Umbrella Re-Issues |
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First 2006, Now back to 1966 I am not the
biggest fan of the Fontana years of Manfred Mann. The group went from being quite a serious blues/ jazz band, who also made pop records, to a band who made pop records and sometimes reverted to a bit of jazz and blues.
In the Jones era, they seemed to pull off hit records without looking slightly embarrassed about it. In the Jones years they at least looked as if that was what they wanted to be doing, even if it wasn't. So why buy these
albums? Well the answer is that not only is the packaging really nice, but the music is for the most part surprisingly good. 'As Is', I reviewed the other month, but I challenge anyone to put this CD on to play a few times
and then not be humming tracks like, 'Trouble and Tea' and 'Superstitious Guy' for weeks after. This is a collection of some really good pop tunes, penned in most cases by Mike Hugg or Mike D'Abo. There is a wonderful
bluesy song, 'As Long As I Have your Loving' and a typical short jazz instrumental 'Autumn Leaves'. 'Dealer Dealer' was later borrowed for a while by MMEB in the early days. This arrangement was later
'Up The Junction', was the music from the film of that name. It has some nice Jazz stuff mixed with a handful of typical D'Abo sung pop tunes. The title track is a moody and magnificent epic featuring both D'Abo and Hugg. Whilst 'As is' and 'Garvey' have the complete albums in stereo and mono, this album has lots of bonus tracks, all of which were never released back in the sixties. Notable amongst these is the first attempt at the Bob Dylan song 'Mrs Henry'. Hopefully you will get yet another very different version of this when the box set is released hopefully sometime next year. The biggest surprise for me was 'Mighty Garvey', which has three cleverly different and humorous versions of the same song 'Happy Families', performed by Manfred Mann as Ed or Edwin Garvey. This album reminds the listener that we were in a period of imaginative and creative pop albums, spawned by the incredible 'Sgt Peppers'. (They come from my city mate.) 'Garvey', thus has some of the best self-penned songs by Mike Hugg, Mike D'Abo and Tom McGuiness, you are ever likely to hear. If you liked 'Handbags and Gladrags', check out 'Vicars Daughter', 'Every Day Another Hair Turns Grey', 'Cupids Town' and 'Harry The One Man Band'. There are plenty of songs here as deserving of being all time classics as 'Handbags' is. Incidentally the only track not penned by a band member other than a couple of hits is 'Big Betty', which was also performed by MMEB in the early days. A recording exists of this, from an early appearance on the John Peel show. The last of the four CDs is 'Mannerisms', which has all the Fontana hits and B-sides, plus a couple of rarities from a French EP. All the albums have gatefold covers and separate song sheets. The front cover being the most commonly used, with the exception of 'As Is' where it is the Transport Museum cover. Inside each album displays an alternative cover. 'Mighty Garvey' for example, becomes the USA version, 'The Mighty Quinn', whilst the better known cloister cover, is on the inside of 'As Is'. They have chosen not to reissue 'What A Mann', which is a shame for a completist. This was one of three albums put out in 1968 and was on a budget label called Fontana Special. The Japanese version has loads of jazz bonus tracks. All involved are to be congratulated for getting these albums out in Europe. Let's hope they eventually complete they set.
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