My Little Red Book

The first of a duo of "two-fer" collections of Manfred Mann's earliest work from 1964 and 1965 oddly combines their first and third American albums onto a single disc. Although there aren't any extras added onto these straight 2001 reissues (except for replications of the original cheesy notes), the crisply remastered sound is in pristine stereo. As a cross between the jazzy style of the Zombies, the ragged R&B of Them, and the recycled American blues of the Pretty Things and Yardbirds, Manfred Mann hit a lot of diverse bases. Covering songs from Burt Bacharach, Muddy Waters, Goffin, King, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Bo Diddley, Joe South, and even early Bob Dylan, the band cut a wide musical swath.

Rockstar Records present a twenty-nine song CD album entitled Benny Joy, Little Red Book with recordings from the years 1957 to 1963. There are two recordings which are dually credited to Benny Joy and "Big" John Taylor, and one solo "Big"John Taylor release. Their initial recording from the year 1957 "Hey"… High School Baby! b/w Spin The Bottle were released using only Benny Joy’s name, and they were recorded for the Haines City, Florida based Tri-Dec label. The CD album includes the Dixie version of Spin The Bottle which was the undubbed master leased to Shelby Singleton who added his name to the writing credits.