WORLD OF MANN

This compilation gives you the music,of both worlds of Manfred Mann, firstly the poppy era of the first and second chapter, and his Earth Band output who have a more progressive and rockier approach, although remaining commercial.

Disc 1 features nearly fifty minutes worth of the original Manfred Mann carnation. Not my favourite era of Manfred Mann of at least, but the sixties pop hits are so damn catchy and britishy sounding, although Mann himself is a South African.

These are The tracks that Ilike to play more often than the others, although I do appriciate some others that are not mentioned:

'5-4-3-2-1' - a classic R'N'B (no not that propostorous genrewith rapping and lousy beats) track, that clocksprecisely 2 minutes, simple, quick, rock n roll with a hint of blues rocks, Mike Hugg's drumming I really like something I nevered heard in similar songs.

'The One In The Middle' - here Paul Jones sings about himself really, about a man in the middle, in a band called the Manfreds, they reffer to the lead vocalist as the one being in the middle??, nice classic poppy blues tracks, nothing fancy, but still a great listen. 'Ha! Ha! Said The Clown' - Mike D'Abo takes the mic here, Paul Jones went off to pursue other work, I'm sure the flute sounds are done on a Mellotron, as the flute sounds synthetic, a catchy psychedlic pop track but kinda cheesy in a way but a it will stick.

'Sweet Pea' - mostly instrumental, this is maily drum and organ driven, and has a more psychedelic approach,harldly a pop tune, very strange track, could be a very small root for the development of progressive rock. 'Mighty Quinn' - probably the best Manfred Mann track ever done IMO, a folky psych track, originally a Bob Dylan song, loads of harmonic vocals, and a rhymatic rock driven sound, no solos instrument wise, this track is a great listen, although it is psych but not in a sence of psych in a prog perspective.

'My Name Is Jack' - This is quite a funny track and again a little wimpy and cheesy, but the main chorus is the most catchiest song out of all the tracks I mentioned.

Manfred Mann (first 60s era) is not prog, so progheads may not like the early releases, but I'll think half of it is worth a listen.

"I saw a man with no smile on his face today" :)

Disc 2 is a different story compared to the previous disc.

'Blinded By The Light' - the opener of disc 2, and is MMEB's biggest hit, originally sung by Bruce Springsteen, and is also the writer of the song, Chris Thoimpson provides the vocals, this is a space prog pop song, on this CD in is full uncut album version, the single edit was a massive hit for the band, and is one of my favouraites, Mann himself even provide the vocals halfway, loads of weird synth sounds and guitar solos. 'Davy's On The Road Again' - the single version with a spacey synth sound halfway, the guitar solos are omitted from this version, another great hit tune from MMEB and is more lighter and upbeat compared to "Blinded", this version is my favourite, as I find the album version doesn't have the same magic as this one.

'You Angel You' - this has to be the most progiest out of all MMEB's single releases, very commericial but very progressive at the same time, fantastic synth solos and sounds, and percussion drumming from Geoff Britton, Chris Slade's predessesor.

'Joybringer' - Earth Bands first major hit, performed with original lead singer Mick Rogers, not nessecarily Prog, more of a pop single, but Manfred's moog solos give the song that proggy effect.

'Lies (Through The 80s)' - Receivewd loads of radio play during it's hey day, Chris Thomson and a female singer provides vocals, there also a sample of Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Tidy" in this song - the main line "Put up a parking lot", Mann play loads of80s sounding keyboards, infact this is a poppy 80s sounding track, almost new wave sounding, this is a love it or hate it track.

'Father Of Day Father Of Night' - a nice progish ballad from the Mick Rogers era of MMEB recorded in 1974, this is a single version, a damn booboo there, as it cuts down quiet during one of Mick Rogers killer guitar solos, nevermind at leat it's a great listen despite the song by shortened from 9 minutes to 3 minutes dead on.

'Redemption Song' - a Bob Marley cover, and this track is full of life, unlike the previous track, this songs has many Aftrican composions, African vocals, and instrumentation, although this track is mainly featuring programmable instruments mixed with Afrocan flavour, one of the best tracks from that era of MMEB (1982)

Disc 2 has more of a prog rock sound but isn't prog in a true way, but that doesn't matter it's still a great album to listen to.