Mighty Garvey!
Encyclopedia
Mighty Garvey! is an album released in 1968
by Manfred Mann
. It was the second and last recorded by the band (not including compilations and the soundtrack album to the film Up The Junction
) after the change of direction and personnel of the previous As Is
. It continued a transition away from jazz and blues and towards self-composed art-pop. Despite including two UK 'Top 5' hit singles (Bob Dylan
's "Mighty Quinn" and Tony Hazzard
's "Ha! Ha! Said The Clown"), the album did not chart and the band split up the year after.
", even though the group's first hits had been self-composed, at least one example of drummer Mike Hugg
's new-found productivity had been seen as potentially chart-worthy and singer Mike d'Abo
was able to provide other artists with hits such as "Build Me Up Buttercup
" and "Handbags and Gladrags
". The resultant pop image did not encourage album sales to "serious" listeners, particularly when trends were turning from baroque pop
to hard rock. So, like contemporary releases by The Kinks
and The Zombies
, Mighty Garvey became a record esteemed more in retrospect than at the time. It was later re-issued in 2003, with bonus tracks.
The group's commercial compromises also led to "self-knocking", and its recordings developed an ironic distance that on Mighty Garvey sometimes invites comparison with The Kinks
, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
, Frank Zappa
or The Bonzo Dog Band. Even on Hugg's intricate and sentimental "Harry the One Man Band" the vocal track finally dissolves into schoolboy mirth and silly noises. The three different versions of d'Abo's song "Happy Families", credited as; (Track 1) Performed by Eddie 'Fingers' Garvey, (Track 6) Performed by Ed Garvey and The Trio and (Track 14) Performed by Edwin O'Garvey and His Showband, are outright parodies of "the pompous big rock band style, the sleazy lounge jazz style, and then the semi-drunk family entertainment "country-shape Christmas" style" that appropriate and poke fun at the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band concept ("Edwin Garvey" being an invented character introduced on the similarly flippant flip side of "Mighty Quinn").
These three parodies and two hit singles take up over a third of a relatively short L.P. and of the remainder, d'Abo's "Country Dancing" and "The Vicar's Daughter" are likewise somewhat arch, besides strengthening an impression of "chameleonism" and lack of sincere direction. "Big Betty" is also non-original, a treatment of Huddie Ledbetter's song "Black Betty
" in a manner reminiscent of The Spencer Davis Group's hits, providing the only real point of contact with the band's rhythm and blues
past. Yet this still leaves a core of worthwhile, intelligent and melodic songs, also by Hugg and d'Abo apart from "Cubist Town", written by guitarist Tom McGuinness in a one-off collaboration. The group made full use of the new possibilities of multi-tracking, overlaying complex and inventive textures of flutes, keyboards and vibraphones, while the group's backing vocals, originally limited to a tribal unison, began to take on an almost Pet Sounds
complexity.
Side two
with
1968 in music
-Events:*January 4 – Guitarist Jimi Hendrix is jailed by Stockholm police, after trashing a hotel room during a drunken fist fight with bassist Noel Redding.*January 6 – Gibson Guitar Corporation patents its Gibson Flying V electric guitar design....
by Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
. It was the second and last recorded by the band (not including compilations and the soundtrack album to the film Up The Junction
Up the Junction (soundtrack)
Up the Junction is an album by Manfred Mann of Mann and Hugg's soundtrack to the film Up the Junction, based on the novel of the same name by Nell Dunn...
) after the change of direction and personnel of the previous As Is
As Is (album)
As Is is a 1966 pop music album by Manfred Mann. It was their fourth overall but their first for Fontana Records and their first to feature new members Mike d'Abo and Klaus Voorman. It was produced by Shel Talmy and released in the U.K...
. It continued a transition away from jazz and blues and towards self-composed art-pop. Despite including two UK 'Top 5' hit singles (Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Mighty Quinn" and Tony Hazzard
Tony Hazzard
Tony Hazzard is an English singer and songwriter. He has written songs for The Hollies , Manfred Mann , "Me, The Peaceful Heart" for Lulu, The Yardbirds , Herman's Hermits , Peter Noone Tony Hazzard (born Anthony Hazzard, 31 October 1943, Liverpool) is an English singer and songwriter. He has...
's "Ha! Ha! Said The Clown"), the album did not chart and the band split up the year after.
Overview
The group's continued pop success with material by established songwriters such as Dylan and Hazzard made its handlers averse to the risk of releasing self-written singles, a state of affairs that had prevailed ever since the success of "Do Wah Diddy DiddyDo Wah Diddy Diddy
"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963 by the American vocal group The Exciters.It was soon covered by British R&B, Beat and pop band Manfred Mann...
", even though the group's first hits had been self-composed, at least one example of drummer Mike Hugg
Mike Hugg
Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
's new-found productivity had been seen as potentially chart-worthy and singer Mike d'Abo
Mike d'Abo
Michael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
was able to provide other artists with hits such as "Build Me Up Buttercup
Build Me Up Buttercup
"Build Me Up Buttercup" is the name of a song written by Mike d'Abo and Tony Macaulay, and released by The Foundations with Colin Young singing the lead vocals in 1968. This was the third major hit for The Foundations. Colin Young replaced Clem Curtis in 1968 and this was the first Foundations hit...
