15/7: Following numerous critically acclaimed tours and due to public demand, Maximum Rhythm N’ Blues is back, once again boasting some of the finest quality talent ever assembled on one stage before.

These artists learned their craft by playing the exciting London club circuit in such famous clubs of the time as ‘The Flamingo’, ‘Klooks Kleeks’, ‘Ricky Ticks’, ‘Eel Pie Island’, and ‘Ronnie Scotts’ and ‘The 101 Club’ creating the birth of British Rhythm N Blues, which rapidly spread across the nation. This new generation of music buyers very soon shot these artists into the charts through hit singles and albums and sold out concerts.

The Maximum Rhythm N’ Blues tour reunites original Manfred members Paul Jones, Mike D’Abo, Tom McGuinness and Mike Hugg. After the successful reunion of The Manfreds in 1991, the band injects all of the enthusiasm back into classics such as Do Wah Diddy Diddy, 5-4-3-2-1 and Mighty Quinn. 

These pioneers of the groundbreaking British Rhythm N’ Blues scene performs a show that features The Manfreds on stage throughout the night introducing all their classic hits and those of their special guests.

Alan Price the quintessential British singer/song writer of the 20^th century has enjoyed a successful career n music, film and theatre spanning over 40 years. Iinitially a member of The Animals, has huge solo hits in the mid-60s with I Put A Spell On You and The House That Jack Built. 

Returning for her second consecutive tour is former Stone the Crows vocalist and winner of the 1971 Melody Maker readers’ poll for Best Female Vocalist Maggie Bell. Maggie was hailed at the time as the British Janis Joplin, her first solo album, Queen of the Night with her unique soulful voice wowed record buyers and critics alike. 

An all star line up with the hits to match!

See Tour Dates page for details.

31/5:  Here's a photo of some of The Manfreds with Klaus Voormann, the band's bass player from 1966-69, at a filming/recording session in London for a forthcoming Klaus DVD. Paul McCartney and Carly Simon have already done their bits for it.

Klaus's website is at .www.klaus-voormann.com

30/4: Please note that AroneWeb's email address has changed to aroneco(at)yahoo.co.uk

1/4:  Tour Dates page updated today.

7/2: Watch & listen to The Manfreds right now!  www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6jiPf0a-v0

30/12:  HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!  Some great new pics just added to the Photos page.  Also, the Tour Dates page has been updated.

Some of the comments received after Jasper Carrott's Rock with Laughter show at the NEC recently:

“Hi, Just wanted to say that having seen The Manfreds play at the NEC Birmingham on thursday night, what a TREMENDOUS band they really are.  I grew up in the sixties and enjoyed all the Manfreds music back then, but was limited to hearing them either on vinyl, radio or TV, none of which was great sound quality back then.  Having been to many live concerts in the recent years Iv often wondered how good a 'sixties' band would sound live today. Well, The Manfreds just blew away my greatest expectations with a performance of outstanding brilliance that would put a lot of the current bands into the shade.  Sorry to ramble on a bit, but they really were that good.”

“I was wondering if you could pass a message onto the band. They were fantastic on the first night of the Jasper Carrot show. We’ve never really appreciated them before but as soon as they started singing, we knew all their songs. We’ve looked at their website and they don’t appear to be singing in Britain in 2008, but we’d appreciate information of any concert etc. Keep up the good work.  Thank you very much.”

30/10: Reviews page updated today.

13/10:  Some great new pics added today to the Fans' Photos page.

26/9: MIKE HUGG + MIKE VICKERS: SOMEWHERE ELSE CD now available from the Shop page.

21/8:  SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

On Tuesday 27^th November 2007 The Manfreds  will be filming a live DVD at the Fisher Theatre, Broad Street, Bungay,  Suffolk. There are a limited number of tickets available for this event and these are being initially offered exclusively to the fans. Tickets may be purchased from the theatre box office at £20.00 per ticket and will be available for purchase from Monday 27^th August 2007 by calling 01986 897130. By purchasing tickets you will be giving your permission to be filmed.

