THE SOUND of the Sixties is, for many of us, the soundtrack to our lives. The songs created by pioneering pop bands have stuck around, used not just on gold radio stations, but on adverts, film soundtracks and in plays.
For 80s children, 5-4-3-2-1 means a chocolate bar. For 90s children, 1-2-3-4-5 is The Spice Girls riffing for the launch of Channel 5. And for 60s children, well, it’s the sound of Ready Steady Go, one of those early pop music shows, from the days when pirates ruled the airwaves.
It’s the work of Manfred Mann, one of many hits including Pretty Flamingo, Mighty Quinn and Do Wah Diddy. All of which have had proven staying power.
The band formed in 1962, and they enjoyed three number one hits in the UK, plus another 13 Top 10 entries. Like The Beatles and The Animals, the band led the British invasion of America and had a great decade.
But they disbanded, not reforming until 1991, for the 50th birthday of bandmate Tom McGuiness. And it is this incarnation that has carried on performing.
One of the leading lights is Paul Jones, who has enjoyed success away from the band as an actor, singer and host – for many years a regular on Radio 2 with a blues show.
Next month, the band will be back at The Hexagon for their Maximum Rhythm n’ Blues show, with special guest Georgie Fame, who had three number ones of his own: Yeh Yeh, Get Away and The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde.
It’s sure to be a great night of music.
Paul said: “Not only is it exciting to think that The Manfreds might actually be able to play together on tour again at last; that the great Georgie Fame will be back with us as well; that our friends and fans, starved of live music from us for so long, will refresh their memories with the real thing once more; but also that these loved, cherished and much-missed venues – and the people who work in and look after them – will once again host us and make us welcome.”
He admits that he had carried on doing the occasional gigs over the past year, as covid circumstances permit, including a few warm-up dates.
“Touring is much more intense, I’m really looking forward to it,” he says. “I’m trying to organise myself, so I don’t wear myself out.
“There’s a massive adrenaline boost when you think, oh my goodness, we’re on in five minutes. Having Georgie Fame with us is a big plus and a big excitement. It’s something to look forward to very enthusiastically.”
With gold stations playing Manfred hits very regularly, surely there’s no need to see the band live?
“There’s a really, really quite considerable difference,” Paul says. “Just sitting there, or standing there, close to the actual people who were creating the stuff you’re listening to, it’s a whole different thing.
“I love listening to people’s records because they’re great, they’ve been carefully produced, mixed and mastered. That’s the advantage of recording, getting it perfect, get the right sort of sheen on it that you want. That’s really just to compensate you for not having the people there in front of you. Nothing replaces having that close feeling. It’s something you can’t replicate.”
And it’s a two-way street. Paul says the audiences in the front rows get some eye contact as he sings, and that helps the performances. And he’s learning that he doesn’t have to sing everything. Well, not any more…
“I remember Gerry Marsden saying to the Manfreds, ‘You guys work too hard’. I said, ‘What do you mean? We played the music.’ ‘Yes, he said and you sing it as well’.”
Paul says Gerry encouraged him to sing the first line “and leave the audience to do the rest”. He smiles.
When Paul started in music, he was riding the crest of a wave as Britain shook off the post-war period and discovered its original Cool Britannia. Did he know he was going to be a musician for life?
“Yes,” he says. “I always thought it was a lifelong career. My early role models were bluesmen and some of them went on working until they’re in their 90s. So I always thought it was forever.”
That’s something that’s to our favour.
The Manfreds have just released 5-4-3-2-1: The Greatest Hits, featuring 20 songs and everyone a winner. Tracks include Just Like A Woman, My Name Is Hack, Fox On the Run and Sweet Pea, among others.
The band are looking forward to returning to The Hexagon next month, “a lovely venue to play”, and he’s been to see other acts perform here too. That’s a vote of confidence for Reading’s favourite six-sided venue.
And the show itself? “The music is fantastic,” he promises. “When you consider how many hits there are between The Manfreds, all the individual Manfreds, Georgie Fame’s hits, we actually cannot get everything into the evening, but we’ll do our very, very best.
“It’s an amazing collection of stuff.”
He adds: “We also permit ourselves to go out on a limb and do things that we haven’t even recorded, or recorded rather obscurely. We just decide that, hey, we’ve never done that, let’s do it. So there will be stuff you’ve never heard us do.
“So, hey, it’s worth it. It’s worth the money, worth the ticket.”
n Maximum Rhythm N’ Blues will be at The Hexagon, Reading on Saturday, November 6. Tickets cost £31.50 or £33.50. For more details, contact the box office on 0118 960 6060 or log on to www.whatsonreading.com
n The band are also at the Wycombe Swan on Wednesday, November 17.
