Various Artists - NME Poll Winners' Concert, Empire Pool, London, Britain, 4-26-1964

NME stands for "New Musical Express," a popular music magazine in Britain. In 2022, I posted a 1965 NME Poll Winners' Concert. Recently, I mentioned I have the 1964 and 1966 concerts as well. That led to a commenter requesting that I post them sooner rather than later. So let's start with this one from 1964.

NME began their yearly music polls, and resulting poll winner's concerts, in 1953. Apparently, the concerts continued until 1971. Since then, the polls and awards have continued, but with more conventional awards ceremonies. Usually, the concerts were broadcast on TV in Britain. However, it seems all the concerts from 1963 and earlier are either lost or otherwise unavailable to the public. (That missing material includes the Beatles performing in the 1963 concert.) Luckily, though, we have versions of the 1964 to 1966 concerts.

In 1964, the Beatles were arguably the biggest stars in the history of popular music. They sold one-fifth of all the music in the world that year, a feat that nobody else has come close to in the years since. So, naturally, they were the big stars of this concert, and were the closing act. By contrast, the Rolling Stones had had a few hits, and were already stars, but they had yet to become superstars. 

This show is basically a "who's who" of the best known British Invasion bands in 1964. Most of these acts would be left behind in a year or two, because musical trends were changing fast back then. But of course a few would thrive and grow even more popular.

I found an account of this concert at the Beatles Bible website. Here's the link:

https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/04/26/live-nme-poll-winners-all-star-concert-2/

It quotes from a book written by Derek Taylor, who was the main press officer for the Beatles at the time. Here's the quote from Taylor:

"At the end of my first week with NEMS, on the Sunday, I went with [Beatles manager] Brian [Epstein] to Wembley Pool for the New Musical Express Poll-Winners' Award Concert, which comprised two shows. The afternoon show was the main event, with the Beatles topping a bill that included the Rolling Stones, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Manfred Mann, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Dave Clark Five, the Swinging Blue Jeans, the Hollies, Freddie and the Dreamers, Joe Brown and his Bruvvers, Kathy Kirby, Jet Harris, Big Dee Irwin and the Joe Loss Orchestra. Stars of the evening show – which featured several Epstein acts including Tommy Quickly, the Fourmost, Sounds Incorporated, and (again) Billy J. Kramer – were the Stones. Everyone used Vox amps and it was quite a day out for fans, I'd say. Roger Moore presented awards and so, with a special one for Joe Brown, did Roy Orbison; and afterwards there was a short set from the Merseybeats. Disc jockeys present for the celebrations included David Jacobs, Jimmy Savile and, from WINS Radio New York City, the one and only Murray the K. During the afternoon show, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones visited the Beatle dressing room. ... A huge smile illuminated Jagger's young face and his merry eyes glittered with the delights of success. There was in that dressing-room a glow of liberated young people at large in a beckoning world, their pockets full of fivers, heads full of songs, bodies full of sexuality. Nothing could stop them now."

There are some things we can learn from this quote. One key fact is that the recording presented here isn't the complete show. Other acts who performed included Cliff Richard and the Shadows, the Dave Clark Five, Tommy Quickly, and the Fourmost. I also found mentions elsewhere of others who performed: the Applejacks, Cilla Black, Eden Kane, and Frank Ifield. I'll bet Roy Orbison performed as well, since he was there to accept an award. Elvis Presley, who won "Outstanding Male Singer," sent a recorded message which was played to the audience of about 10,000 people.

Fun fact: the lead vocalist on the second track, "Patsy Girl," is Ross MacManus, the father of Elvis Costello. 

The recording quality is a bit rough. Consider it was probably recorded off a TV in 1964, so lower your standards a little bit. But it's still quite listenable, in my opinion. The lead vocals were usually low in the mix, so I used the MVSEP program to boost them for most of the songs. 

In case you're curious about who won the poll awards this year, there's a list at the NME website, which you can see here:

https://www.nme.com/nme-awards/awards-history/1964-606225  

This album is one hour and 58 minutes long. 

One final note. I mentioned above that I previously posted the 1965 NME concert. At the same time I'm posting this, I made some changes to that one. I didn't change the music, but I switched out the cover photo for a better one, and changed the write-up a bit. Here's the link to that one:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2022/01/various-artists-nme-poll-winners.html

01 Opening Theme [Instrumental] (Unknown)
02 Patsy Girl (Ross MacManus & & the Joe Loss Orchestra Band)
03 talk (Hollies)
04 Rockin' Robin (Hollies)
05 Just One Look (Hollies)
06 talk (Rolling Stones)
07 Not Fade Away (Rolling Stones)
08 I Just Want to Make Love to You (Rolling Stones)
09 talk (Rolling Stones)
10 I'm Alright (Rolling Stones)
11 talk (Joe Loss Orchestra Band)
12 Kayote Vender [Instrumental] (Joe Loss Orchestra Band)
13 talk (Swinging Blue Jeans)
14 Shake, Rattle and Roll (Swinging Blue Jeans)
15 talk (Swinging Blue Jeans)
16 Good Golly, Miss Molly (Swinging Blue Jeans)
17 talk (Searchers)
18 Farmer John (Searchers)
19 talk (Searchers)
20 Don't Throw Your Love Away (Searchers)
21 talk (Searchers)
22 What'd I Say (Searchers)
23 talk (Freddie & the Dreamers)
24 Kansas City - Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Freddie & the Dreamers)
25 talk (Freddie & the Dreamers)
26 Send Me Some Lovin' (Freddie & the Dreamers)
27 talk (Freddie & the Dreamers)
28 Short Shorts (Freddie & the Dreamers)
29 talk (Tremeloes)
30 Candy Man (Tremeloes)
31 talk (Tremeloes)
32 Do You Love Me (Tremeloes)
33 talk (Manfred Mann)
34 Sticks and Stones (Manfred Mann)
35 Hubble Bubble (Manfred Mann)
36 talk (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
37 Diamonds [Instrumental] (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
38 talk (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
39 Big Bad Bass [Instrumental] (Jet Harris & Tony Meechan)
40 talk (Kathy Kirby)
41 You're the One (Kathy Kirby)
42 Dance On (Kathy Kirby)
43 talk (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
44 I'll Keep You Satisfied (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
45 They Remind Me of You (Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas)
46 talk (Merseybeats)
47 I Think of You (Merseybeats)
48 talk (Merseybeats)
49 Don't Turn Around (Merseybeats)
50 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry [Over You] (Merseybeats)
51 talk (Diamonds)
52 Happy Being Fat (Diamonds)
53 talk (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
54 I'm Henry VIII, I Am (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
55 talk (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
56 The Seculy Gas [Instrumental] (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
57 talk (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
58 What a Crazy World (Joe Brown & His Bruvvers)
59 talk (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
60 I Like It (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
61 talk (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
62 I'm the One (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
63 talk (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
64 Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry & the Pacemakers)
65 talk (Roger Moore)
66 talk (Beatles)
67 She Loves You (Beatles)
68 You Can't Do That (Beatles)
69 talk (Beatles)
70 Twist and Shout (Beatles)
71 Long Tall Sally (Beatles)
72 talk (Beatles)
73 Can't Buy Me Love (Beatles)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/RLHMHeFi

