Mungo Jerry - Somelight (2022)

Some Light is the latest Mungo Jerry album, and it is packed with a dozen life-affirming songs. It is a tour-de-force, triumphant celebration of life.

Overall, it is so good that it seems to contain much, much more than the dozen brilliantly crafted songs therein. You could even call it a concept album, if that’s not too cheesy a thing to say. It is arguably the best MJ album ever released.

Ray Dorset and Mungo Jerry are two sides of the same gold sovereign.

Music moves elementally through Ray Dorset, and it is hard to say who is in control on this album. The musician Ray Dorset? Or the Mungo Jerry Muse that has driven this irrepressible force of nature to produce his music for more than six decades.

This hypnotising album is a musical gem. Ray’s band grooves in harmonious sync, amid a framework of the highest production values.

Some Light was conceived, composed and recorded during the darkest days of the 2020/21 Pandemic and light itself is the energy that shines through this astonishing output.

Ray squared up to the modern plague by producing this truly classic Mungo Jerry collection. Some Light is his plea to humanity to stop destroying the planet and going against Nature, a cause he has been crusading since the late 1960s.

But have we left it too late? Some Light poses that question in a beautifully crafted way. The title tips a wink at the inclusion of uniquely ‘light’ Mungo Jerry songs. They defiantly and cheerfully proclaim the endurance of the human spirit in these strange times. ~Mick O’Hanlon