Customer Reviews

The Singles Album

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The track listing Amazon has for this seems to be wrong, or perhaps outdated. When I received this album, it was obvious this was quite different from what I expected... for example, "The Mighty Quinn" isn't even on here. Most of the other tracks mentioned here are on this album, but not in the exact order specified... and it's only 20 tracks. I'm not sure how they ended up with such inaccurate info on here.

The good news is that if you're looking for a good sampling of Manfred Mann's early stuff, this album is still a good choice... but if you're looking for "The Mighty Quinn," which is why I wanted it--I already had a different Manfred Mann collection, also lacking this song--you're out of luck.

Here's the *real* track listing:
1. Do Wah Diddy Diddy
2. Hi Lili Hi Lo
3. I Put A Spell On You
4. 5-4-3-2-1
5. Come Tommorrow
6. Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble
7. If You Gotta Go-Go Now
8. You Gave me Somebody to Love
9. Oh No Not My Baby
10. Pretty Flamingo
11. Sha La La
12. The Way You Do The Things You Do
13. Stormy Monday Blues
14. Got My Mojo Working
15. Smokestack Lightning
16. Don't Ask Me What To Say
17. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man
18. Poison Ivy
19. My Little Red Book
20. There's No Living Without Your Loving

Excelente recopilación de canciones de la primera etapa del grupo, con covers tipicas del blues.

For a band that changed it musical style almost as often as its personnel, the output of Manfred Mann was surprisingly good across the various genre in which the band played. Beginning with the archtypical beat sound - right down to use of a Brill Building writing team for their first US hit - and then transmogrifying into a jazzy tempo, the group seems a heck of a lot better in retrospect than some of its fellow-travellers in the second wave of the British Invasion (when was the last time you tried listening to Freddie and the Dreamers?).

This splendid little album takes the very shrewd and erudite approach to chronicling the Manns by cutting its history before the band's hibernation and subsequent rebirth as Manfred Mann's Earth band.

You get it all here! The marvelous sitting-out-on-the-stoop emotional rocket launching of 'Doo Wah Diddy Diddy;" an intriguing little cover of 'My Little Red Book;' the more mature yet still emotive feelings elicted by 'Pretty Flamingo' and 'Semi-detached Suburban Mr. James, a somewhat toned down - but still bitter, nonetheless - lift of the thrust of 'Like a Rolling Stone.'

There is also pretty good version of Dylan's 'Just Like a Woman," which should not be taken as criticism, but rather a complement on the band's musical prowess...and, well, there is also 'The Mighty Quinn," isn't there? The band clearly shows its ability to interpret material.

All in all, a great album that can be listened to repeatedly for a really good time.