Listen: Alright, Alright, Alright / Mungo Jerry
Alright, Alright, Alright / Mungo Jerry

Like McGuinness Flint before them, or Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance just after, Mungo Jerry existed in the own sonic universe while current. A kind of rag tag gypsy dance folk, or even the skiffle side of glam, whatever…it was warm weather music and a fun slop.

‘Alright, Alright, Alright’ found it’s place on Radio 1 summer ’73. Like others I’ve mentioned here, the single was an ever present soundtrack of Soho’s market stalls that season.

Only The Beach Boys can rival them in the ‘forever summer’ category.

Listen: When I’m Dead And Gone / McGuinness Flint McGuinnessWhen.mp3

Listen: Malt And Barley Blues / McGuinness Flint McGuinessMalt.mp3

Manfred Mann, despite having several massive US hits, would always find it hard getting radio attention for the two or three followups each time. US radio never had any loyalty to many artists or it’s listeners. The audience takes a record to #1, but there’s no responsibility to let that same loyal customer hear the followup – unless of course the station was brown bagged an incentive. Manfred Mann were no exception. So it was really surprising when the McGuinness Flint (featuring Manfred Mann’s Tom McGuinness and Hughie Flint from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers) debut, a very British sounding single ‘When I’m Dead And Gone’, got immediate play – and became a bit of a hit (#47). Guess what, it didn’t last. The above pattern fell right into place. It’s followup, the equally great ‘Malt And Barley Blues’ got not an airing.

Long forgotten, I was reminded how much I valued them and as ‘When I’m Dead And Gone’ suddenly came in to my head the other night, I couldn’t get home fast enough to pull it out of the library. There next to it was ‘Malt And Barley Blues’. Been playing them both steady for a good couple of days ever since.