of A Stockbroker

8. You Better Leave That Whiskey Alone

9. Coming Back To You When The Time Comes

Tracks 1 to 9 are their 2nd studio album "Electronically Tested" - released in the UK April 1971 on Dawn Records DNLS 3020.

Named after their second hit single the 1971 10-track German version of the album was called "Baby Jump" on Pye Records 85 267 IT and featured an exclusive song,  a radically-altered track run and a non-album B-side. To sequence the German LP "Baby Jump" from this CD, use the following:

Side 1: Tracks 5, 4, 2 and 14 ("Black Bubonic Plague" was exclusive to this album)

Side 2: Tracks 1, 6, 9, 8, 7 and 10

The American and Canadian albums for "Electronically Tested" on Janus JXS 3072 and Dawn DNLS 3072 (respectively) were both renamed "Memories Of A Stockbroker" and also given radically re-altered 11-song tracks-lists (the same for each) which included exclusives and non-album B-sides. They can be sequenced from Disc 2 and Disc 1 as follows:

Side 1: Tracks 7, 8, 4, 9, 6 and 1

Side 2: Tracks 5, 12, 10, 12 (Disc 1) and 2

BONUS TRACKS:

10. The Man Behind The Piano

Non-album B-side to "Baby Jump", a January 1971 UK 7" single on Dawn 7N 2505 and the January 1971 3-track 'Maxi Single' EP "Baby Jump" on Dawn DNX 2505 (picture sleeve pictured on Page 5 of the booklet)

11. Lady Rose (Single Version)

Originally a non-album A-side of a May 1971 UK 7" single on Dawn 7N 2510 (its B-side was another non-album song "Little Louie" - see Track 13). "Lady Rose" then later turned up in 'album form' (different to the original single) on the "Boot Power" LP in October 1972. On original release "Lady Rose" was also put out as a May 1971 4-track 'Maxi Single' EP on Dawn DNX 2510 (pictured on Page 7 of the booklet). But just to confuse matters there are two versions of it - both with the same catalogue number and picture sleeve. The first has the tracks as "Lady Rose", "She Rowed", "Milk Cow Blues" and "Little Louie" - the second swaps "She Rowed" for "Have A Whiff On Me" as Track 2 on Side 1 and is the more common of the two EPs (all can be sequenced from this box set)

12. Have A Whiff On Me

Non-album B-side on the May 1971 4-track 'Maxi Single' EP "Lady Rose" on Dawn DNX 2510 (pictured on Page 7 of the booklet)

13. Little Louie

Non-album B-side of a May 1971 UK 7" single on Dawn 7N 2510 and also one of the songs on the May 1971 4-track 'Maxi Single' EP "Lady Rose" on Dawn DNX 2510 (pictured on Page 7 of the booklet)

14. Black Bubonic Plague - exclusive to the German LP of "Electronically Tested" called "Baby Jump" (see above)

15. Have A Whiff On Me (USA Version) - exclusive to the US LP of "Electronically Tested" called "Memories Of A Stockbroker" (see above)

Disc 3 "You Don't Have To Be In The Army" (58:29 minutes):

1. You Don't Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War [Side 1]

2. Ella Speed

3. Pidgeon Stew

4. Take Me Back

5. Hey Rosalyn

7. Northcoat Arms [Side 2]

8. There's A Man Going Round Taking Names

9. Simple Thing

10. Keep Your Hands Off Her

11. On A Sunday

12. That Old Dust Storm

Tracks 1 to 12 are their 3rd studio album "You Don't Have To Be In The Army" - released October 1971 in the UK on Dawn Records DNLS 3028.