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/VIOOKmfwfsb8k2S/file

The cover photo of the Rolling Stones is from this exact concert. It shows Brian Jones on the left, and Mick Jagger on the right, hold maracas. Actually, technically, this is a composite of two photos. One of them had a good Jones but Jagger was messed up, and the other one had a good Jagger but Jones was messed up. So I used Photoshop to combine them. They were in the exact same positions in both photos; it was just a matter of using the best parts.

The original was in black and white. But I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program. As for the text, I used some promotional material for the album I made for the 1965 NME concert. For this cover, I just copied that over, and changed the dates and musical act names and so forth. 

Manfred Mann - Ragamuffin Man - Non-Album Tracks (1968-1969)

Here's the last of my stray tracks albums for Manfred Mann in the 1960s. At least, this ends the second version of the band. That version, lead by lead vocalist Mike d'Abo, broke up in mid-1969. Manfred Mann reformed later that year with two original members, becoming Manfred Mann Chapter 3. Then, a couple of years later, that turned into the Manfred Mann Earth Band. But that's a whole different story.

I'm very happy to be able to present this album, because it's so likely that it would even exist. After the music I put on the last Manfred Mann album in this series - the one I call "Cubist Town" but was mostly made up of their album "Mighty Garvey!" - the band only put out two singles before they broke up. The singles were "Fox on the Run" in late 1968 and "Ragamuffin Man" in early 1969. They were both moderate hits. But how does one turn a mere two singles into a whole album? There are NO other studio recordings from the band in that time frame, at least not that I know of.

The key, it turns out, is the BBC. Manfred Mann performed at the BBC quite a lot. Four of the songs here are the A- and B-sides to the two singles mentioned above. But another eight are from the BBC. And what's great about these is that while a couple are covers of famous songs, like "Fever" and "Abraham, Martin and John," most of them appear to be original songs that would have been totally lost to musical history except for the fact that they happened to have been performed on the BBC once. This is pretty close to being a genuine "lost album."

Why are there so many songs, and good songs, that were never released at the time? I don't know a whole lot about the history of the band, but my guess is that those songs were casualties of the band break-up. Probably, right when they had enough material to go record another album was when the group fell apart. Those songs remained unreleased all the way until 2019, when they were included on a compilation of the band's BBC performances called "Radio Days, Volume 2." 

What's crazy to me is that I saw a list of all the dates Manfred Mann played for the BBC, and at least half of the sessions have disappeared, since there are no known recordings of them. So it's quite possible that there were even more originals and/or interesting covers the band did in this time frame. Ironically, the band was blossoming as a creative force with original songs right as it fell apart.

One person who wrote a good portion of these new song was lead singer Mike d'Abo. And that leads me to the last song on this album. I find it very strange that in the late 1960s, the band got a lot of flak for having hits with cover versions instead of their own material. Yet d'Abo wrote two hits that the band never released at all! The first one is "Handbags and Gladrags," which I put on the 1968 stray tracks album "Up the Junction," since luckily the band played that once for the BBC. Rod Stewart had a hit with it instead.

The other d'Abo song Manfred Mann should have had a hit with is "Build Me Up Buttercup." This was a massive hit in 1968 for the Foundations. It was a number one hit in the US and a number two hit in Britain. Since d'Abo was the lead singer of Manfred Mann at the time, why the heck didn't his own band do the song?! To be honest, I don't know. But my guess is that the band was already starting to split. Band members Manfred Mann (the person, not the band) and Mike Hugg wanted to take the group in a more serious and "progressive" direction. That's exactly what they did with Manfred Mann Chapter Three. "Build Me Up Buttercup" was considered a light and poppy song, and probably was exactly what they were trying to move away from.

Anyway, I don't know of any Manfred Mann version that exists. But d'Abo did a solo version later. I'm not sure when exactly, because it wasn't released until many years later and I couldn't find good specific information. But I think it probably dates from 1970 or 1971. In any case, I've added it to the end as a rough idea of what a Manfred Mann version sung by d'Abo would have sounded like.

This album is 41 minutes long.

01 Fox on the Run (Manfred Mann)
02 Too Many People (Manfred Mann)
03 Fever (Manfred Mann)
04 Abraham, Martin and John (Manfred Mann)
05 So Long [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
06 Clair [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
07 Sentimental Sunday [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
08 Orange Peel [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
09 Ragamuffin Man (Manfred Mann)
10 A 'B' Side (Manfred Mann)
11 Oh What a Day [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
12 The Last Goodbye [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
13 Build Me Up Buttercup (Mike D'Abo)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696637/MANFRDMNN1968c-1969_RgamffinMn_atse.zip.html

The album cover is based on the cover for the "Ragamuffin Man" single. Unfortunately, back in those days, singles covers often looked worse than album covers, because they sometimes were quickly and cheaply thrown together. That was the case for this one, in my opinion. So I used that cover, but I tried to jazz it up a bit. I removed the record company logo, which had been prominently placed in the upper right corner, and caused the band name to be smaller to fit everything in. With the logo moved to the bottom left corner, I was able to stretch the band name all the way across the album. Also, the one color was an awful shade of green. I changed that into a mixture of green and blue, to create a slight psychedelic feel that fit the time period.