" and "Handbags and Gladrags
Handbags and Gladrags
"Handbags and Gladrags" is the name of a song written in 1967 by Mike d'Abo, who was then the lead singer of Manfred Mann. D'Abo describes the song as "saying to a teenage girl that the way to happiness is not through being trendy. There are deeper values."The original demo tape of the original...
". The resultant pop image did not encourage album sales to "serious" listeners, particularly when trends were turning from baroque pop
Baroque pop
Baroque pop, Baroque rock, or English baroque, often used interchangeably with chamber pop/rock, is a pop and rock music subgenre which originated in the mid-1960s in the United Kingdom and United States...
to hard rock. So, like contemporary releases by The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
and The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
, Mighty Garvey became a record esteemed more in retrospect than at the time. It was later re-issued in 2003, with bonus tracks.
The group's commercial compromises also led to "self-knocking", and its recordings developed an ironic distance that on Mighty Garvey sometimes invites comparison with The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich , were a British pop/rock group of the 1960s. Two of their single releases sold in excess of one million copies each, and they reached Number One in the UK with the second of them, "The Legend of Xanadu".-Biography:Five friends from Wiltshire, David John Harman,...
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
or The Bonzo Dog Band. Even on Hugg's intricate and sentimental "Harry the One Man Band" the vocal track finally dissolves into schoolboy mirth and silly noises. The three different versions of d'Abo's song "Happy Families", credited as; (Track 1) Performed by Eddie 'Fingers' Garvey, (Track 6) Performed by Ed Garvey and The Trio and (Track 14) Performed by Edwin O'Garvey and His Showband, are outright parodies of "the pompous big rock band style, the sleazy lounge jazz style, and then the semi-drunk family entertainment "country-shape Christmas" style" that appropriate and poke fun at the Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band concept ("Edwin Garvey" being an invented character introduced on the similarly flippant flip side of "Mighty Quinn").
These three parodies and two hit singles take up over a third of a relatively short L.P. and of the remainder, d'Abo's "Country Dancing" and "The Vicar's Daughter" are likewise somewhat arch, besides strengthening an impression of "chameleonism" and lack of sincere direction. "Big Betty" is also non-original, a treatment of Huddie Ledbetter's song "Black Betty
Black Betty
"Black Betty" is a 20th century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material; in this case an 18th century marching...
" in a manner reminiscent of The Spencer Davis Group's hits, providing the only real point of contact with the band's rhythm and blues
British rhythm and blues
British rhythm and blues developed as a major musical movement in the early 1960s in London and other urban centres in the UK as predominately young white male musicians attempted to emulate the style and recordings of African American rhythm and blues artists...
past. Yet this still leaves a core of worthwhile, intelligent and melodic songs, also by Hugg and d'Abo apart from "Cubist Town", written by guitarist Tom McGuinness in a one-off collaboration. The group made full use of the new possibilities of multi-tracking, overlaying complex and inventive textures of flutes, keyboards and vibraphones, while the group's backing vocals, originally limited to a tribal unison, began to take on an almost Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as "Wouldn't...
complexity.
Track listing
Side one- "Happy Families" – 2:18 (Mike D'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "No Better, No Worse" – 3:02 (Mike D'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Every Day Another Hair Turns Grey" – 2:54 (Mike HuggMike HuggMike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Country Dancing" – 2:53 (Mike D'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "It's So Easy Falling" – 3:20 (Mike HuggMike HuggMike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Happy Families" – 2:09 (Mike D'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Mighty QuinnQuinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)"Quinn the Eskimo " is a folk-rock song written by Bob Dylan and first recorded during The Basement Tapes sessions in 1967. The song was first released in January 1968 as "Mighty Quinn" by the British band Manfred Mann and became a great success...
" – 2:52 (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
)
Side two
- "Big Betty" – 3:06 (Huddie Ledbetter)
- "The Vicar's Daughter" – 2:18 (Mike D'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Each and Every Day" – 2:47 (Mike HuggMike HuggMike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Cubist Town" – 3:21 (Tom McGuinness)
- "Ha! Ha! Said the Clown" – 2:27 (Tony HazzardTony HazzardTony Hazzard is an English singer and songwriter. He has written songs for The Hollies , Manfred Mann , "Me, The Peaceful Heart" for Lulu, The Yardbirds , Herman's Hermits , Peter Noone Tony Hazzard (born Anthony Hazzard, 31 October 1943, Liverpool) is an English singer and songwriter. He has...
) - "Harry the One-Man Band" – 3:11 (Mike HuggMike HuggMike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
) - "Happy Families" – 2:16 (Mike D'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
)
Personnel
- Mike HuggMike HuggMike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
and percussion - Manfred MannManfred Mann (musician)Manfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...
– keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Mike d'AboMike d'AboMichael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
– vocals - Klaus Voorman – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, woodwind - Tom McGuinness – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
with
- Derek WadsworthDerek WadsworthDerek Wadsworth was a British jazz trombonist, session musician, composer and arranger....
– tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...