15/8:  Check out the following forthcoming radio interviews with Tom McGuinness as he talks about  DOWN THE ROAD APIECE:

Thursday 16/8

10am BBC Northampton with Kevin Fernihough 

11am BBC Cornwall with David White 

12 noon BBC Cumbria with John McIntosh

Monday 20/8 

11.30am BBC Lincs with Melvyn Prior 

1.00pm BFBS with Hermina 

1.30pm BBC Coventry with Bob Brolly

Friday 24/8 

1.30pm BBC Swindon with Mark Seaman 

2.30pm BBC Bristol with Richard Lewis 

3.00pm BBC Wales with Owen Money 

Tom is also pre -recording interviews for many other local BBC and Smooth stations but we can't give you any warning of times. Just stay tuned to your radio.

 7/8:  Week commencing 13th August, "Down The Road A Piece", the new Manfred Mann box set, is album of the week on the Smooth Radio Network. Watch out for a forthcoming competition on this site to win free copies of the CDs.

6/8: Tom McGuinness will be on Smooth FM tonight between 6 & 7pm talking to Martin Collins and playing some favourite tracks. 

Those of you with keen ears may have noticed that the current Norwich Union TV ads use the Manfred Mann track "Sweet Pea". Recorded by The Manfreds in 1967, this instrumental version of the Tommy Roe vocal hit limped into the lower reaches of the charts and was promptly forgotten until now.

3/8: Paul, Tom and Mike Hugg will be doing an acoustic session on Tom Robinson's Radio 6 programme next Monday evening 6/8. .The plan is for Tom Robinson to join them on bass. Those of you who were at Tom McG's 50th birthday bash at the Town and Country Club/Forum in Kentish Town will remember that Tom R was bass player with The Manfreds that night.  The Manfreds will be on air between 8 & 9 pm.  Also, if you go to www.tomrobinson.com and click on Video Clips you will find a clip of Tom Robinson performing NEVER GROW OLD, a song Tom R co-wrote with Tom McG. Only available there.

27/7: Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness will be on the Ken Bruce show on Radio 2 at 10am on Wed 1 August competing against each other in a pop trivia quiz.

24/7: Mike and Lisa d'Abo are proud to announce the arrival of their twins at approx 5.30pm today. Little boy weighed in at 7lb and little girl 6lb 7oz.

19/7: Tom McGuinness will be on Capital Gold on Sunday 5th August from 11am to 1pm. The programme is "Bottom To The Top" presented by Mike Sweeney. Mike plays the hits of the week in 1965 when Manfred Mann were at Number Two with "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" and talks  to Tom about his time with The Manfreds and the new Manfred Mann box set "Down The Road Apiece" on EMI.

19/7: If any Manfreds fans have any 'live' footage of the band which their management could possibly use for promotion purposes only, could they please contact DFO via derek@derekfranks.co.uk / Tel: 01759 388900 / Fax: 01759 380674.  Thanks a lot.

12/7:  The Manfreds' 3 CDs - Maximum Manfreds, Uncovered and Live at Ronnie Scott's - are all now available to download on ITunes, likewise Tom McGuinness's two solo CDs, Tom McGuinness and Double Take. 

10/7:  Fans' Photos page updated today.

9/7:  New website announcement for PBD (Piano Bass Drums) ... Mike Hugg/Marcus Cliffe/Kit Jolliffe : www.pbdtrio.com

Tour Dates page recently updated.

12/6: The new book Legends On Tour - The Pop Package Tours Of The 1960s looks back at a unique period in the history of British pop when the world’s top stars shared a battle bus for a month or more on a series of whirling one nighters.

From Ipswich to Wrexham, from Bournemouth to Glasgow the screaming went on night after night as the stars rolled into town.

Author Martin Creasy has been tracking down the stars and the fans for their memories of these very special shows and the book boasts up to 200 mainly never-seen-before pictures of the stars on stage and relaxing in their modest cinema dressing rooms.

Martin said: “They may have their ipods, downloads and dvds, but today’s teenagers could only dream of having what their 1960s counterparts enjoyed. Imagine three, sometimes four acts from the current top ten all appearing on stage on the same bill - and all in your local high street, at the cinema or maybe a concert hall.

“Unbelievable now, but it happened in the 1960s. Everybody knows about the big stadium and festival gigs of the lates 1960s and 1970s, but these pop package tours are still something of a mystery to many people.

“Discovering the wonderful pictures was the first step and then tracking down the musicians for their memories - and what memories - meant I had a lot of fun putting this book together.”

