Manfred Mann Album: “The World of Manfred Mann”

So sang Mike D'Abo as Manfred Mann rose to the top of the UK charts in 1968 for the third and last time. This compilation is book-ended by two Bob Dylan songs (Mighty Quinn, Just like a woman), both of which were among the seven top ten UK hits that Manfred Mann clocked up with Mike D'Abo as lead singer between 1966 and 1969 following the departure of the original lead singer, Paul Jones.

Another of their big hits, Fox on the run, has since become popular in bluegrass music circles. On reflection, it's easy to understand why - its simple, driving rhythm and the rural references in the lyrics makes it ideally suited for adaptation to that style of music. You may not be able to find many pop and rock covers of Fox on the run, but you'll find plenty of bluegrass covers if you look for them.

The other big UK hits during this period were Semi-detached suburban Mr James, Ha ha said the clown, My name is Jack and Ragamuffin man. Two other singles failed - Sweet pea (an instrumental cover of a Tommy Roe song) was only a minor hit while So long Dad (a Randy Newman song) missed the charts completely.

This collection includes all the tracks I've mentioned, together with eight other tracks, which were selected from among their album tracks and B-sides. You can, if you wish, buy a compilation (Ages of Mann - Greatest hits) that encompasses the whole period from 1964 to 1969, including all of Manfred Mann's major sixties hits with either Paul Jones or Mike D'Abo as lead singer, but this is the definitive compilation covering the Mike D'Abo era.

Someone compared this album to The Zombies "Odessy And Oracle". Hardly, first, it is a collection, besides that, "Odessey" may be one of the greatest works of that era. A better comparison would be to the Hollies "Evolution". Although I prefer The Manfreds featuring Paul Jones, Mike D'Abo helped them turn the corner from a blues band to a pop act. His best work still is the loan album with Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five. Also, he penned a great tune for Rod Stewart "Handbags And Gladrags". All in all, this is pretty good stuff if you like the British Invasion.

I have followed Manfred Mann from the beginnings with Paul Jones, through the middle years with Mike D'Abo right up until the final stage Manfred Mann Chapter Three with Mike Hugg doing vocals. I have all their lp's on vinyl and a lot of singles most of which are domestic. All of the original group singles are on the Ascot label. The middle group were on Mercury and or Fontana in the U.S. and Fontana in the UK. While Chapter Three wound up on Vertigo. Between both the first and middle groups, I have about 25 singles and only 2 of those are imports, Do Wah Diddy Diddy on HMV and So Long,Dad on Fontana. I have on CD, a box set called Four Manfred Mann Originals with mini-lp sleeves,the domestic version of the best of the Fontana Years, BBC Sessions and a few import cd's from Australia. No matter what they did, they did it well - Single or LP. I never really followed The Earth Band, I do like some of their stuff, but, not enough to purchase.