Manfred Mann - Cubist Town - Non-Album Tracks (1968)

In 2018, a person named Joe Wiltshire wrote a blog post about a supposed lost classic 1968 album by Manfred Mann called "Cubist Town." He gave a short history about the album and provided a song list for it. You can read that here:

http://www.fuzzdandy.co.uk/blog/2018/07/13/manfred-mann-cubist-town-1968-lost-album/

As it so happens, none of that is true. It was just a clever idea to highlight some of the more creative and lesser known songs Manfred Mann did at the time.  However, I read that blog post, and it helped inspire me to take Manfred Mann more seriously. I realized there very easily could have been an excellent 1968 album by the band if they'd done a better job of song selection. This album is not the same as Wiltshire's version. About half of the songs I've included are different. But I liked the album title, so I've used that.

In my opinion, the band was hitting a creative peak around this time. Most of the band members were writing songs, and they were generally very good ones, and very much in keeping with the musical zeitgeist of the era, which is probably my favorite musical era. So they should have knocked their main 1968 studio album out of the park. (They'd released a movie soundtrack earlier in the year that was mostly composed of instrumentals.)

However, the album they did release - "Mighty Garvey!" - was very problematic. It had a bad title, bad artwork, and most importantly, bad song selection. Nearly every song the band did in the 1960s was at least decent, in my opinion. But this album had some clunkers. One was the song "Happy Families." It wasn't much of a song to begin with, but for some inexplicable reason the album included THREE different versions of it. All three were jokey (but not actually funny) piss takes on different musical genres. The tone of these songs clashed drastically with most everything else on the album, and ruined the overall mood. 

I've chosen to only include one of the three. That one is a kind of jazz lounge parody. In my opinion, it is strikingly similar to "You Know the Name (Look Up the Number)" by the Beatles, but a lot shorter (thank God). The Beatles recorded their version in 1967 but didn't release it until it came out as a B-side in 1970, so the similarities are almost certainly coincidental.

I didn't include another song, "Big Betty." This "original" in fact is a rip-off of the famous Leadbelly song "Black Betty." I find it an embarrassment. Furthermore, it's musically out of step with the rest of the album. I also didn't include "Ha Ha Said the Clown," because it was an old single by the time the album came out, and it fit better on a stray tracks compilation I've already posted. It also was out of step with the rest of the album. So, by removing those two songs by the two other versions of "Happy Families," the album got a lot better.

After I removed those songs, the album was only 28 minutes long, which is too short for an album. So I added four non-album tracks at the end. Two of those, "You've Got It Made" and "The Letter," were only ever recorded for the BBC, so I've used the BBC versions. For "The Letter," which is a cover of the famous Box Tops hit, I edited out a BBC DJ talking over the intro. The other two songs I added are the A- and B-sides to the "My Name Is Jack" single.

So, after all that, what do we have left? Once again, like the last album by the band that I posted ("Up the Junction") it's an album that's strikingly similar to what the Hollies were doing at the time. Both bands were mainly pop bands at the time, but they were influenced by psychedelic music, so there are some touches of that, but nothing that was full-blown psychedelia. 

I think it's a strong album. It contains two big hits that were written by others, "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)" by Bob Dylan, and "My Name Is Jack." "The Mighty Quinn" was a number one hit in Britain and many other countries, and a top ten hit in the US, while "My Name Is Jack" was a top ten hit in Britain. I'm pretty sure those two songs, plus "The Letter," were the only covers.

Manfred Mann didn't release much more than two singles in late 1968 and early 1969 before they broke up and then reformed as almost a totally different band later in 1969. However, it turns out they recorded enough songs for another album. So I have one last album to go before my Manfred Mann series is over.

01 No Better No Worse (Manfred Mann)
02 Every Day Another Hair Turns Grey (Manfred Mann)
03 Country Dancing (Manfred Mann)
04 It's So Easy Falling (Manfred Mann)
05 Happy Families [with Ed Garvey and the Trio] (Manfred Mann)
06 The Mighty Quinn [Quinn the Eskimo] (Manfred Mann)
07 The Vicar's Daughter (Manfred Mann)
08 Each and Every Day [Day Time, Night Time] (Manfred Mann)
09 Cubist Town (Manfred Mann)
10 Harry the One-Man-Band (Manfred Mann)
11 You've Got It Made (Manfred Mann)
12 The Letter [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
13 My Name Is Jack (Manfred Mann)
14 There Is a Man (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696646/MANFRDMNN1968b_CubstTwn_atse.zip.html

I'm very happy with how this album cover art turned out. If you don't know, "cubist" is the name for a style of abstract painting in the early 1900s. So I thought the ideal cover would be of a maze-like town done in the cubist style. I Googled the phrase "cubist town," and discovered the painting that I used here. You can see where I got it here:

http://epiclone.blogspot.com/2013/03/gazebo-updates.html

I think that was done by someone by the name of Treble who hasn't posted since 2013. In any case, that painting is rectangular, so I had to crop it to make it fit into a square album cover space. I actually like it even better cropped. It's pretty much exactly what I had in my mind's eye, so thank you Treble! It's about a million times better than the cover for "Mighty Garvey!" Google that if you want to see some bad album art, and one that was especially out of touch with 1968 trends.

Manfred Mann - Up the Junction - Alternate Version (1968)

Manfred Mann didn't release a studio album in Britain in 1967. But in early 1968, they released this one. Technically, it's name is "Manfred Mann Go Up the Junction," but I just call it "Up the Junction." It was an unusual album for them, because it was the soundtrack for a movie by the same name. But this album is very different to that one. I didn't include some songs, and added a bunch more. Only five out of the 14 songs here are exactly the same as on the 1968 release. Personally, I think this one is much better.

