Manfred Mann's latest collection, World Of Mann, takes in his 60s group work and his Earth Band years. Tim Jones caught up with him on good form one morning in London and asked him over breakfast how the career-spanning 2-CD set came about...

"I had absolutely nothing to do with it and never do with anything to do with the past. I find it too difficult and time-consuming, and I can only concentrate on one thing at a time, which is usually what I'm doing at present. There are two DVDs in the offing, though, one of which is a collection of old footage, some of it from Australia in '71. And we're perhaps going to record another one later this year in Germany".

Are you working on new material?

For some time I've had an instrumental project in mind, orchestrally arranged, but it's taken me much longer than it should've, partly 'cos I've been doing gigs and partly 'cos I'm very slow and terribly fussy. If I'm at home for a time, I'll go to the studio every day and practise. And when I'm in France I'm very disciplined. But then at other times I'm not. Any musician is slightly mad - not in the sense that we're weird people. But a lot of us become dependent on work, and they work and sleep and sweat and strain, when you'd be far better off just to sit with a beer in your hand.

Is there anyone you'd like to work with?

People rarely ask me to do something, but I'd be happy to. I was on Look At Yourself with Uriah Heep years and years ago, but I played horribly. I thought it was terrible.  Jerry Bron (of Bronze Records) said, 'Oh, that's fantastic!' But I listened to it 20 years later and I still thought it was awful.

Do you keep a diary?

In the last five years I've been writing a memoir, when I'm sitting on a plane or bored at an airport. But I can't imagine it'll ever be published. 1'm doing it mainly for my little grandchildren so that when they're 30 years old they'll wonder what I vvas like and they'll have it there for them.

I've remembered absurd things about being a pop star in the 60s. I recall being at a gig in America for about 15,000, and after the show, I was walking down a stadium corridor and this guy came up to me and said, `That was an amazing, stupendous performance.' I said thanks, but he said, No, that was fantastic, stupendous!' And each rime I said 'thanks', , he said, `Incredible, stupendous.' Anyway, we got to the dressing room and I didn't know vhat to say to him, so I offered him a sandwich, and he ate it and said, `Oh man, that's an amazing, incredible, stupendous sandwich!' (laughs)

Did you ever get any feedback from Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen on the covers that you've done of their songs?

I think Dylan really loved the stuff we did, and in the early-60s he said he preferred our versions to anyone else's. That's because we treated them with a lack of respect and changed things around. On Just Like A Woman, there's a middle bit with `amphetamines and pearls', and we thought, `God, no one's gonna play that on Radio One,' so we took it out. People said, `You can't take it out, it's Dylan.' And we said `Just watch us„'

I don't think Springsteen liked our Blinded By The Light, 'cos. we sang-`wiapped up like a douche and it wasn't written like that and I screwed it up completely. It sounded like `douche' instead of `deuce'. 'cos of the technical process - a faulty azimuth due to tape-head angles, and it meant we couldn't remix it.

Warners in America said, `You've got to change `douche', 'cos the Southern Bible belt radio station - think it's about a vaginal douche, and they have problems with body parts down there.' We tried to change it to `deuce' but then the rest of the track sounded horrible, so we had no leave it. We just said `If not it 's not.a hit it's not.'

But in the end, it was No.1 in America, and so many people came up to us after and said, `You know why it made No. I? ... Everyone was talking about whether it was deuce or douche.' ' Apparently Springsteen  thought we'd done it deliberately, which we hadn't, so if I ever saw him I'd avoid him and cringe away like a frightened little boy.

Is it right that Rod Stewart nearly joined the band in 1966?

Everyone tells me that but I've no recollection of it.  But if so, what a terrible mistake! Rod Stewart's a great singer. But when we had auditions, I rejected Huey Lewis as well.. And the reason is that on that day they weren't that good. If you've ever heard The Beatles' tape that the guy rejected; you can understand why. You should hear it!

Why was Jack Bruce only in the band with you for nine months?

He was just too good for the group - a great, great player. Mike Hugg suggested him and I was against it for that very reason - a guy who could play so well and we were just a straight pop band. 'He wanted to go to Cream and I had him under contract, and so 1 had him on the phone, cross w'tth me for not letting  him go, and I realised the stupidity of having a contract with a musician who doesn't want to work with you. What's the point of having a miserable guy? You can't do rehearsals and everyone's unhappy. So I tore the contract up there and then, and I've never had one between musicians since. f still have contact with Mike Hugg, but he's the only one.

What did you think of The Manfreds (the band featuring Mike D 'Abo, Paul Jones and the other original mernbers)? .

