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.
Thanks a lot!
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