As I've previously mentioned for earlier Manfred Mann, most of the guys in the band were really jazz musicians who got into rock because that's where the fame, fortune, and excitement mainly was in the 1960s. When they were given the chance to record a movie soundtrack, it's not surprising they filled it mostly with jazzy instrumentals. Unfortunately, in my opinion, most of those sound like boring Muzak, so I haven't included them. I did include the two instrumentals I liked the best, which are more actually jazzy than the others.

But the soundtrack does have its charms. There are a few good songs with vocals, and I've included all of those. The best of the bunch is the title song. Personally, this might be my favorite Manfred Mann song of all. It was only a minor hit, but in a better world it would have been a big one. However, the version of it I've included here is actually unreleased. There's a bootleg out there of pristine studio outtakes by the band, and this version is from that. It's similar to the released version, but has some more psychedelic touches. I've included it instead because I think it's better. It also was written by them, showing yet again they were much more than just hit makers of cover songs.

The first six songs here are from the soundtrack, if you include the unreleased version of the title song. The rest all come from different sources but were recorded around the same time, in late 1967 or early 1968. Most of these weren't officially released at the time, but came out as bonus tracks decades later. That's a shame, because they're all as good as the stuff that was released. 

The last three songs are all from BBC performances. Apparently, no studio versions of these were ever done, so we're lucky to have the BBC recordings. I find it baffling that Manfred Mann never recorded "Handbags and Gladrags" other than this BBC version, because it was written by one of the band members. Instead, Rod Stewart recorded it, and his version is known as a minor classic. By the way, I edited this version to remove a BBC DJ talking over the beginning of it.

Probably, the late 1960s are my favorite time period for music. I feel Manfred Mann was really hitting its stride around this time, because these songs have that special late 1960s feel. This sounds very much like a Hollies album from the same time period, and I think this album was just as good as one of those.

The one bonus track here is the officially released version of the "Up the Junction" title track. As I said, I like the unreleased version better, but I'm including it for completeness's sake.

01 Theme from 'Up the Junction' [Alternate Version] (Manfred Mann)
02 Sing Songs of Love (Manfred Mann)
03 Sheila's Dance [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
04 Walking Around (Manfred Mann)
05 Just for Me (Manfred Mann)
06 Belgravia [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
07 I Think It's Gonna Rain Today (Manfred Mann)
08 Budgie (Manfred Mann)
09 Sitting Alone in the Sunshine (Manfred Mann)
10 Please Mrs. Henry (Manfred Mann)
11 Sleepy Hollow (Manfred Mann)
12 She's a Woman (Manfred Mann)
13 Summertime [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
14 Handbags and Gladrags [Edit] (Manfred Mann)

Theme from 'Up the Junction' (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696639/MANFRDMNN1968a_UpJnctionAltrnate_atse.zip.html

The album cover is basically the official cover released in 1968. But I made a couple of minor changes. The biggest was I changed the text "Manfred Mann Go Up the Junction" to just "Manfred Mann" and "Up the Junction."

Manfred Mann - Ha Ha Said the Clown - Non-Album Tracks (1967)

I've got tons of albums from different bands to post, but Manfred Mann is on a fast track, so here's the next stray tracks album from them.

Manfred Mann didn't release a studio album at all in 1967. I think this was a big mistake, and must have cost the band popularity and credibility. Recall that 1967 was a time of rapidly and drastically changing musical trends. You had to keep up or be left behind. (Some bands, like the Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, and the Searchers, fell way behind around 1967.) As it so happens, Manfred Mann had enough new material for not one but two new studio albums in 1967, and they had hit singles then as well, so their lack of an album that year is even more of a mystery.

I have some songs recorded in 1967 on the last stray tracks album I posted here ("Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James"), and more on the next album in this series. But all of the songs on this album date from 1967. I have it in rough chronological order by recording date, from January to August 1967.

The big hit song this time around is "Ha Ha Said the Clown." It was a Top 5 song in Britain, and hit Number 1 in some European countries, but it didn't chart at all in the US. Although it's a nice song, it's also a lightweight one, and fare badly with a lot of masterpieces coming out in 1967. Songs like this one help explain why the band got the reputation as a poppy singles band.

Happily, the album has more substance. True, some of the other songs are in the same vein as "Clown," but the band was still showing off its rhythm and blues and/or jazzy chops, as well as dabbling with psychedelic sounds. Six of the songs here were released as A- or B-sides. Two more come from BBC sessions, and for both of those I edited to songs to remove the BBC DJ's talking over the intros. Another song only came out as an album bonus track years later.

That leaves three songs that still remain officially unreleased: "Golden Flower," "She Once Was My Love," and "Rainbow Eyes." This is puzzling to me, because I think they sound just as good as any of the other songs on the album. Luckily, all three come from a bootleg with sterling sound quality, so they sound exactly as good as the released tracks. The song "She Once Was My Love" was a rather messed up take, with the song breaking down and then restarting more than once, as well as having some vocal flubs. But I edited it to make it sound coherent and mistake-free.

This album is fairly short at 35 minutes, but that was how long such albums typically were in those days. By luck, the last song ends with a bit of a reprise of the first song. It's brief and a bit subtle, but it's there.

01 Ha Ha Said the Clown (Manfred Mann)
02 I Love You (Manfred Mann)
03 Feeling So Good (Manfred Mann)
04 The Nitty Gritty [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
05 Golden Flower (Manfred Mann)
06 She Once Was My Love [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
07 Sweet Pea [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
08 One Way (Manfred Mann)
09 Rainbow Eyes (Manfred Mann)
10 Hound Dog [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
11 So Long, Dad (Manfred Mann)
12 Funniest Gig (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696647/MANFRDMNN1967_HaHaSadClwn_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I chose from one of several different versions of the "Ha Ha Said the Clown" single. I made a few changes. For instance, I removed the title of the B-side, which was written right below the title of the A-side. I also moved the location of the record company logo.

Manfred Mann - Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James - Non-Album Tracks (1966-1967)

Here's the next in my series of albums that gather all the good songs the 1960s versions of Manfred Mann ever did.

