I've been listening to the Mark II version of Manfred Mann lately, and I'm really digging it. When Paul Jones left the original Mann, d'Abo couldn't have been a better replacement I believe. So many great songs... Semi-Detached Suburban Mr James, Brown And Porter's, Ha! Ha! Said The Clown, Budgie, The Mighty Quinn, Every Day Another Hair Turns Grey, Up The Junction - it's so hard to pick a favourite.

Hello Mark, totally with you on that one...I have a nice 2 cd set 'The Fontana Years' With all the stuff on you mention, the Up the Junction soundtrack is lovely too, theres probably 4 or 5 different arrangements of the title track, which is such a brilliant tune that it works well....Im sure you know all this anyway...but just cant resist getting in on a post when someone mentions a fave!!
Hope u r enjoying your weekend mate!

Hiya Mark,yes Manfred Mann mark 2 where very good indeed and a lot of yummy mellotron used on those recordings too,2 albums well worth checking out from this era of the group are "As Is" and"Mighty Garvey",both bloody delicious and both available on cd too,a double cd collection i recommend is"Ascent Of Mann"featuring loads of stuff from this era of the band and some at the time unreleased recordings too.One of my ultimate fave tracks is"Cubist Town"from the"Mighty Garvey"album,a fab piece of uk pop/psych to my ears.As you say theres so many good songs from this era of the band,a list of faves would be massive.Listening to the cd 'As Is"at the mo and the track"Dealer Dealer"as i write,another brilliant track from a very good album.Roll on the Manfreds!!!

I agree completely Stuart. Great stuff there. I got a nice Philips Greatest Hits lp as well with a big skin pore photo of Manfred Mann himself on the cover that has Mighty Quinn, My Name is Jack and some other good Mark II hits on it, but the CD to get is that Ascent of Mann CD. Good stuff.
Ok, if I bring it up, I should at least give a link to those folks like me who are still vinyl addicts...
http://www.discogs.com/Manfred-Mann-This-Is-Manfred-Man/release/3051206

Im needing "Mighty Garvey" lp.

I gots "Up The Junction" lp on Canadian press. Top lp.

Recently got orig. UK press "As Is". Traded Swegas for it - which was a pretty harsh trade for me.


Chapter Three "Volume THREE":

http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=422

Yes, Ascent of Man is the one that I have... I'll have to pick up the individual albums at some point though - As Is, Mighty Garvey and Up The Junction - all three seem highly recommended by you lot.
Thanks for the tip!

6 years after this original thread, there recently has been 4 double cds of the manfreds BBC sessions covering the early years right up to earth band. Since we're talking about mike d'abo era manfred Mann, I highly recommend volume 2,of this series called radio days. This double cd set covers the BBC sessions from the years 1966-69, there's 45 tracks in total which include interviews, but it's a very enjoyable romp with class tracks like cubist town and sleepy hollow showing a more psych side to this era of the group. On the whole it shows a group moving away from their r&b sound to a more swinging London pop and at times psych vibe. The booklet with this set is pretty good too, giving dates etc of sessions and the history of the group through this time, another thing I love about those BBC sessions are the inclusion of the djs introductions etc which I know does annoy some people, to me it just adds to that eras vibe. I've also bought the volume 3 of this series which is the manfred Mann chapter 3 era,this too I recommend as it includes the songs they did for adverts like ski full of fitness, Michelin theme and maxwell house.this also includes some fine stuff like sometimes, one way glass and time from the early days of chapter 3.they tried to get away from the pop stuff with this era but much of it is still very accessible soundwise but certainly moving in a more proggy jazz vibe,don't let that put you off,there's much to enjoy here!! Cd 2features the soundtrack music to a movie which in all honesty didn't do much for me.cd 1 is very good!! But for me the best era of manfred Mann is on volume 2 with Mike d'abo. Some real treats on that double cd. All easily available on Amazon.radio days, volume 1 covers the very early years with Paul Jones which I find a bit less interesting, but that's just my view and taste!!

I purchased a cd with the mike Cabo singles etc. Recently. They were indeed a great band.

Vol 3 of that "Radio" thingy has a bit of the soundtrack, "Venus in Furs". (The full soundtrack is long on me wants list.)

...and as for the DJ chatter and interviews?
I love them myself. The Mighty Garvey discussion before 'My Friend Jack' is hilarious! I laughed out loud at Simon and Garvey!!

Hiya mark,glad you're enjoying this, volume 2 is certainly the best of the bunch for some terrific pop music, and yes I too enjoy the chat with the djs also. Once I do get some more finance I'll invest in all 4volumes. I must admit ro to finding a lot of the Paul Jones era music pretty derivative with many covers that other groups at that time were doing. The mike d'abo era is certainly when they started coming into their own with some fab songwriting and the introduction of the mellotron into their pop sound. Yes volume 2 is highly recommended to anyone who ventures on this site.