The Fanny Trilogy (1931 1936) [3 Dvd9s & 1 Dvd5]

The Manfreds – which is to say, the reunited Manfred lineup sans Manfred Mann himself – have been performing to enthusiastic audiences in Europe since the 1990s, and 5-4-3-2-1 is a studio document of their sound, which is very close to their original sound, only a bit slicker. Paul Jones and Mike d'Abo split the vocal chores between them, each picking up his own repertory, and Mike Vickers, Mike Hugg, and Tom McGuinness from the original band are here, with Benny Gallagher (bass, guitar, vocals) and Rob Townsend (drums) filling out the line-up. D'Abo's "Handbags and Gladrags" is also represented, but, surprisingly, not Jones' "High Time." The sound is excellent and the group does try to add some modern inflections to some of the songs, but one suspects that they were more of an improvisatory group than this back in their prime years./quote]