Radio Days Vol 2 – Manfred Mann – The Mike D’Abo era

The second volume of Manfred Mann’s BBC recordings, “Radio Days – The Mike d’Abo Era”, covers the band’s Fontana label hitmaking from 1966-1969. The band lineup on this release includes Manfred Mann (keyboards), Mike d’Abo (vocals/piano), Mike Hugg (drums/vibes/piano), Tom McGuinness (guitar), and Klaus Voormann (bass). Highly regarded BBC host Brian Matthew expertly follows the band’s development through their increasingly complex pop confections while keeping their sense of humour intact. For such a rapidly changing music environment, Manfred Mann’s BBC radio appearances with Brian Matthew and other influential hosts such as John Peel, David Symonds and Tony Brandon, would prove to be essential to the success of their singles. Volume two spotlights the “Saturday Club,” “Easy Beat” and “Top Gear” sessions aired on the BBC’s “Top Of The Pops” transcription series hosted by Brian Matthew, and some extremely rare off-air recordings have also been included. The changing landscape of 1960s music led the various members of Manfred Mann to record production, songwriting, recording of film scores, commercial jingles and also artist management – all the while continuing to create band recordings. Many of these pursuits are documented in Brian Matthew’s incisive interviews. With one exception (“Mighty Quinn”), none of these BBC tracks have been released commercially before. The Radio Days series is being released under the “Artist Approved” banner, newly remastered and issued with the full approval of the featured artists.  2xCD set. 3xLP set.