Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 8.5/10
We cannot but help but make comparisons, it is a natural urge to contrast the differences in style between one person and the next, it is perhaps a gauge in which we feel entitled to do so, from our prospective partners, to films and their re-imaginations, through to artistic works and into the realm of music.
You can quite often get away with the replacement of a particular musician from a band without causing too much of a ripple in the conversations of the fans, but somehow the same cannot be said when it comes to the lead vocals, the sound may just be as thrilling, but the voice is what carries the message and for many groups it can be the moment in which fortunes change, and not always for the better.
To replace Paul Jones as the voice of Manfred Mann at the very height of the group’s soaring rise was perhaps met with caution, the band had stayed contextually the same despite several members leaving for other projects over the previous years, notably at the time Jack Bruce who came and went as the music progressed and found a home along with Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton in Cream, short but absolutely sweet lived, a mirroring maybe of the way that Manfred Mann were also coming to their own turning point as the 60s drew to an end.
Comparisons are inevitable between Mike D’Abo and Paul Jones and yet they both strike a chord with memory, and there can be no doubting that they brought something beautiful to the period, a lasting piece of art which has been collected from various archives and alongside interviews and radio studio recordings makes Manfred Mann Radio Days Vol 2: The Mike D’Abo Era just as intriguing, just as complete as anything the fan and the intrepid musical explorer could wish for.
Like the album’s predecessor, the album is put together from moments from the radio programme Top of the Pops, not to be confused with the television programme of the same name but one placed in the trust of the expertly handled Brian Matthews, a recipe of passion that was always engaging, especially when Manfred Mann were in the studio.
If comparisons have to be made then it is the format of the music which book- ended the decade, gone were the Blues drive highlighted by Paul Jones, and with Mike D’Abo as the voice of the group, and indeed the arranger of some of their most memorable hits during this period, a more relaxed pop influence came to bear fruit, one that was not afraid to embrace the fringes of the psychedelic era that was flourishing as attitudes amongst certain members of society evolved and changed.
The pressure to succeed would not have been down played, there was arguably too much too lose, and yet with a mind-set that would continue as the group themselves evolved, tracks such as Just Like A Woman, Ha! Ha! Said The Clown, I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man, Randy Newman’s So Long Dad, the incredible Mighty Quinn, Handbags And Gladrags, My Name Is Jack, the superb covers of Fever and Abraham, Martin & John, Ragamuffin Man and Clair all convey a sense of posterity which even amongst their own set of fellow musicians at the time, is honest, contrasting and almost with a sense of purity which many amongst their peers could not emulate.
A sincere reflection of a time in which would have been hard to match, to come out the other side of loss and still maintain incredibly high standards is to be admired and one that in Manfred Mann Radio Days Vol 2: The Mike D’Abo Era is simply beautiful.
Manfred Mann Radio Days Vol 2: The Mike D’Abo Era is released via Umbrella Music on Friday May 10th.
Ian D. Hall