Well, the problem wasn't with any of the individuals, only with the name. I was very reluctant that they should use the name, as there'd be a degree of confusion with the Earth Band'. They wanted to use Manfred Mann and we had a legal dispute about that, which at the time was a bitter one.  But as time went by, in the end, I agreed to them using The Manfreds. There's no clash then, and it's all over now. Not a problem. After all, five of them were the original Manfred Mann, and they can't use the name 'cos that arsehole won't let us! Fuck! That's not reasonable! And then when you look at it from that viewpoint, you begin to see it. Grow up! For years I didn't, but I've realised, God, there's room for both of us in this big, wide world.

If you could go back, what would you change about our career?

I wish we could have had some of the songs we have now, to follow up Blinded By The Light in America. We just didn't have anything, and that was really frustrating But I don't reallv go back and regret. Though Rod Stewart would've been good to work with -  though he probably would've left, wouldn't he?' He plays football and 1 don't like football! And I'm not that talented a person. I don't mean that to sound modest, 'cos I'm quire arrogant about my ability to recognise my own faults. But in terms of the middling ability I've got, I have wildly exceeded any expectations I ever had when I came to England.  I never thought I'd earn a living here at all -I'd have been happy to do anything just to stay here. But to find that I'm still earning a living as a musician, while I'm carrying a freedom pass and getting on the tube free is amazing! The key was that I saw I wasn't a songwriter, and that I needed really good material to compete. So I never go, 'Oh shit. I wish I'd done that,' 'cos it all worked out. We still play to big crowds in Europe and, while I don't go around with a big happy grin on my face -'cos I'm a well known misery -  we're doing as well as we have for years.

Which band would you have liked to have played in?

I'd loved to have plaved in Mahavishnu Orchestra, but I just wasn't good enough.  Just to have their music around you.  God.  And I love Jan Garberek.  Or to play in a really good heavy metal hand - I love the sound and very cool synths can create space and merge into the distorted heavy sound - lovely. Like Lordi! I watched the Eurovision Song Contest bollocks and I really enjoyed it.  And I really liked the British entry!

Good Earth album of 1973 had a novel eco-friendly free gift of a metre of Welsh hillfort. Do you know what happened to that  scheme?

Everyone who bought the album had a legal entitlement to use the land, rather than owning it - it would've cost £50 a time just to register ownership.  But the land is still there and although I've never actually seen it, it's surrounded by forestry and no one does anything on it. So I thought it was a nice idea, yet at the time no one in the press thought so. Everyone said, `You're trying to sell records with gimmicks,' and that really coloured my view of journalists for about 20 years. The pervading cynicism was so depressing, and I remember thinking, `I'm never going to try to do anything like this ever again.' We bought the land ourselves and it was our idea, but we were constantly having to defend ourselves. Absurd.

Is there any unreleased material still in the archives?

There's always unreleased material, but it really is bollocks, a lot of it.  I don't even know where it is, and a lot was burned in a fire about 10 years ago, which is why I can t remix tracks or give Blinded By The Loght to DJs. Which is a bit of a relief, 'cos you keep having to go back in and piddle around with it. I didn't even want to do the 4-CD box set, but there are fans out there who go, `What a great track.' And there are probably bits you missed. I haven't even listened to the box yet. I should do, Shouldn't I?

What as the first record you bought? '

Something in South Africa - a jazz recozd or Fats Domino, I think.

What was the last CD you bought?

 Granddaddy, or Bach.

Which album would you keep forever?

I've now got it all on iPod, but probably y Art Of The Fugue by The Stuttgart Chamber Orchesstra, or Dave Brubeck's Jazz Goes To College. Some early albums I never tire of, such as the early Brubeck, though I try to avoid listening to music as much as possible.  I don't even play it in the house, though I use my iPod at airports and in parks when I walk around. But while I have time to relax if I want to, I'm actually incapable of sitting still for too long. I go to Nice a lot and walk through the old town and sit and have a beer, but otherwise I have lists of things I have to do. Which is stupid, 'cos I should just sit in the garden and have a beer and a sleep!

What music would you like at your funeral?

At the end of a cremation, someone once had Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, which is wonderful! But I'd want something that made everyone as sad and miserable as possible. No happiness for me. I'm totally unreligious. So, I want a big religious ceremony and then get the preacher to tell everybody that I said, "I know, I'm just making you listen to this primeval nonsense to be horrible"!

What would you like to change about yourself?

Not that I have a big public, but I always like them to know as little about me as possible. Because the more they know, the more they can build this edifice of creativity around an ordinary wally. So I generally avoid any such questions, though I'd probably just like to be able to go and sit have a beer and relax a bit and not go, `My God! Another project!'

Do you have any unfu filled ambitions?