Manfred Mann Album: “As Is”

In 1966, after losing their contract with UK HMV and US United Artists, and their lead singer, Paul Jones, they were really at the crossroads.

They recruited Mike D'Abo (lead singer) and Klaus Voorman (bass) and got a new contract with UK Fontana and US Mercury. This LP is their first album from what's usually called Manfred Mann, MK 2.

12 great songs produced by Shel Talmy, and contains the UK and European hit "Just Like A Woman". The single was issued in US on Mercury, bombed and those dopes didn't issue the album here.

This cool album, strangely issued in the UK with two different covers, contains:

TROUBLE AND TEA

A NOW AND THEN THING

EACH OTHER'S COMPANY

BOX OFFICE DRAW

DEALER DEALER

MORNING AFTER THE PARTY

ANOTHER KIND OF MUSIC

AS LONG AS I HAVE LOVIN'

AUTUMN LEAVES

SUPERSTITUOUS GUY

YOU'RE MY GIRL

JUST LIKE A WOMAN

Mostly original compositions (D'Abo was already a accomplished songwriter).

This is a great sounding CD and it's the best way to get these tracks. The entire 12 track album in mono is 1-12 and 13-24 is the same album in stereo.

Worth a listen.

Manfred Mann's first album with Mike dàbo in front is something of a mixed bag - you're never quite sure what direction they aiming at. It actually seems that one of the songs touches upon this dilemma - "Another Kind of Music" describes a person who enjoys his pop-success but at the same time wants to be a classical musician. In the same way it well-known that Manfred Mann and drummer Mike Hugg enjoyed playing jazz-music and that they never really took pop-music that seriously.

Nevertheless there are great examples of British 1960's pop at it's very best. Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" secured the band immediate success in the charts - not really a surprise, since it's a great song and arranged a lot like their last single with Paul Jones, "Pretty Flamingo"

Mike d`Abo's "Box Office Draw" is also outstanding, with obviously hit-single qualities - great lyrics too.

DÁbo also wrote the fine opener "Trouble and Tea" - great vocals and a new variation over Beatle` "Day Tripper" theme.

Unfortunately dÀbo's third contribution to the album doesn't work as well. His bluesy "As Long as I Have Loving" would have suited a voice like Steve Winwood's much better.

Mike Hugg is the most dominant song-writer on the album, and his songwiting shows a great variety here. From the almost sirupy poppy ( Each Other's Company ), though music hall ( Morning After the Party ), psychedelia ( Superstitious Guy - quite charming this one ) and the more experimental Manfred Mann collaborations "Dealer Dealer" and "As Long as I Have Loving"

Guitarist Tom McGuinness contributes the sentimental "Now and Then Thing" which has a quite nice melody but the lyrics and the arrangement may be hard to stand for some.

The mainstream jazz instrumental is quite nice on its own rights but it seems out of place on a pop-rock album that already is in need of a clear direction.

All this may give an impression that I don't like this album, which is not at all the case. Songs like "Box Office Draw", "Just Like a Woman" and "Trouble and Tea" are great favourites - and also Hugg's "Each Other's Company" and "Superstitious Guy" help make the album worthwhile.

This album was curiously never released in the USA. Very strange considering that I would rate it their strongest lp. I found one for a $1 in the 80s, but had never heard of it up until then. It has few of the teenyboppers aspects of their earlier albums and none of the long progrock posturing of the later albums. Like the porridge, just right!

This was released shortly after Revolver when Klaus Vorman joined the band and they made a fuss about that on the liner notes. What I like about it is the variety. How many bands could cover both Dave Brubeck and Bob Dylan on the same lp? Their original compositions were strong too. "Box Office Draw" should have been a hit single. Mellotron lovers will wipe a nostalgic tear from their eyes after listening to this lp. Not only one of my favorite Manfred lps, but one of my all time favorite albums.

I paid $30 to get the Fontana double CD set just so I could get the songs on this album and even that was missing one tune from this album despite claiming to contain every Fontana side. Glad to get this on with both stereo and mono mixes.