Manfred Mann - Mann Made

Mann Made is Manfred Mann proving there was serious musicianship behind the run of hit singles, cut at Abbey Road in 1965 and now remastered with sleeve notes from Tom McGuinness himself.

By late 1965 the band had already delivered 5-4-3-2-1, Do Wah Diddy Diddy, and If You Gotta Go, Go Now, enough chart success that a lesser group might have coasted on it. This second album does the opposite, produced by John Burgess and engineered by Norman Hurricane Smith, and it leans hard into the jazz and R&B instincts the singles only hinted at, Mike Vickers moving between sax and flute, Mike Hugg on vibraphone as much as drums, Manfred Mann's keyboard work pushing the arrangements somewhere more sophisticated than the Top of the Pops era usually allowed.

The Way You Do the Things You Do takes a Temptations song and gives it a genuinely soulful reading, Paul Jones' vocal and harmonica doing real work. Bare Hugg is a pure instrumental showcase, and their cover of You Don't Know Me strips things back to something more restrained and tender than the band's reputation for energy suggests. Stormy Monday Blues closes with the group's jazz leanings fully on display.

Sixty years on, this is the record that argues Manfred Mann were never just a singles band. The evidence holds up.

Tracklist

1. Since I Don't Have You
2. You're for Me
3. Look Away
4. The Abominable Snowmann
5. Watch Your Step
6. Stormy Monday Blues
7. I Really Do Believe
8. Hi Lili, Hi Lo
9. The Way You Do the Things You Do
10. Bare Hugg
11. You Don't Know Me
12. L.s.d.
13. I'll Make It Up to You