Manfred Mann - The EP Tracks (And More) (1964-1966)

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

Between 1963 and 1969 Manfred Mann released twenty-two singles and four albums. However that was not all, as they were also prolific on the EP market, releasing eight EPs in a two year period, most of them featuring songs which were not repeated on the albums and singles. The EPs featured some very interesting music. 1965's The One In The Middle featured their first Bob Dylan cover, a great arrangement of "With God On Our Side". Two of the EPs from 1966, Instrumental Asylum and Instrumental Assassination, featured some very good jazz instrumental versions of recent pop songs of the era (among them "Wild Thing", "Satisfaction" and "I Got You Babe"). The band handled jazz very well, with drummer Mike Hugg doubling on vibraphone. Instrumental Asylum also featured bassist Jack Bruce during his brief stint with the band (he also appeared on the hit single "Pretty Flamingo"), plus horn players Henry Lowther and Lyn Dobson.

This thirty-five song collection compiles all of these EP tracks, plus a few other loose ends, including b-sides which didn't appear on any of the albums, and a few songs which were only featured on the UK compilation albums Mann Made and Soul Of Mann. Together with the albums The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann, Mann Made, As Is and Mighty Garvey!, plus The Singles, this should give you the entirity of the band's released work.

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Manfred Mann - Mighty Garvey! (1968)

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

Late 1966 through to early 1968 saw Manfred Mann release a series of successful singles on their new record label Fontana, with their new singer Mike D'Abo. "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James", "Ha! Ha! Said That Clown", "Sweet Pea" and "Mighty Quinn" got to #2, #4, #36 and #1 respectively on the UK singles chart. "Mighty Quinn" was a then-unreleased Bob Dlyan song (their third Dylan cover to be a hit single), and became one of the most successful songs of their career. One other single from this period (Randy Newman's "So Long, Dad") strangely didn't chart at all.In 1968 they recorded the soundtrack to the film Up The Junction. 

Later that same year their fourth album came out. Mighty Garvey! saw them fully move away from their R&B roots, embracing an eclectic psychedelic pop sound, being something of a parody of the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band concept. It featured the recent hits "Ha! Ha! Said The Clown" and "Mighty Quinn", but the album itself wasn't so successful and did not chart at all.

The band then released three more singles which were all Top 10 hits - "My Name Is Jack" (#8), "Fox On The Run" (#5) and "Ragamuffin Man" (#8). However they disbanded in 1969, whilst their last single was still in the charts. Manfred Mann himself and Mike Hugg soon formed a new group they christened Manfred Mann Chapter Three, which had a drastically different sound, eschewing pop for experimental jazz-rock. Tom McGuinnes teamed up with drummer Hughie Flint to form McGuinnes-Flint, Klaus Voormann went to be a session bassist, and Mike D'Abo busied himself with various songwriting, recording and acting jobs.

As Is (1966) <|
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Manfred Mann - As Is (1966)

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

Founding member Mike Vickers (guitar/sax/flute) left Manfred Man in late 1965, to pursue a career in orchestral music.Tom McGuinness then moved from bass to guitar, and Jack Bruce (who had recently been with The Graham Bond Organization and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers) came in on bass. Bruce stayed long enough to appear on the EP Instrumental Asylum, and the hit single "Pretty Flamingo", their second UK #1. However he soon left himself to form Cream, and was replaced by Klaus Voorman. It was then that lead singer Paul Jones finally left (he had been planning to for a year, but stayed whilst they looked for a replacement). They found a new singer in Mike a'Abo. At the same time they also switched record labels, moving to Fontana.

Their third album, As Is, came out in 1966. It signalled a shift in the band's direction (not surprising considering the changes they had just undergone), moving away from R&B and towards more of an arty pop sound. With mostly original material, it featured lots of studio tricks and elaborate arrangements. Mann himself also expanded his keyboard set-up, making use of the Mellotron for the first time.

Despite its artistic merits, the album turned out to be not such a chart success as its two predecessors. However it did generate another hit single - a cover of Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman", which made it to #10.

Mann Made (1965) <|> Mighty Garvey! (1968)
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Manfred Mann - Mann Made (1965)

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

Late 1964 into 1965 saw Manfred Mann have more successes on the UK singles chart with "Sha La La" (#3), "Come Tomorrow" (#4), "Oh No, Not My Baby" (#11), and an excellent cover of an unreleased Bob Dylan song, "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" (#2). Their second LP, Mann Made, came out in October 1965. As was typical for British bands in the 60s, it did not include the hit singles (they can be found here), but instead focused on their R&B roots. It featured some really fantastic cover material, including The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You", T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday", Smokey Robinson's "The Way You Do The Things You Do", and the old classic "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" (which had all the makings of another potential hit single). Like their debut album, it proved them to be one of the most sophisticated British R&B groups of the 60s, mixing in lots of jazz flavours as well. It got to #7 on the album chart.

The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann (1964) <|> As Is (1966)
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Manfred Mann - The Singles (1963-1969)

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

From 1963 to 1969 Manfred Mann were among the most successful and popular beat groups in Britain. They released twenty-two singles, of which thirteen were Top 10 hits in the UK (including three #1s). Alongside these singles they released four fantastic albums (The Five Faces Of Manfred Mann, Mann Made, As Is and Mighty Garvey!), a soundtrack (for the film Up The Junction) and eight EPs. Throughout all this they mostly stuck to the same lineup, with the one big exception of lead singer Paul Jones being replaced by Mike d'Abo in 1966.
Stylistically they were a diverse and creative group, with strong R&B roots and a good deal of jazz to mark them out from their contemporaries. Whilst their first two albums focused on the R&B side of their music, their singles had a more commercial pop sound, and with this formula they achieved their first hit in 1964. Later in their career both their albums and singles moved towards a more art-pop style.
This collection compiles all twenty-two single A-sides, in chronological order. It features their best known songs, among them "5-4-3-2-1", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Sha-La-La", "Pretty Flamingo" and "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James". Three of these songs are Bob Dylan tunes - "If You Gotta Go, Go Now", "Just Like A Woman" and "Mighty Quinn". All three Dylan tunes charted highly, at #2, #10 and #1 respectively.
Almost all of these songs were not released on their LPs, as the practice in the UK at the time was usually to keep singles and LPs seperate. This compilation therefore makes an excellent accompaniment to their four albums, showing the pop side of their music, with just three songs overlapping with the album tracks.

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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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