Manfred Mann - Chapter I and Chapter II

The debut album by british invasionists Manfred Mann holds up even better 40 years on than it did in 1964. It's also one of the longest LPs of its era, clocking in at 39 minutes, and there's not a wasted note or a song extended too far among its 14 tracks. They never had the reputation that the Rolling Stones enjoyed, which is a shame, because The Five Faces of Manfred Mann is one of the great blues-based albums; it's a hot, rocking record that benefits from some virtuoso playing as well, and some of the best singing of its era, courtesy of Paul Jones, who blew most of his rivals out of the competition with his magnificently impassioned, soulful performance on Untie Me, and his simmering, lusty renditions of Smokestack Lightning and Bring It to Jerome. The stereo mix of the album, which never surfaced officially in England until this 1997 EMI anniversary reissue holds up very nicely, with sharp separation between the channels yet -- apart from a few moments on Untie Me -- few moments of artificiality.



















The group's second British album Mann Made, released 1965 just as the original lineup was entering a state of collapse with the impending departure of two key members, shows some of the changes that can happen in a year, as they move away from Chess Records' brand of blues as their baseline. Instead, Manfred Mann produce a sound that is slightly smoother and a lot more soulful. A handful of originals, mostly by Mike Vickers and Mike Hugg with one Paul Jones-authored number thrown in, are scattered amid covers of songs originally from the Temptations, the Skyliners, and T-Bone Walker. If it isn't as fierce, bold, or daringly ambitious as Manfred Mann's debut long-player, Mann Made is just as much a virtuoso effort, and a surprisingly cohesive one considering that it was released immediately after Mike Vickers and Paul Jones announced their respective departures from the band.
Mannerisms was originally issued in 1976, containing all the Fontana singles and notable album tracks, and it was decent as far as it went, filling in a few holes and re-exposing some worthwhile album tracks.




Thanks to Frisian!