The one big hit here is "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James." In my opinion, it's a good example of what makes 1960s music great: excellent melody, interesting lyrics, and a solid performance. It's the only A-side. Remarkably, only three more songs were released in the 1960s. Another, "Wang Dang Doodle," is a BBC performance (with the BBC DJ's annoying talking over the start of the song removed). Five more were only released decades later as bonus tracks.

Remarkably, two more, "Seasons in the Sun" and "I Want to Be Wanted," still remain unreleased. However, there's a bootleg of some Manfred Mann studio sessions in the late 1960s, and it has excellent sound, just as good as the released stuff. These songs come from that, so there's no sound quality problem. (And I'll draw more from them on following albums.) Note that "Seasons in the Sun" was a massive hit for Terry Jacks in 1973, hitting number one in the US, Britain, and many other countries. A lot of people (including me) found that hit annoying because it was overly maudlin and sappy. But note this version predates the hit by many years (the original was done in French in 1961), and isn't nearly as problematic. In fact, it sounds a bit underproduced. I'm guessing it has remained unreleased because they never quite finished the recording.

I did some research to figure out the month each song was recorded, and then ordered them as chronologically as I could. The first songs are from June 1966, and the last three are from January 1967. Some of the songs going back to June 1966 were finally released as bonus tracks to the "Up the Junction" soundtrack, but this is a bad fit, since that album came out in 1968. There really should have been a proper Manfred Mann studio album in 1967, but there wasn't.

The album is on the short side, at 34 minutes, but it's a solid set of songs.

01 Eastern Street (Manfred Mann)
02 I Wanna Be Rich (Manfred Mann)
03 Let It Be Me (Manfred Mann)
04 Miss JD [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
05 Wang Dang Doodle [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
06 Mohair Sam (Manfred Mann)
07 Lovebird (Manfred Mann)
08 Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James (Manfred Mann)
09 Seasons in the Sun (Manfred Mann)
10 All I Wanna Do (Manfred Mann)
11 I Want to Be Wanted (Manfred Mann)
12 Brown and Porter's [Meat Exporters] (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16696642/MANFRDMNN1966c-1967_SmiDetchedSburbnMrJmes_atse.zip.html

The album cover art is based on the cover for the "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James" single. Except that had the name of the B-side filling the upper right of the cover. I didn't want that, so I removed it, then stretched the A-side name and the band's name sideways to fill up that space. Also, the only color on the original was the pink around the band's name, and I thought that looked a bit boring. So I added some blue and green tinting to the band photo.

Manfred Mann - As Is - Non-Album Tracks (1966)

Here's the next in my series of Manfred Mann 1960s albums. This is essentially the officially released British album "As Is." I've included the entire album "as is" (ha ha), but I've added some extra songs.

This album is notable as the first one with the band's new lead vocalist Mike D'Abo, who replaced Paul Jones. Personally, I prefer the D'Abo era. Both were very good vocalists, but D'Abo also was a talented songwriter, including some songs you wouldn't expect, such as "Handbags and Gladrags," a hit for Rod Stewart, and "Build Me Up Buttercup," a hit for the Foundations.

The band had already been moving away from their rhythm and blues sound at the end of the Paul Jones era. Musical trends were changing fast in 1966, and the band fought to stay relevant. While the band wasn't "cutting edge" by any means, you can hear on this album how they continued to diversity their sound.

As far as the extra songs, the first three are from Mike D'Abo and his band just before he joined Manfred Mann. I figured these three songs are pretty good, and I didn't find any better place to put them, so I've stuck them at the start of this album. The song "(Accept My) Invitation" is particularly important because the rest of the Manfred Mann band heard D'Abo sing that in a concert, and were so impressed that they invited him to join the band. The last song is just a little short unreleased acoustic guitar instrumental, but I thought it was nice enough to include.

This album is 41 minutes long.

01 Gonna Make a Woman of You (Mike D'Abo & a Band of Angels)
02 Leave It to Me (Mike D'Abo & a Band of Angels)
03 [Accept My] Invitation (Mike D'Abo & a Band of Angels)
04 Trouble and Tea (Manfred Mann)
05 A Now and Then Thing (Manfred Mann)
06 Each Other's Company (Manfred Mann)
07 Box Office Draw (Manfred Mann)
08 Dealer, Dealer (Manfred Mann)
09 Morning After the Party (Manfred Mann)
10 Another Kind of Music (Manfred Mann)
11 As Long as I Have Loving (Manfred Mann)
12 Autumn Leaves [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
13 Superstitious Guy (Manfred Mann)
14 You're My Girl (Manfred Mann)
15 Just like a Woman (Manfred Mann)
16 Acoustic Guitar [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16695553/MANFRDMNN1966b_AsIs_atse.zip.html

The album cover is the exact cover from the official album. However, in the bottom left, there was a list of the songs on the album. I didn't want that, because I added some songs. So I used Photoshop to erase those words.

Manfred Mann - Pretty Flamingo - Non-Album Tracks (1966)

I want to hurry through posting the rest of my Manfred Mann stray tracks albums, so here's the next one. In mid-1966, the band changed lead singers, from Paul Jones to Mike d'Abo. That marked a significant shift in the band's sound away from rhythm and blues and towards pop, though the change had already been underway. This album contains the last songs of the Paul Jones era.

The big hit here was "Pretty Flamingo." It was a number one hit in Britain and some other European countries. While it was only a top 30 hit in the US, it gradually became an established classic. (Fun fact: Jack Bruce, who would soon become famous as the bassist and lead vocalist for Cream, was a member of Manfred Mann for a few months in 1996, and played on that song and some other songs here.)

By 1966, the popularity of rhythm and blues was going down in Britain, as new musical styles took over. You can see that on this album, with a greater variety of styles than ever before for the band. Ironically, some rhythm and blues fans blame the change of lead singers for the change in styles. But in fact Paul Jones wasn't that keen on rhythm and blues even though his voice was a natural fit for it. As soon as he left the group and started a solo career, he drastically changed musical styles to middle of the road showbiz/musical genre.

I've added a couple of bonus tracks at the end that are from his solo career. Unfortunately, there is very slim pickings there, due to that change in styles. He did one song, "Sonny Boy Williamson," still in the earlier bluesy style, but that one throwback is just about the only one like that once he left the group.

