Features Manfred Mann stalwarts Paul Jones, Mike D’Abo (2nd vocalist who led them thru MM’s more pop-styled tunes), Tom Guinness (guitar), Mike Hugg (keyboard) plus backup musicians.
You can see the 2 disc track listing attached. 2 songs sung by McGuinness (Flint). Jones’ last songs with group were “Pretty Flamingo” ( a no. 1 hit in the UK).and Dylan’s “If You Gotta Go, Go Now”.
Enjoyed the jazzy and R & B overall. Good show in a small club. Didn’t know D’Abo wrote The Foundations’ hit “Build me Up Buttercup”. He and Jones get along fine (they’d been together since ’91 when this show was recorded.)
Jones does “One in the Middle”, “Sha La La”, Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man”, “Oh No Not My Baby”, “Pretty Flamingo”, “5-4-3-2-1”, the ballad “Come Tomorrow”, their first hit “Do Wah Diddy”, “If You Gotta Go, Go Now”, and a speeded up version of the classic “I’m Your Kingpin”.
There are interviews recalling the band’s history up to its breakup in ’69 when Mann & Vickers went jazzier and MM broke up as a group.
The variety is interesting. Jones’ harmonica and the sax/flute player duplicate the vintage Manfred ‘winds sound’.
The Manfreds do 3 tunes by Bob Dylan; they helped to popularize his work in the UK.
No, no one else did songs like these. The Manfreds remain a unique band 40 years later. Recommended for anyone interested in Manfred Mann and their brand of unconventional sixties pop music.