Manfred Mann: Chapter Two, Mike D'Abo and "The Mighty Quinn"
Written: May 11 '02 (Updated Jun 28 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Includes the Top 10 hit "The Mighty Quinn".
Cons: Doesn't include the Top 30 hits "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Pretty Flamingo."
The Bottom Line: Despite not having their biggest hit,"Do Wah Diddy Diddy,"this collection does have some of the 1960s' best Brit-pop and does include their Top 10 smash "The Mighty Quinn."
Don_Krider's Full Review: Chapter Two: The Best of the Fontana Years by Manf...
When lead singer Paul Jones signed a solo deal to leave Manfred Mann, the group was cut loose from their contract with Ascot/United Artists and the EMI Records organization.
The group's work with Paul Jones as lead singer was featured on the CD "The Best Of Manfred Mann - The Definitive Collection" years later (reviewed by me at http://www.epinions.com/content_63393664644 ). That collection didn't include anything recorded by the band after it hired a new lead singer and signed with a new label.
"Chapter Two":
This collection, "Chapter Two: The Best Of The Fontana Years," takes up where the previous collection left off (exactly why the labels couldn't have worked out a deal and combined the two efforts into one collection is unclear).
"Chapter Two..." follows the band under lead singer Mike D'Abo, formerly of The Band Of Angels, who brought the group back to the Top 40 after a two year absence.
Under Jones, the band had scored four Top 50 hits with "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" (# 1, 1964), "Sha La La" (# 12, 1964), "Come Tomorrow" (# 50, 1965) and "Pretty Flamingo" (# 29, 1966).
With D'Abo, the group also added Klaus Voorman on bass (the artist whose work on The Beatles' "Revolver" album cover won a Grammy Award) to replace bassist Jack Bruce (who had moved on to join Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker in Cream). Among others, the group, of course, included its leader, keyboardist Manfred Mann (champion of the Moog Synthesizer), and veteran members drummer Mike Hugg and guitarist Tom McGuiness.
D'Abo's vocals were much more mid-stream pop and his songwriting was more in tune with The Beatles circa 1967 (echoes of "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Sergeant Pepper" appear everywhere).
As a band, Manfred Mann's sound became more Beatle-ish as well: strong on melody and rich in harmony.
"The Mighty Quinn":
In 1968, this new lineup created a perfect pop performance with their recording of Bob Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)." Dylan had written the song during his legendary then-unreleased "Basement Tape" sessions.
Manfred Mann's single of the song rose to # 10 that year on the Billboard pop charts during an 11-week run.
One of the ironies of their performance is that the group didn't think they had a hit on their hands until D'Abo played an acetate recording of the tune for a label executive. D'Abo's record player played the band's recording too fast, increasing the tempo of the recording. The label exec told them they had a hit on their hands.
The group then sped up the tempo on the final recorded version, with Voorman adding flutes to the song (a rare Top 10 hit with a flute intro). The group not only hit the U. S. Top 10, but in the band's native England the song went to # 1.
It's a great pop moment, from the opening flutes, to the bright keyboard work, to D'Abo's great lead vocal over the band's fine harmonies, mixed with some loveable if quirky drum patterns. Very Beatle-ish in execution. Dylan's lyrics are memorable:
"Come on without / come on within / you'll not see nothing like The Mighty Quinn / ... / everybody's building ships and boats / some are building monuments, others jotting down notes / everybody's in despair, every girl and boy / but when Quinn the Eskimo gets here, everybody's gonna jump for joy..."
"Fox On The Run":
A year later, the band's final U. S. Hot 100 hit came with the ballad "Fox On The Run" (not to be confused with The Sweet's hit single of the same name). It barely hit the U. S. charts, peaking at # 97.
The band did have several British hits during this time. Their music, especially on the LP "The Mighty Quinn", was excellent and deserved more U. S. success.
The evidence of the quality of their music with D'Abo appears here.
Despite battling Jonathan King's version of Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman" on the charts with a version of their own, they took the tune to # 10 in England (crawling to # 104 in the U. S.). The song's production by Shel Talmy (The Who, The Kinks and The Easybeats) gave the group an edge that helped them in England, at least.
D'Abo's "Trouble And Tea" seems to borrow its main guitar riff from The Beatles' "Paperback Writer," but it stands on its own with a joyous Merseybeat sound.
Like many acts (The Byrds with "So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star" and The Raspberries with "Play On," for instance), Manfred Mann sang about life as a rock star on D'Abo's "Box Office Draw" (which opens with a great psychedelic guitar lick):
"He's got to be sure that he's a box office draw in every move he makes / and what is more if he's a box office draw the more the box office takes / his publicity has just got to be the best in headline news / if he should forget and fall into debt the more the box office lose... "
In England, "The Semi-Detached Mr. James" (by outside writers John Carter and Geoff Stephens) was released. It had been written as "The Semi-Detached Mr. Jones" (its title in its U. S. release) but the label changed the title fearing people might think the song was a slap at their former lead singer, Paul Jones.
Very much like The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," the song features a guy talking to a bride-to-be he knows very well who has decided that marrying a certain man will make everything perfect. Great lyrics abound here:
"So you finally named the day / when wedding bells will chime / I was sorry to hear you say / you were going to be his not mine / do you think you will be happy / giving up your friends / for your semi-detached suburban Mr. James? / so you finally got your man / I hope you won't regret it / he can't love you the way I can / so please don't you forget it / do you think you will be happy / buttering the toast / of your your semi-detached suburban mister most?..."
