The Complete Greatest Hits

In the history of rock groups, it's generally agreed that Beatles and Stones are first tier, and The Who and Kinks are second tier. After that the field opens up - bands like The Hollies and Yardbirds come into play. My personal third tier favorites are Manfred Mann and Small Faces. They compare well, and both had interesting later incarnations as Earth Band and Faces.Keyboardist Manfred Mann formed South Africa's first rock group The Vikings in 1959 prior to moving to England in 1961. Following a couple years of gigging around with his drummer friend Mike Hugg in a blues band, they were signed to a record contract in 1963. At the label's request the group was collectively christened Manfred Mann, a move he objected to, but proved a smart marketing decision. From '64 to '69 they had many hits, especially in England. These years comprise the first 2 phases. From '62 to '66 they were fronted by one of the greatest voices of the British Invasion, Paul Jones. Then Mike d'Abo from '66 to '69, when they disbanded.On this 2-CD collection "The Complete Greatest Hits Of Manfred Mann 1963-2003", the Jones period is represented by the first 8 tracks, up to and including "Pretty Flamingo". The d'Abo years begin with track 9 "Just Like A Woman", and continue through the end of Disc One with "Miss Me In The Morning". Apart from the two singers, these eras feature wildly different material. As much as I love Jones' voice, the songs chosen during his time were offerings by professional songwriters like Ellie Greenwich/Jeff Barry and Carole King/Gerry Goffin. The band only wrote sporadically, which is probably why they aren't remembered as much as their contemporaries. By and large they exhibited a rare gift for taking a song, giving it an innovative arrangement, and elevating it to something approaching greatness. But other than the fantastic worldwide hit "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Pretty Flamingo" and a few more, some of the choices are weak. Manfred Mann had chops and could play better than most, having been influenced by jazz. As a keyboard-based band they could swing, but occasionally lacked the punch of guitar-emphasis groups.That changed somewhat during the d'Abo era. Noting the increasing popularity of guitar, they resolved to feature it more prominently. Tom McGuinness stepped to the fore with his highly distinctive National Steel guitar playing. Paired with their discovery of the songs of Bob Dylan, the Manfreds brought a commercial sound to the counter-culture. Another worldwide hit ensued with their cover of Dylan's "Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)". McGuinness would go on to later success with Hughie Flint in the band McGuinness Flint. I adore the songs and sound of this period, as well as d'Abo's vocals. An extra plus is d'Abo was a good songwriter, though they continued frequently using outside writers. We get 10 of the best from him here, but you may want to consider expanding on this era by additionally purchasing the MM compilation "Chapter Two: The Best Of The Fontana Years".Phase 3 is under-heard and not represented. By the end of '69, Mann (the man) felt they had become formulaic and by-the-numbers, so they broke up. He began anew with Chapter Three, a rock/jazz fusion outfit, releasing two albums, and shelving a third. They are indistinguishable airy mid-tempo songs wispily sung by Mike Hugg, many with an intrusive horn section. Mann himself has proclaimed it an "over-reaction" to having been a hit-making machine. He said they went too far in the other direction, and trust him, you're not missing anything good.Which brings us to their magnificent phase 4: Manfred Mann's Earth Band, formed in 1971 and fronted by new singer/guitarist Mick Rogers. All 18 songs on Disc Two of this comp are Earth Band tracks, as they became a Pink Floyd-ish album-oriented act for the first time - though their extended compositions and covers were more rooted and topical than Floyd, addressing earthy subjects like conservation (and later, social justice). However, you'll need to buy the original studio albums to hear the full-length versions, as what's found here are all singles-edits. Previously they had always had hit singles, but little album success. After a point their albums didn't even chart. So this was a complete turn-around for them, and garnered much-deserved international acclaim, big album sales, and grand tours. As before, they mostly take other people's songs, re-arrange, add synthesizer, and make them spectacular.Chris Thompson joined as lead singer in 1975 and fronted their most popular American period until 1986. Following a 10 year absence he re-emerged in '96 and stayed till '04. After leaving in '75, Mick Rogers rejoined in 1983 and remains to this day. Noel McCalla became lead vocalist from '91 to '09, when he was briefly replaced by Peter Cox. It's been Robert Hart since 2011. The band still performs now and then throughout Europe, where they've always been much bigger. This year marks Mann's 60th year of recording - an incredible feat for him.To some extent, their 3 commercially successful eras are all remembered by just one song in the United States. For most people that's "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Mighty Quinn", and Earth Band's version of Bruce Springsteen's "Blinded By The Light". As time goes on, it's increasingly boiling down to just that last song. Which is a shame, because there's much more to enjoy. (As an aside, if you haven't seen the new Springsteen-themed movie "Blinded By The Light", try to catch it. It's wonderful.)There's so many great albums by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. My favorites are "The Roaring Silence" and "Angel Station", but they are all good and worth hearing. So is this excellent compilation.

This was a good CD.

This is great music, love Manfred Mann's Earth Band. However, the liner notes are unreadable unless you know German. At least I think it's German, I know it's not English. Please don't get me wrong, I am happy to have all the tunes but it would be nice to know what the liner notes said. If that's not a deal breaker for you, I highly recommend this CD!

Worth a look . . . er. . . LISTEN.IF you're a fan, you'll find all you WANT here, and a few extra old-gold nuggets!

what a great band and a great cd have always liked there music and they r a great band as well !!! and well worth it t u Peter Vasky

I'd been looking for several of these songs for a long time; For You in particular is difficult to find. Manfred often out-performs the original artist!

36 hits from Manfred mann's earth band. songs like mighty quinn, do wah diddy diddy, fox on the run and many others. a must have for anyones collection.

I thought that surely any band who played "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirits in the Night" must have a lot of great songs. Boy was I wrong! I hate most of the other songs other than "Do Wah Diddy Diddy."

Tout est bien

This CD is AMAZING!!! The one song I wanted though is on this album and it said that it only appears on this one album. The song is called 'The Runner'. This song was on the album that I bought when it came out back in the early 80's, I think I was in grade eleven, or maybe grade twelve, at the time. That was a totally amazing song!!!! I don't know how long they had this album out BUT I never really thought of looking. I bought the other greatest hits CD a while back, but the song wasn't on there. I bought this album only because they said that the song was only on that CD set, so I didn't hesitate and I'm very glad I didn't! All the music is great on the CD's and it covers the entire span of time that they were doing their thing, but this song makes my whole collection of Manfred Mann, the two greatest hits packages, complete! If you really liked this song...…get it. Simple.....get it! See ya!

Wer die alten Songs gerne hört, ist hier bestens aufgehoben

Era come lo volevo!!

Fantastic, all I wanted.