Mungo

Mungo Jerry is one of rock's great one-hit successes. Outside of England, they're known for exactly one song, but that song, "In the Summertime," is a seasonal anthem known by listeners who weren't even born when it was released. Mungo Jerry was a solid blues outfit as well and knew how to get the most out of their jug band sound, which has helped them survive for three decades.

Mungo Jerry is one of rock's great one-hit successes. Outside of England, they're known for exactly one song, but that song, "In the Summertime," is a seasonal anthem known by listeners who weren't even born when it was released. Mungo Jerry was a solid blues outfit as well and knew how to get the most out of their jug band sound, which has helped them survive for three decades.

Mungo Jerry is one of rock's great one-hit successes. Outside of England, they're known for exactly one song, but that song, "In the Summertime," is a seasonal anthem known by listeners who weren't even born when it was released. Mungo Jerry was a solid blues outfit as well and knew how to get the most out of their jug band sound, which has helped them survive for three decades.

Mungo Jerry's stay on Polydor Records, from 1975 through 1980, wasn't marked by a lot of chart hits, but they did make some great records, as this CD reminds listeners. Ray Dorset led an ever-changing lineup that included Tim Green and Dick Middleton on guitars, Chris Warnes, Larry Anderson, Eddie Quinn, and Doug Ferguson on bass, and Colin Earl at the piano. Whoever was on any specific record, the songwriting was solid and the execution was superb, whether on laid-back rocking numbers like "Hey Nadine"; roots rock-style pieces like "Never Mind I've Still Got My Rock & Roll"; or screaming, high-wattage blow-outs like "Impala Saga." This 21-song CD distills down the best of the group's work across three LPs, nine singles, and four EPs – the best moments still recalled their early sound, either stylistically or lyrically, or, as in the case of "Don't Let Go," both – it sounds like a very self-conscious reprise of "In the Summer Time."

There have been so many Mungo Jerry collections available (and every one of them features "In the Summertime") that it's difficult to say where to begin, but The Early Years isn't a bad place to start. Its 17 songs are drawn primarily from the group's first three albums and the "Baby Jump" and "Open Up" maxi-singles (issued at a point when legal difficulties prevented Ray Dorset from releasing LPs). The expected hits are represented, along with the best of their LP and EP cuts right up through 1974, including songs by Paul King as well as Ray Dorset. The real treat among them is a pair of live cuts, "Midnight Special" and "Mighty Man," that give a good account of the group's appeal on stage.

Mungo Jerry are one of rock's great one-hit successes. Outside of England, they're known for exactly one song, but that song, "In the Summertime," is a seasonal anthem known by listeners who weren't even born when it was released. Mungo Jerry was a solid blues outfit as well – in fact, one suspects they were the kind of blues band that purists Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies would have loved, had they ever intersected – and knew how to get the most out of their jug band sound, which helped them survive for decades.

Mungo Jerry are a British rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued with a changing line-up that has always been fronted by Ray Dorset. The group's name was inspired by the poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer", from T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats…

Mungo Jerry may seem like an ultimate one-hit wonder, since their big hit "In the Summertime" seems like the very definition of a novelty one-off, but the post-hippie, British jug band actually had a pretty varied, interesting body of work. The Best Of Mungo Jerry collects much of the very best of that work, and while there are some notable songs missing (such as "Motherfucker Boogie"), this is a consistently entertaining collection that will satisfy the needs of most listeners.