Manfred Mann - The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann (1964)

Manfred Mann were a popular British rock group active in the 1960s.

Manfred Mann began as the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers, formed in London by keyboard player Manfred Mann and drummer Mike Hugg. They were part of the British blues boom, but brought an element of jazz to the scene which most of their contemporaries (The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Animals, etc) lacked (Hugg was also a skilled vibraphone player). They soon changed their name to Manfred Mann & The Manfredds, before eventually becoming simply Manfred Mann in 1963, with the line-up of Mann (keyboards), Hugg (drums/vibes), Mike Vickers (guitar/flute/sax), Dave Richmond (bass) and Paul Jones (vocals/harmonica).
Their first commercial success came with 1964's "5-4-3-2-1", recorded as the theme tune to the TV show Ready Steady Go!. Released as a single, it got to #5 in the UK. Shortly afterwards Richmond left the band, and was replaced by Tom McGuinness. They had further success with "Hubble Bubble (Toil And Trouble)" (#11) and "Do Wah Diddy Diddy"(#1).
Their first LP, The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann, came out the same year. Whilst their singles highlighted the pop side of the band, their albums focused on the rhythm & blues side. It featured the standard covers of American R&B tunes (Howlin' Wolf's "Smokestack Lightning", Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Working", Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man", Ike & Tina Turner's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", Bo Diddley's "Bring It To Jerome"), plus some jazzy instrumentals and some strong original compositions. Their sound at this early stage really stood out from the other British R&B groups due to their jazzy sensibilites.
The album got to #3 on the UK charts (none of their later albums got that high). As was common pratice in the UK at the time, the hit singles were not included.

> Mann Made (1965)
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