BONUS TRACKS:

13. We Shall Be Free - non-album B-side to a September 1971 UK 7" single for "You Don't Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War" on Dawn 7N 2513

14. Shorty George

15. Outskirts Of Town

16. You Got Me Dizzy - tracks 14, 15 and 16 are session outtakes - Blues and R'n'B covers of "Short George" (Leadbelly), "Outskirts Of Town" (Roy Jacobs song associated with Ray Charles and others) and "You Got Me Dizzy" (Jimmy Reed)

Disc 4 "Boot Power" (59:30 minutes):

1. Open Up [Side 1]

2. She's Gone

3. Lookin' For My Girl

4. See You Again

5. The Demon

6. My Girl And Me [Side 2]

7. Sweet Mary Jane

8. Lady Rose (Album Version)

9. Going Down The Dusty Road

10. Brand New Car

11. 46 And On

Tracks 1 to 11 are their 4th studio album "Boot Power" - released October 1972 in the UK on Dawn Records DNLS 3041.

BONUS TRACKS:

12. A Goodie Boogie Woogie

13. 46 And On (Single Version)

14. My Girl And Me (Single Version)

15. Open Up (Single Version)

Tracks 12, 13 and 14 are the non-album B-sides to a November 1972 UK 4-track 'Maxi Single' EP "My Girl And Me" on Dawn Records DNX 3041

Track 15 is the A-side of a March 1972 UK 7" single on Dawn 7N 2514. Along with "Going Back Home", "I Don't Wanna Go Back To School" and "No Girl Reaction" (the three of which would eventually emerge on the September 1974 album "Long Legged Woman") - "Open Up (Single Version)" was also part of a 4-track 'Maxi Single' EP for "Open Up" on Dawn DNX 2514 in late March 1972

Disc 5 "Long Legged Woman" (60:19 minutes):

1. Long Legged Woman Dressed In Black [Side 1]

2. Glad I'm A Rocker

3. Gonna Bop 'Til I Drop

4. Wild Love

5. O'Reilly

6. The Sun Is Shining

7. Summer's Gone

8. Don't Stop [Side 2]

9. Going Back Home

10. No Girl Reaction

11. Little Miss Hipshake

12. Milk Cow Blues

13. I Don't Wanna Go Back To School

14. Alright Alright Alright

Tracks 1 to 14 are their 5th studio album "Long Legged Woman" - released September 1974 in the UK on Dawn Records DNLS 3501.

BONUS TRACKS:

15. All Dressed Up And No Place To Go

16. Shake 'Til I Break

17. Too Fast To Live And Too Young To Die

18. Burnin' Up

19. Say Goodnight

Tracks 15, 16, 17 and 18 were the non-album "Rock & Roll with Mungo Jerry" EP released November 1974 in the UK on Dawn DNS 1092

Track 19 originally appeared as Track 3 on Side 1 of the October 1974 UK LP compilation "Golden Hour Presents Mungo Jerry's Greatest Hits" on Golden Hour GH 586

MUNGO JERRY was:

RAY DORSET - Lead Vocals, Electric, Acoustic and Steel Guitars, Kazoo, Harmonica and Footstomps

RAY KING - Acoustic Guitars and Banjo, Blues Harp, Jug and Kazoo

COLIN EARL - Piano and Harpsichord

JOHNNY VAN DERRIK - Violin

MIKE COLE - Double Bass

The glossy Mini LP-sized clamshell box houses five single card-sleeve repro-covers of the original British albums (3 and 4 contain picture CDs whilst the other labels are plain colours) and a jam-packed 20-page booklet. It's a feast for the eyes and brain containing hordes of rare 7" single picture sleeves on almost every page (Italy, Japan, Eastern Europe and so on), period memorabilia (sheet music, A-label demos, alternative artwork and so forth) and new hugely informative liner notes from ALAN CLAYSON. The rear covers of the British LPs are even pictured on the last credits page. But as fans will know the first four Mungo Jerry albums in the UK all came in tasty gatefold sleeves (the last was a single plain cover) - "Boot Power" had a lyric insert whilst the debut came with 3D-glasses to look at the 3D'd cover on original issues - and unfortunately an opportunity has been missed here in not giving them the repro glory they deserved. Still with half decent JAMES BRAGG Audio and a price tag that sees these LPs and straggler-sides weigh in at just above four-quid per album and you'd have to argue that there's an awful lot baby jumping to be had here. On to the music...

