Manfred Mann - "Soul of Mann (Instrumentals)" Vinyl, LP, Compilation, Reissue (Umbrella)

This past year I have been going through an ongoing appreciation for the band Manfred Mann.  Both Paul Jones and Mike D'Abo years.  During the Paul Jones era and in between the two lead singers, the band recorded a series of instrumentals as b-sides and album cuts.  What I find fascinating about the group is that they are jazz players playing pop as well as blues or rhythm n' blues, but I get their very essence is jazz.   Manfred Mann recorded pop music, but it is the tension between the commercial music and their jazz leanings, which gives them an intensity.

"Soul of Mann" is a fantastic compilation of their instrumentals, which are mostly based on pop songs.  Done with excellent jazz arrangements, as well as some originals and their take on jazz artists/composers as Milt Jackson and Nat Adderley.   The album is very "Mod" orientated, and the cool here is essential.   The album fits very much into Milt Jackson world as well as the Mod planet of The Who, The Small Faces, and Graham Bond Organization.  

Swans Way - "Soul Train" b/w "Summertime" & "Gloomy Sunday" 12" 45rpm Vinyl, 1983 (Exit International Records)

It's a bit of mystery how I came upon this 12 single in 1983.  I don't believe it was a hit in the UK, nor in the States.  I was working at a record store that year, so I suspect that it came upon the turntable in a mysterious fashion.  "Soul Train" is your typical 1980's British white guy soul, but, I think a brilliant song/recording.  Swans Way (named after Marcel Proust) is a trio that consists of singer/guitarist Robert Shaw, Rick P. Jones on stand-up bass, and percussionist Maggie De Monde, and that is all I know of this band.  "Soul Train" is full of images of despair.  "I don't wanna walk in the rain," or "I tried and tried' mixed with  "I'm tired, I'm tired" and "I know I know" The strings match the rhythm of a train getting started, and it's going somewhere not nice.  "It's Midnight, it's midnight."  And "I'm almost there."  This is a song that is very reflective, and the mood is dark.  Suicide is on this young man's mind.  It's an excellent record.  It should have been a huge hit here in the States as well as in the rest of the world. 

The b-side is two live recordings of classic songs.  "Summertime" and "Gloomy  Sunday."  What's interesting is their instrumentation which is very minimal and allows Shaw's vocals plenty of room to roam, but not far away from the subject matter of the songs.   They added a horn section for "Summertime," and I presume that when they did play live, it was just the three of them. I think I like the minimal sound of Swans Way, because it really focuses on the song, and with this EP as an example, they have excellent taste.  They did release a full album but never heard it. Come back Swans Way! 

Manfred Mann - "Instrumental Assassination" (Fontana) vinyl 7", 45 rpm, EP 1966

This 45 rpm EP can be seen either as a goof, or an exploration from Manfred Mann (the band) into the shadowy world of jazz, pop and arrangement.   Recorded in 1966, Manfred Mann was between lead singers when they recorded this fantastic music.   Although it is an instrumental release, there are 'vocals' on it - not clear whose voice it is, but it could be Mann (organ and piano) or Mike Hugg (drums and vibraphone).   Mann/Hugg stand out, but also the double bass playing by Dave Richmond is incredible throughout and is very much the instrument that really hooks the listener to the grooves. Beatle friend Klaus Voormann contributed recorder as well.

Manfred Mann, the band, does mostly covers or use material from other songwriters.  They have written songs, but I think their genius is in the arrangements.  Their original singer Paul Jones is one of the great British vocalists from that era, so it must have been an odd moment for them to be without a vocalist and an iconic on top of that.  Here without Jones, they cover the great RnB song "Sonny," as well as two Troggs tunes.   Their arrangement of "Sonny" I think is better than the original recording.  That I know is something that I can be shot on the spot for, but the way they play with the melody and the instrumentation is a perfect mood cocktail.  There are touches of The Modern Jazz Quartet, especially on the Mod side of the street.  I have been looking for this EP for awhile now, and I found it at HMV in Tokyo.  A great find and an amazing EP.