01 Long Hair Unsquare Dude Called Jack (Manfred Mann)
02 You Better Be Sure (Manfred Mann)
03 Pretty Flamingo (Manfred Mann)
04 You're Standing By (Manfred Mann)
05 Machines (Manfred Mann)
06 Tennessee Waltz (Manfred Mann)
07 When Will I Be Loved (Manfred Mann)
08 Still I'm Sad [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
09 My Generation [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
10 You Gave Me Somebody to Love (Manfred Mann)
11 That's All I Ever Want from You Baby (Manfred Mann)
12 Driva Man (Manfred Mann)
13 Spirit Feel [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
14 Sonny Boy Williamson (Paul Jones)
15 Free Me (Paul Jones)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16695547/MANFRDMNN1966a_PrttyFlamngo_atse.zip.html

There was no definitive British album called "Pretty Flamingo," and I base my albums for this band on the British albums. But there was a US album with that name, which gathered up singles and other stray tracks. I've used the cover from that one, without any changes.

Manfred Mann - If You Gotta Go, Go Now - Non-Album Tracks (1965-1966)

I've got all the Manfred Mann music for the 1960s organized and ready to go, so I can post them in relatively quick succession. Here's the next in the stray tracks series for them.

This album comes almost entirely from A-sides, B-sides, BBC performances, and EP tracks. Nothing is unreleased, so the sound quality is excellent. The songs are arranged in chronological order, at least as accurately as I could manage. But the big hit for this album was the Bob Dylan song "If You Gotta Go, Go Now," so I put that at the start, as was the usual custom in those days. (It otherwise would have gone just before "Stay Around," which was the B-side.)

For the most part, this continues the rhythm and blues approach the band was specializing in for their first few years. But one can see that they were starting to branch out with a greater variety of styles. For instance, in addition to doing the Dylan song the album is titled for, they also did the Dylan protest tune "With God on Our Side." They also show off their chops with a couple of jazzy instrumentals. And let's not forget their growing songwriting skills. A good example of that is "Tired of Trying, Bored with Lying, Scared of Dying."

The album is 40 minutes long, which is right in line with album lengths from that time period.

01 If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Manfred Mann)
02 My Little Red Book (Manfred Mann)
03 What Am I Doing Wrong (Manfred Mann)
04 Parchman Farm (Manfred Mann)
05 Stay Around (Manfred Mann)
06 The One in the Middle (Manfred Mann)
07 With God on Our Side (Manfred Mann)
08 What Am I to Do (Manfred Mann)
09 Watermelon Man (Manfred Mann)
10 It Took a Little While (Manfred Mann)
11 There's No Living without Your Loving (Manfred Mann)
12 Tired of Trying, Bored with Lying, Scared of Dying (Manfred Mann)
13 Let's Go Get Stoned (Manfred Mann)
14 Tengo Tango [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15264078/ManfredM_1965-1966_IfYuGottaGoGoNw_atse.zip.html

The cover art is the cover of the "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" EP as opposed to the single cover. I though it looked better. I removed the names of the three other songs on the EP. That's why there's a blank green box towards the center.

Manfred Mann - Mann Made (1965)

I'm continuing to post Manfred Mann's 1960's output in hopes people will take this band more seriously. Virtually everything I'm planning on posting are stray tracks compilations I've made. But there are two early Manfred Mann albums that need no changing: "The Five Faces of Manfred Mann," and this one. So I'm posting this just as it is.

This album was only released in Britain. The US releases were generally even more messed up than the British ones, so I'm sticking with the British. It's notable that Manfred Mann are largely remembered as a singles band, but there are no hit singles on this. In the 1960s, Britain was still recovering from World War II, and people typically didn't have much spending money. It was considered a rip-off to make someone buy a single and then buy the same song when an album came out later. (Of course that changed before too long!)

With this album, the band is still very much in rhythm and blues mode, with some jazzy instrumental added in. I really don't think they deserve their reputation as a poppy singles band.

This album is 40 minutes long.

01 Since I Don't Have You (Manfred Mann)
02 You're for Me (Manfred Mann)
03 Look Away (Manfred Mann)
04 The Abominable Showmann [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
05 Watch Your Step (Manfred Mann)
06 Call It Stormy Monday (Manfred Mann)
07 I Really Do Believe (Manfred Mann)
08 Hi Lili, Hi Lo (Manfred Mann)
09 The Way You Do the Things You Do (Manfred Mann)
10 Bare Hugg [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
11 You Don't Know Me (Manfred Mann)
12 L. S. D. (Manfred Mann)
13 I'll Make It up to You (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16695552/MANFRDMNN1965_MnnMde_atse.zip.html

The cover art is just the same as the original cover. I enlarged it a bit because there was some damage around the edges for the photograph I used, which was the best one I could find.

Manfred Mann - Come Tomorrow - Non-Album Tracks (1964-1965)

Here's the next in my series of stray tracks albums for Manfred Mann. For this album, the band is still very much in their rhythm and blues phase. So if you like the 1960s British take on that kind of music, this is for you. I'll say again that Manfred Mann are a strangely underrated band.

As I mentioned before, I think they're underrated because they got the reputation of a poppy singles band. But for this bunch of songs, even though there are several A-sides included, it doesn't really have poppy hits. The closest are "Come Tomorrow," which was a top five hit in Britain, and "Oh No, Not My Baby," which made the top ten there despite first appearing as a B-side. The rest is much more in a rhythm and blues vein, as mention above. I especially find their cover of "Groovin'" interesting, considering that Led Zeppelin later did a version of the same song in their Led Zeppelin style (except they called it "We're Gonna Groove").

All the songs here have been officially released, so there are no sound quality issues. A couple come from BBC performances. The album is 39 minutes long, which was typical for albums of that era.