"Each And Every Day":
Drummer Mike Hugg's "Each And Every Day" is one of the most gorgeous pop tunes of the '60s (right up there with The Beatles' "Penny Lane"). Uptempo, piano-based, catchy-as-anything, with a solid backbeat, lush orchestration and a lovely lead vocal.
It should have been a stateside hit, but wound up on a "B-side" (the flipside of a 45 rpm record whose "A-side" was the song a label promoted) and failed to have any impact in England or the U. S. (though it was a hit in Canada).
Hugg's lyrics about a man and a woman falling in love are wonderful:
"Ah, daytime, nightime / anything I say, any time of day / and she's mine / there's no doubt about / she can't do without, my love / each and every day / she looks good, feels good / walking down the street, everyone we meet / says we should / and along the way / we should always stay in love / each and every day..."
"Everyday Another Hair Turns Grey":
Hugg also wrote what amounts to a sequel to "Each And Every Day" with "Everyday Another Hair Turns Grey," with some baroque harpsichord running through the tune amid Mann's moog synthesizer sounds underscoring an aging woman's memories of her younger life and loves:
"In her house, happy she seems / but she's living on memories and dreams / how she dearly longs to recover / her life when she was a young mother / and every day another hair turns grey / yes, every day another hair turns grey / in her house, as mother and wife / she was leading an ordinary life / now she finds so much is missing / gone is the love, the laughter and the kissing / and every day another hair turns grey..."
Hugg (who eventually sang lead for the band) also scores with the uptempo ballad "It's So Easy Falling," which reminds one of The Rascals' "How Can I Be Sure?" in spirit:
"...it's so easy falling in love with you / I can't give up all the love I've found / even if sometimes I look around..."
D'Abo's rocking "No Better, No Worse" is another gem in this collection of jewels. Synthesizers, flutes and some solid drumming dominate this tune with D'Abo proclaiming "I'm no better and I'm no worse than any man."
Guitarist Tom McGuiness' "Cubist Town" (written with Charles Perrott) is perfect John Lennon '67 in lyrics and music, a slow ballad that explodes into a luscious psychedelic chorus (think The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" meets Lennon's "# 9 Dream" and you'll get the idea):
"...I wandered round and round the village square / I turned and floated gently upside down / and one by one the people gathered round / the rivers and the bridges turned to blue / the spillage of the night is creeping through / the orange sun is coming down / and slowly melts into a sea of wine / goodnight Cubist town, good night..."
Summary:
This collection proves that Manfred Mann was a fine pop outfit, though increasingly overlooked in the U. S., right into the late 1960s. It also shows that the band had several fine writers in its midst capable of writing hits, but due to an admitted lack of self-confidence they usually allowed their singles to be written by non-band members.
That said, besides Bob Dylan's two songs here, the band gives great performances of some other non-band-written works by Randy Newman ("So Long, Dad") and Tony Hazzard ("Ha! Ha! Said The Clown" and "Fox On The Run") here as well.
The album should appeal to fans of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rascals and The Turtles.
What became of the band?:
Manfred Mann reformed the group as Manfred Mann's Earth Band, scoring a million-selling hit with Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded By The Light" in 1976. He continues to tour and record with this band, despite further personnel changes over the years.
Some former members tour as The Manfreds.
D'Abo recorded several solo efforts with limited success. He wrote the score for the Peter Sellers' film "There's A Girl In My Soup" (that girl being Goldie Hawn). He sang the part of Herod on the 1971 MCA recording of"Jesus Christ Superstar." He more recently has been a disc jockey on England's Gloucester Radio.
The CD:
An 8-page CD booklet featuring three photos. It does not include the lyrics or a discography, but the liner notes are informative.
The album has 20 tracks:
"Just Like A Woman," "I Wanna Be Rich," "Trouble And Tea," "Box Office Draw," "Each Other's Company," "Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James," "Each And Every Day," "Ha! Ha! Said The Clown," "So Long, Dad" and "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)."
Also, "It's So Easy Falling," "No Better, No Worse," "Everyday Another Hair Turns Grey," "Cubist Town," "Up The Junction," "Sing Songs Of Love," "My Name Is Jack," "Fox On The Run," "Ragamuffin Man" and "Funniest Gig."
On the web:
Official Manfred Mann's Earth Band site: http://www.manfredmann.co.uk/
Official Manfred Mann Fan Club site: http://www.platform-end.co.uk/fan.html
An unofficial Mike D'Abo website: http://home.wxs.nl/~hamerpag/dabo
Official Klaus Voorman site (played bass with the band and was the Grammy-winning artist for The Beatles' "Revolver" album cover): http://www.voormann.com/start/index.shtml
My review of the so-called "Chapter One lineup" and their CD, "The Best Of Manfred Mann - The Definitive Collection," which includes their # 1 hit, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy": http://www.epinions.com/content_63696440964
Capitol/EMI's 20-track 24-bit digitally remastered CD "Greatest" by Raspberries (the original lineup --- Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti --- who sang the million-seller "Go All The Way" reunited in 2004-2005) was released in May of 2005 in the U. S. and Europe. It features all 7 of Raspberries Hot 100 singles, has 20 tracks and runs 78:53 minutes: http://www.epinions.com/content_186044681860
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