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.
Thks for this - first album I ever owned - Dad called it a bunch of weirdos playing crappy music, which at that age almost guaranteed it'd get very frequent airplay on the home tv/stereo cabinet. Chuckles.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that. It's kind of funny in light of Manfred Mann's later poppy reputation that your dad felt that way.
DeleteMany thanks for the Manfred Mann goodies. Such a great (and unappreciated) band. All phases of Manfred Mann are excellent.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I'm pleased that people are liking the Manfred Mann so far.
DeleteI thought I had this album, but my copy is from the following year with a totally different tracklist. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/Manfred-Mann-The-Five-Faces-Of-Manfred-Mann/master/943406
Thanks for mentioning that, because I forgot about that. Yeah, the differences between the US and British versions are very confusing for this band, especially because they sometimes used the same names for very different albums!
DeleteSo did the Rolling Stones.
DeleteWith Paul Jones [a BBC Radio DJ] in the band as you say they were good R&B, he left and TMMB went all jazzy, yuk.
ReplyDelete🎵 Thanks for the Music,
I have both versions of this album and it´s great...just wanna say that I think this and The Stones first album are the two best examples of classic British RnB!
ReplyDeleteStuffy from Sweden