Reviewing the show of August 26th 2009

It has been said that, through evolution, man has grown to be far superior to the animals. Not wanting to take that for granted, I set about to research that in the best way I know. I am no anthropologist, but I have developed a certain taste for music, particularly of the English R&B variety. I therefore set up the challenge of comparing two of my favorite sixties groups to shed some light on the subject: Manfred Mann versus The Animals.

In 1967, a friend turned me on to the first Manfred Mann album (released November 1964) which, in spite of its namesake tune Doo Wah Diddy Diddy, was one of the best straight up Blues albums I had heard by any British band. With covers of tunes done originally by Blues giants the like of Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Amos Milburn and Bo Diddley, plus one each by Ike & Tina Turner and jazzman Nat Adderly in combination with four lesser known compositions, it just dripped of the Blues once you got past the first (title) track. There wasn't a single song that didn't segue smoothly from the previous one to create a seamless masterpiece. No other version of Hoochie Coochie Man sounds right to my ear, perhaps because it might have been the first version I'd heard. Likewise, their studio version of Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightning holds up well against the live version by the Yardbirds (featuring Eric Clapton) that appeared on American vinyl on the live side of the 1966 album Having a Rave Up, Jeff Beck having replaced Clapton by the time they cut the studio side. Speaking of the Yardbirds, one song I didn't have time to fit in was the narcissistic-sounding The One in the Middle, until one realizes it was written with the intent of being sung by Kieth Relf as he had done with the Mann-Hugg penned tune Mister You're a Better Man Than I to open the Beck side of Rave Up. Unfortunately, only Doo Wah Diddy Diddy and one other song from the album show up on either of the compilation CDs I have found so you heard lots of scratches from my 40-year-old vinyl. I guess that's how the music distribution industry treats Blues played by a band more known for things like Pretty Flamingo and Quinn the Eskimo. Their next album (The Five Faces of Manfred Mann) was much better represented on the CDs, but it moved away from the Blues and showed the band's preference for Jazz, or at least more of an R&B style. Still lots of good stuff from the CDs and I was able to put together an 80-minute disc with some material left over that I wished I had room for.

I often say that it was John Mayall and Paul Butterfield that turned me on to the real Chicago Blues by checking out the back of the albums and seeking out the guys who wrote the songs but, really, it was groups like the Spencer Davis Group, the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones and especially the Animals that earlier made me realize their tunes that I liked most were usually Blues-oriented. The first Animals set I played consisted of four songs by Ray Charles followed by three of John Lee Hooker's tunes. Their version of Boom Boom was probably what caused me to buy a couple of Hooker's Vee Jay albums, among the earliest of my "authentic" Blues collection. Their breakout on the world music stage was a traditional folk Blues song The House of the Rising Sun, but it also brought about their first defection. As I understand the story, the entire band (drummer John Steel, bassist Chas Chandler, guitarist Hilton Valentine, keyboardist Alan Price and lead singer Eric Burdon) had taken part in the arrangement but only Price's name made it on the credits and when the song hit big and the royalties came gushing in he opted not to share with his bandmates so instead took the money and ran, forming the Alan Price Set, who had another hit with a remake of Screaming Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell on You. In the meantime, he had been with the group long enough for them to put out three excellent albums in the U.S. (The Animals, The Animals on Tour and Animal Tracks) before the group was put under the direction of producer Mickey Most, who had previous success with mush music including Herman's Hermits. With replacement keyboardman Dave Roweberry, they were still able to put out some good stuff but without the homages to their earlier heroes like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, whose material started out the shows last set. Since it was also the last show for me at our Santa Clara studio, I had to make the last tune We Gotta Get Out of This Place. (We cut over to our new San Jose studio at three o'clock the next Monday afternoon.) Other influences on the group as evidenced by their inclusion in their repertoire included Jimmy Reed, Fats Domino, Little Richard, one Bob Dylan tune and even my favorite post-Price tune Gin House Blues was written by Fletcher Henderson. This band is not to be confused with Eric Burdon and the Animals. They just kinda went to hell in my opinion when the lead singer made a wholesale change in personnel and then had to put his name in front of the new band of the same name. Again, I fit an almost full 80-minute disc of Animals music on the air with lots of good stuff left over, particularly stuff that I don't have on CD and therefore is full of scratches. Doing the math? Two almost 80 minute CDs in a three hour show. I guess that means I only yack it up about 20-25 minutes on a show. Not bad.

So. Man or animal? I'll let you decide. Please send your comments.

I will be adding playlists in a seperate blog when I learn more about the way this thing works. I do enough typing as it is so I would like to just copy them from elsewhere on my computer. If there is someone adept at this type of thing, I'd appreciate some tips.

I would also like to recommend a book I have never even seen, but I do have another one by the same author. Greg Russo's Yardbirds: The Ultimate Rave-up not only gives a full narrative history with more information than you could possibly want to know, but also a set of appendices in the back which list individually recording sessions and releases by each of the musicians (including before and after they were Yardbirds) and even a list of concert dates. Also some photos and relevant websites. I have the third edition which was published in 2001 and has a list price on the back of $24. So obviously, there must be a tie-in: his other writings include Mannerisms: The Five Phases of Manfred Mann along with one each about Frank Zappa and Jethro Tull which all list for under $25 and a Zombies Collectors' Guide is set at under $15. All prices I quoted are from my 2001 edition, but for more info you can go to http://www.crossfirepublications.com/. If you are as big a fan of Manfred Mann as I am of the Yardbirds, you should find the money well spent.

One final note: this show aired the day that Teddy Kennedy passed away. If I thought really hard, I might be able to come up with someone who came close to affecting the lives of all Americans of my generation, but that would be too much work for me. Senator Kennedy, so sorry to see you go.