01 Groovin' [We're Gonna Groove] (Manfred Mann)
02 Can't Believe It (Manfred Mann)
03 Did You Have to Do That (Manfred Mann)
04 I Need You (Manfred Mann)
05 Come Tomorrow (Manfred Mann)
06 What Did I Do Wrong (Manfred Mann)
07 She Needs Company (Manfred Mann)
08 Oh No, Not My Baby (Manfred Mann)
09 She (Manfred Mann)
10 That's the Way I Feel [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
11 Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron (Manfred Mann)
12 I Can't Believe What You Say (Manfred Mann)
13 It's Getting Late (Manfred Mann)
14 Poison Ivy (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15264043/ManfredM_1964-1965_CmeTomorrow_atse.zip.html

For the cover art, I found a photo of the "Come Tomorrow" single. I made a few changes, especially enlarging the text as the top to cover some boring blank areas. I removed the name of the B-side song. I also put the record company logo in the bottom corner.

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

Normally, I don't want to post an officially released album without any changes. But I'm making an exception here because I'm posting everything good from Manfred Mann in the 1960s in hopes of getting people to reassess their musical career, and everything on this album is good.

In the early to mid-1960s, rock albums generally were a mess. They usually were a bunch of songs almost randomly thrown together by record companies with virtually no attempt at musical cohesion and often no input from the band. US versions were usually the worst, with shorter run times to rip off the consumer that much more. British versions were better, so when it comes to Manfred Mann, I'm considering their British albums only.

This is a British album, and it's unusually unified for something in 1964. Albums from that time were often seen as one or two hit songs plus a bunch of filler, but this one doesn't have any hit singles on it. And it's unusually cohesive, because the band was really into a rhythm and blues mode, so pretty much all of the songs fit that genre.

A lot of other bands are revered for playing this music around this time, such as the Rolling Stones, the Pretty Things, the Yardbirds, and so on, but Manfred Mann's similar efforts seem to be largely forgotten. I don't know why, because they did this type of music better than most of their British contemporaries. True, it would have been nice if they did more instrumental soloing, but their vocalist Paul Jones was one of the best British singers for this genre.

01 Smokestack Lightning (Manfred Mann)
02 Don't Ask Me What I Say (Manfred Mann)
03 Sack O' Woe (Manfred Mann)
04 What You Gonna Do (Manfred Mann)
05 Hoochie Coochie Man (Manfred Mann)
06 I'm Your Kingpin (Manfred Mann)
07 Down the Road Apiece (Manfred Mann)
08 I've Got My Mojo Working (Manfred Mann)
09 It's Gonna Work Out Fine (Manfred Mann)
10 Mr. Anello (Manfred Mann)
11 Untie Me (Manfred Mann)
12 Bring It to Jerome (Manfred Mann)
13 Without You (Manfred Mann)
14 You've Got to Take It (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15262663/ManfredM_1964_FiveFcesofManfrdMnn_atse.zip.html

The album cover is the official cover with no changes.

Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy Diddy - Non-Album Tracks (1963-1964)

A few weeks ago, I posted two albums of Manfred Mann's BBC performances. At that time, I promised or threatened to post a lot more from the band, depending on your point of view. ;) I say it's high time for a reassessment of Manfred Mann's 1960s music, so that's what I'm doing here. I plan on posting their 1960s studio material in a more logical and organized manner, starting here.

Manfred Mann, the band, went way back. They started out in London as the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers in 1962, before the Beatles-led British Invasion mania began. Weirdly, their producer insisted they rename themselves "Manfred Mann" after their keyboard player, even though he wasn't the central focus of the band. (Lead singer Paul Jones was.) As I mentioned in a previous post, the band members were talented jazz musicians who switched to blues and then rock and pop because that sort of music was much more popular and could pay the bills better. But that was sort of their secret ingredient, because while most "beat groups" were still learning how to play their instruments in 1963, Manfred Mann already sounded professional. But they rarely showed off with lots of soloing.

The songs here are arranged chronologically, at least as well as I could do based on limited information. About half of the songs here were only released much later, on archival collections. They put out two singles in 1963, and both were total flops. But their fortunes changed drastically with their first single of 1964. Based on their growing touring reputation, they were asked to write the theme song for the new British music variety show "Ready Steady Go." The song they wrote, "5-4-3-2-1," rose to number five in the British charts. A few months later, they did even better with a cover of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy." That was a massive hit around the world, including reaching number one in both the US and Britain.

From that point on, the band became known mainly for their singles, which generally were cover versions. But I hope this album shows that, even way back in 1963, the band was more than that. Even at this early stage, they already were writing some of their own songs, and already showing an interest in jazzy instrumentals. But the band would get a lot better as the 1960s progressed.

This album is fairly short by today's standards, at only 35 minutes long. I did that in keeping with the style of the era.

01 Let's Go (Manfred Mann)
02 I Don't Want to Know (Manfred Mann)
03 Chattering [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
04 Tell Me What Did I Say (Manfred Mann)
05 Why Should We Not [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
06 Brother Jack [Frere Jacques] [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
07 Cook-A-Hoop (Manfred Mann)
08 Now You're Needing Me (Manfred Mann)
09 Ain't That Love (Manfred Mann)
10 Sticks and Stones (Manfred Mann)
11 All Your Love (Manfred Mann)
12 5-4-3-2-1 (Manfred Mann)
13 Hubble Bubble [Toil and Trouble] (Manfred Mann)
14 Do Wah Diddy Diddy (Manfred Mann)
15 John Hardy (Manfred Mann)
16 Sha La La (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15262655/ManfredM_1963-1964_DoWahDddyDddy_atse.zip.html

The album cover is one of the many covers of their "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" single. I made a few minor changes. The main one is that I stretched the album title sideways to overwrite the name of the B-side song. I also did some cleaning up here and there, and increased the contrast.

Manfred Mann - BBC Sessions, Volume 2: 1966-1969

Here's my other album of Manfred Mann's 1960s performances at the BBC. This one starts in mid-1966, when the band's lead singer Paul Jones was replaced by Mike d'Abo. It ends when the band broke up in early 1969. (The band would morph into Manfred Mann Chapter III with significantly different personnel, and then later into Manfred Mann's Earth Band after still more changes.)

