Favourite Manfred Mann band

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Which is the best Mann?

Manfred Mann (with Paul Jones)
4
27%
Manfred Mann (with Mike D'Abo)
2
13%
Manfred Mann Chapter Three
3
20%
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
4
27%
Some other side project
0
No votes
They're all crap
2
13%
Footy
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 15

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Rorschach
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Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Rorschach » 01 Jun 2021, 08:07

I'm rather partial to the earliest iteration of the band and I have a soft spot for the first album, The Five Faces of Manfred Mann. I think there must have been a lot of puzzled teenagers who bought that after the success of Do Wah Diddy Diddy. In case you don't know, the album's full of R&B and jazz rather that the pop music they were now famous for.
I also like Paul Jones' Dylan covers better than The Mighty Quinn but I do like a lot of their singles from both periods of the group.

I've never heard a note of Chapter Three, or any other side projects, and I don't care much for what I've heard of MM's Earth Band.

Anyway, an important band in the UK (I think Do Wah Diddy Diddy was their only big US hit?) whose members are still making music, most of which doesn't seem to be completely awful. Except for Jack Bruce. He's dead.

I think they've all done very well and deserve a round of applause.
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby robertff » 01 Jun 2021, 08:26

Whilst I really liked the original Paul Jones incarnation of the band it's the Earth band group that I prefer. Wasn't that keen on the Mike D'Abo band - just a little too lightweight I thought and as for Chapter Three, I really liked that. So favourite set up was the Earth Band.

As a rider an old college friend of mine, Gary Fletcher was a founding member of the Blues Band, (Paul Jones is the singer but you probably knew that already), and is still with them. At one stage he played in a band called Abercrombie and very occasionally I would lump their gear around in my van.


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Rorschach
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Rorschach » 01 Jun 2021, 09:13

robertff wrote:
As a rider an old college friend of mine, Gary Fletcher was a founding member of the Blues Band, (Paul Jones is the singer but you probably knew that already), and is still with them. At one stage he played in a band called Abercrombie and very occasionally I would lump their gear around in my van.


I love all the 'close to greatness' anecdotes that we get on these boards.
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C
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby C » 01 Jun 2021, 09:41

It's a difficult one because the best album for me is MMC3's eponymous debut.

But the follow up Volume 2 is not as good.

The band I enjoyed more in general - have most of their albums and saw them live four times is the Earth Band, where Solar Fire, The Roaring Silence and Nightingales & Bombers are my faves.

So why did I vote MMC3? Because it trumps everything else.

Interestingly, the album features on a PSL very soon [check LL/PSL News]

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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby C » 01 Jun 2021, 09:42

robertff wrote:As a rider an old college friend of mine, Gary Fletcher was a founding member of the Blues Band, (Paul Jones is the singer but you probably knew that already), and is still with them. At one stage he played in a band called Abercrombie and very occasionally I would lump their gear around in my van.


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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Rorschach » 01 Jun 2021, 10:53

C wrote:It's a difficult one because the best album for me is MMC3's eponymous debut.

But the follow up Volume 2 is not as good.

The band I enjoyed more in general - have most of their albums and saw them live four times is the Earth Band, where Solar Fire, The Roaring Silence and Nightingales & Bombers are my faves.

So why did I vote MMC3? Because it trumps everything else.


Ahem.
I only included MMC3 in the poll at the last second.
I'd never even heard of them until earlier today, when I was researching the question. I'd assumed it was just some insignificant cul-de-sac. Shows how much I know ...
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Walk In My Shadow » 01 Jun 2021, 11:06

"On our block all of the guys call her flamingo
Cause her hair glows like the sun
And her eyes can light the skies"


Who doesn't love Pretty Flamingo? One of the better pop singles of the 60's.

Apart from that I never had much time for the original Manfred Mann and only came aboard the Earth Band a couple of years ago.

I now have four or five Earth Band albums and while they're good they're also workmanlike prog. Second division at best.
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Rayge » 01 Jun 2021, 16:51

The only iteration I wever willingly listened to was the first, but the main problem with them was their covers - far too many, and far inferior to the originals. Pual Jones had a reasonable voice and image, but I thought the rest of them weren't really up to it, and none of the acts they went on to form produced anything of interest whatsoever. I voted a plague on all their houses
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Muskrat » 02 Jun 2021, 02:31

Jones edition/ Among other things, better songs.
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby pcqgod » 02 Jun 2021, 03:48

1. D'Abo
2. Earth Band
3. Jones
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Rorschach » 02 Jun 2021, 07:39

Rayge wrote:The only iteration I wever willingly listened to was the first, but the main problem with them was their covers - far too many, and far inferior to the originals. Pual Jones had a reasonable voice and image, but I thought the rest of them weren't really up to it, and none of the acts they went on to form produced anything of interest whatsoever. I voted a plague on all their houses


Nice to see a thoroughly dissenting opinion, though I disagree.

In fact they had covers forced on them by the label. It became their standard practice after the relative failure of Hubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble to have a cover as the A-side of all their singles. As a result they missed out on Handbags and Gladrags, as well as Build Me Up Buttercup; both written by Mike D'Abo.
And anyway, having a bunch of R&B classics was pretty much standard for groups of their ilk on starting out. They had more original songs than the Stone had on their first album. Of course, if you consider their versions inferior to the originals they won't be much fun to listen to but I like a lot of them. As I already mentioned, I particularly like their Dylan covers. I don't see them as inferior so much as different. They're not going to manage Dylan's gravitas in With God On Our Side but they still manage to produce a stirring and spooky pop song out of it. I'm very happy to have both.
And I enjoy the British take on American R&B from that time. Maybe that's just me being very white.

And, have you ever heard Mighty Garvey!? It is at least 'of interest'.
For those who don't know, it was the last album by the Mike D'Abo version of the band and it's rather different from what went before. It includes the (great) hit singles The Mighty Quinn and Ha! Ha! Said the Clown, but the rest is .... interesting. Very much of its time in channelling Kinks and the Zombies but a couple of terrific tracks and some weirdness.

(All information above nicked from the best music podcast ever)
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Rorschach » 02 Jun 2021, 07:39

Muskrat wrote:Jones edition/ Among other things, better songs.


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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby yomptepi » 02 Jun 2021, 10:40

Rorschach wrote:
robertff wrote:
As a rider an old college friend of mine, Gary Fletcher was a founding member of the Blues Band, (Paul Jones is the singer but you probably knew that already), and is still with them. At one stage he played in a band called Abercrombie and very occasionally I would lump their gear around in my van.


I love all the 'close to greatness' anecdotes that we get on these boards.


Gary Fletcher is no Johnny G
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby C » 02 Jun 2021, 14:15

yomptepi wrote:Gary Fletcher is no Johnny G


....and Johnny G is no Lee Jackson





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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby Jimbly » 03 Jun 2021, 00:18

Rayge wrote:The only iteration I wever willingly listened to was the first, but the main problem with them was their covers - far too many, and far inferior to the originals. Pual Jones had a reasonable voice and image, but I thought the rest of them weren't really up to it, and none of the acts they went on to form produced anything of interest whatsoever. I voted a plague on all their houses


They also covered Momus believe it or not.
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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby trans-chigley express » 03 Jun 2021, 05:24

The Chapter 3 album is very good, at least the one I've heard (the first one)
Earth Band I wish I liked more than I do, they are ok but strictly second division although they do have knack with a cover version and have done some excellent ones.

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Re: Favourite Manfred Mann band

Postby C » 05 Jun 2021, 00:27

Lord Rother wrote:And there was me thinking you'd say "Fair enough, you have a point Bob".


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