We learn that Producer Barry Murray (who worked for Pye Records) first heard only one minute of "In The Summertime" at a Ray Dorset acoustic-guitar demo session in his offices and knew it was a No. 1 – screaming it from his chair. But when it was recorded shortly thereafter – the band realised that one-minute of music was literally all they had. They then went upstairs to the car park - miked up the exhaust pipe of an executive's sports car and recorded the roars - went back downstairs and panned that exhaust rumble across the speakers in the middle of the song. They then simply re-repeated the first recorded minute twice and a musical year-defining legend was made. Released a month prior to the album - a spot on Peel's Radio Show and a TV slot on the BBC's 'Disco Two' saw the shush-right-up sweety long-legs Dawn single for "In The Summertime" enter the UK charts at No. 13 after only one week and smash to the top by week two. It was the same chart MO virtually everywhere else on the planet (its infectious Kazoo shuffle hit No. 3 in the USA).

"In The Summertime" had a simplistic Jug Band joy that captured the imagination and the feet and much of the debut album reflects the same - from the cod Rock 'n' Roll homage to heroes of old in "Baby Let's Play House" where a vocally-echoed Dorset mimics his best Presley lip-sneer through to the "Lady Rose" identikit sound of "Maggie" and the wonderful "My Friend" which could easily have been another Top Ten blast everywhere ("Tramp" is the one moment of surprising delicacy).

Their second platter remains their most famous and commercially successful - "Electronically Tested" – renamed "Baby Jump" in certain territories after that second single sparked Mungomania and suddenly everybody wanted to sing about girls in figure-hugging clothing and see-through sweaters. The Production quality for Album Two certainly jumped up as is evidenced by "She Rowed" and the grungy but in-yer-face guitars of "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" – a not entirely comfortable stab at the Willie Dixon/Muddy Waters Chess Records classic. "Somebody Stole My Wife" could easily have been another hit single on an album that finally included "In The Summertime" and "Baby Jump" amidst its ranks – while Dorset gets to stretch out his wordsmith talent with the miserable-banker remembering sweets in the schoolyard then becoming boring suits and insufferable bosses in "Memories Of A Stockbroker". Morbid ponderings of such like are soon replaced with drinking in "You Better Leave That Whiskey Alone" – a jaunty tale of a wife who took the bottle down off the shelf when her husband buggered off the summer previous and hasn’t been able to replace it – two-fingering her doctor’s advice. It ends with a love song – a girl writing Ray to remind him of what he’s missing – if only he can stop taking girls on his worldwide pop-star travels (oops dear – I’m afraid from his tone - he’s off again).

By the time Mungo Jerry had reached LP No. 3 – the Americans had stopped listening (none of the next three were released there) probably judging them to be a one-hit wonder novelty sound like "Neanderthal Man" by a pre-10cc Hotlegs. But that's not to say there isn't more on here worth loving – there is. In fact what gets me about a Box Set called "Albums Collection" is how much you keep returning to their singles and those deadly non-album B-sides that were for me at least better than many of the hurried album cuts. The cocaine-romp of "Have A Whiff On Me" and the my-woman-is-on-my-mind-again rumble of "The Man Behind The Piano". There's the two stunners that followed "In The Summertime" on their first 'Maxi Play' single EP (33 1/3 playing speed anybody) - "Mighty Man" and "Dust Pneumonia Blues" - winners both. And best of all is the amazing and truly period-evocative "Lady Rose" - presented here in both single and LP form. My poison has always been the looser more feel-good 7" single version - dee dee dee dee dee indeed. "Lady Rose" has always brought a smile to my face and the same goes for Mungo Jerry - even if the albums and hits had clearly tapered off by 1974's drearily-clad "Long Legged Woman".

"...Life's for living and that's our philosophy..." - the permanently ringlet-haired Ray Dorset sang on "In The Summertime" all those years ago.  "The Dawn Albums Collection" is not all genius for sure - but man-oh-man could the Middlesex boy pen a hit - and I for one am glad 7t's/Cherry Red have catalogued those hazy-crazy days in this micro-mini skirt of a Box Set. Pass the kazoo lads - it's time to shuffle...