I did this in the exact same way I did the first album that deals with the band's 1964 to 1966 BBC performances. Using material from the "Radio Days" official albums, I only used one version of each song. Then I also eliminated any songs that the band never did on record. As I explained in my previous post about the band, I'll be using those recordings elsewhere. So that mostly just leaves the band playing versions of their best known songs.

Also like the previous BBC album by this band, I systematically removed any instance when the BBC DJs talked over the music. Using the sound editing software X-Minus, I was able to wipe the talking completely while keeping the underlying music. Some people commented that they're fond of those DJs. If you like their talking, you still have the option of listening to them on the official "Radio Days" album. This provides an option for those who just want to hear the music. The ones I did change have "[Edit]" in the title.

Personally, I think Manfred Mann came into their own in their second phase, when Mike d'Abo was the lead singer. About half the songs here were hits, and many of the songs were written by band members. So if you like 1960s music but you've never paid much attention to the band, this is a good place to start.

This album is 46 minutes long.

01 Just like a Woman (Manfred Mann)
02 Mohair Sam (Manfred Mann)
03 Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James (Manfred Mann)
04 Morning after the Party [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
05 Ha Ha Said the Clown (Manfred Mann)
06 Sweet Pea (Manfred Mann)
07 So Long Dad (Manfred Mann)
08 Hoochie Coochie Man [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
09 The Mighty Quinn [Quinn the Eskimo] (Manfred Mann)
10 Cubist Town [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
11 Sleepy Hollow [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
12 My Name Is Jack (Manfred Mann)
13 The Vicar's Daughter [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
14 Each and Every Day [Day Time, Night Time] [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
15 Fox on the Run (Manfred Mann)
16 Ragamuffin Man (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15157771/ManfredM_1966-1969_BBSessionsVolume2_atse.zip.html

The publicity photo I used for the cover art dates to 1967.

Manfred Mann - BBC Sessions, Volume 1: 1964-1966

If you follow this blog, you've probably noticed that I've been putting a particular emphasis on posting BBC performances from the 1960s and 70s. Not only are they usually great in terms of sound quality and often have unique songs not done anywhere else, but I find satisfaction in editing the songs to remove the annoying BBC DJs talking over the music. It's a particular joy for me to wipe all traces of DJ Brian Matthew, who sounds like the epitome of a smarmy, insincere promo guy.

So as I work my way through the big musicians from that era, Manfred Mann came to my attention. It turns out two official double albums of their BBC performances were released in 2019, one called "Radio Days, Part 1," and the other "Radio Days, Part 2." I got them and gave them a good listen. I must say I was impressed. Manfred Mann sold a lot of records back in the 1960s, but they don't have a very good critical reputation. They're seen much like the Hollies - a poppy singles band, except without Graham Nash and with fewer hits.

Listening to Manfred Mann's BBC recordings made me reassess them. I now think they're much better than they're given credit for. It turns out they actually were really talented jazz musicians who saw the huge success of rock music in the early 1960s and gave that a try. As a result, they were way more talented than other groups they're lumped in with, such as the Herman's Hermits. They had two excellent lead vocalists, and many of their songs, including some of their hits, were written by them.  They had a habit of sneaking in jazzy instrumentals to their repertoire as much as they thought they could for a pop band, and there are a few of those here.

So I've decided to do a total overhaul of their 1960s output, much as I did with the Zombies, in hopes of turning more people onto them. It turns out they did a lot of songs for the BBC that they never recorded anywhere else. So I'm not including any of those here. Instead, those will be added to the various studio recording compilations I've made. I also haven't included any of the occasional times when they played the same song twice for the BBC.

What that leaves is essentially a greatest hits of their 1960s material, since they tended to play their most popular songs for the BBC. Just as the official BBC albums have done, I've split their 1960s work into two parts. This album deals with the years when Paul Jones was the band's lead singer. He was replaced in mid-1966 by Mike d'Abo. That era will be the subject of my second and final BBC album from them.

You can see from the song titles which songs I had to edit to get rid of the BBC DJs talking (usually Brian Matthew), because I've included "[Edit]." In all the cases I think, the talking was over the start of the song. Using the sound editing software X-Minus, I was able to wipe the talking completely while keeping the underlying music.

I found a list of all the times Manfred Mann played at the BBC, and it included the names of most of the songs they played. Sadly, I'd estimate only about half of their performances with good recordings. Many unique songs they played are probably lost forever. (It doesn't help that there are virtually no live bootlegs of the band from the 1960s.)

I would guess that "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is the band's best known song, at least from the 1960s. (The band morphed into Manfred Mann's Earth Band in the 1970s and had a massive hit with "Blinded by the Light.") By chance, none of the band's BBC performances of "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" survived. But I was able to find a version performed live for a TV show that sounds nearly as good. I did the same for "5 4 3 2 1," another big hit that also otherwise wouldn't have been included here. So, with those two songs included, this does include all the big hits from their Paul Jones era.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 Groovin' [We're Gonna Groove] (Manfred Mann)
02 Watermelon Man (Manfred Mann)
03 Do Wah Diddy Diddy (Manfred Mann)
04 Sha La La [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
05 Come Tomorrow (Manfred Mann)
06 Look Away (Manfred Mann)
07 L. S. D. [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
08 Oh No, Not My Baby (Manfred Mann)
09 The Abominable Snowmann [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
10 The One in the Middle (Manfred Mann)
11 When Will I Be Loved [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
12 What Am I to Do [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
13 I Put a Spell on You [Edit] (Manfred Mann)
14 If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Manfred Mann)
15 Watch Your Step (Manfred Mann)
16 There's No Living without Your Loving (Manfred Mann)
17 Spirit Feel [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
18 Tired of Trying, Bored with Lying, Scared of Dying (Manfred Mann)
19 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (Manfred Mann)
20 Still I'm Sad [Instrumental] (Manfred Mann)
21 Pretty Flamingo (Manfred Mann)
22 Machines [Edit] (Manfred Mann)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16695555/MANFRDMNN1964-1966_BBSssonsVlum1_atse.zip.html

I'm not sure where the cover art comes from exactly. It looks like they're in a recording studio. But I do know it's from 1965.