Paul Jones had only just left Manfred Mann when he joined a  tour with The Hollies, The Small Faces and Paul and Barry Ryan and he is one of 20 pop stars who is interviewed.  The opening night, at the Aldershot ABC cinema, proved dramatic when The Small Faces refused to appear and briefly quit the tour in a row with The Hollies over who should close the show. Paul, however, has fond memories of both groups and pays tribute to the talent of the Londoners in his interview.

The six other tours featured top Americans, such as Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Gene Pitney , and top Brit bands, such as The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Searchers, Herman’s Hermits and The Troggs.  There is also the story of the amazing package that put together The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, Jimi Hendrix… and Engelbert Humperdinck.

To top it all off there is a bonus section on the pop package tours of The Beatles, complete with pictures that haven’t been seen in more than 40 years.

Legends On Tour - The Pop Package Tours Of The 1960s is published by Tempus Publications in mid July. It is already available to order on Amazon sites.

 20/4: The Manfreds are looking forward to being a part of the Jasper Carrott 'Rock With Laughter' Show at the NEC, Birmingham, on 13th, 14th, 15th & 16th December 2007. Although they will only be part of a very exciting line-up of artists appearing, they will be performing as many hits as possible into their allocated time.....a huge task in itself with over fifteen top 10 hits to choose from!

Click on the following link www.jaspercarrott.com/rockwithlaughter for more information and details.

16/3: FINALLY ...... apologies for the delay but a new members-only Manfreds forum has now been set up by Judith Rookledge at www.phpbbplanet.com/themanfredsforu (yes the 'm' is missing off the end - don't ask, lol!)   Please support Judith's hard work in getting this up & running by posting regularly!!

16/3: Please note this new date on the Tour Dates page - Thur 4/10 DARTFORD, The Mick Jagger Centre, Shepherds Lane.  Tel: 01322 291100. This is a charity fundraising concert in support of the Ellenor Hospice at Home. Tickets on sale from 30 April. 

6/12: 'Let ‘Em Roll' Hits, Jazz and Blues Tour 2007

The Manfreds, with original ‘front man’ Paul Jones, will be performing many of their hits along with a mix of Jazz and Blues songs from some of their best-known albums.  Wiith his unique harmonica sound, Paul will be joined by Mike Hugg on keyboards, Tom McGuinness on lead guitar, Rob Townsend on drums, Marcus Cliffe on bass guitar and Simon Currie on saxophone/ flute .... all excellent musicians who will provide a full evening's entertainment with a few ‘surprise’ renditions of their work, not only with The Manfreds, but with their individual connections.  See Tour Dates page for details of the tour and for other dates during 2007.

5/10: Click on the link below to the Telegraph's website for an interesting 'top ten' article about '60s R&B bands, complete with downloadable tracks:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/08/24/bmplay24.xml

16/6:  The album World of Mann entered the Official UK Album Chart at 24 this week.  It's a double CD of The Manfreds' '60s sides on one CD and Earth Band tracks on the other.  All the hits.  To promote it The Manfreds will be on GMTV on Tuesday 20th at approx 8.30am playing a medley of hits.

23/5 : Tour Dates page updated today.

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8/4 : Please note that the show at the Lakeside Country Club, Camberley on 15 April has had to be postponed for reasons beyond The Manfreds' control. 

3/4 : Unfortunately the Manfreds Discussion Forum has had to be suspended for the time being due to an ever increasing influx of unwanted posts.  A new, less vulnerable forum will be announced in due course.

25/2 : PAUL JONES & FIONA HENDLEY Tour Dates added today.  Click here

23/2 : A mention on behalf of Marcus Cliffe &  Miracle Mile.  Their album "Glow" came out last October but MM have now changed distributors & so it's recently been relaunched.  They've been getting some good Radio 2 airplay from Bob Harris - if anyone wants to write in for a request Marcus would be very appreciative!  Click here to read a review of the album.

12/2 : Fans' Photos page updated today.

12/12: Tour Dates page updated today.

1/8:  The Manfreds were very sorry to hear of the death of Long John Baldry. He was there at the beginning of British Blues and the band all felt lucky to have known & worked with him ... he will be missed.

Taken at Notodden Blues Festival, Norway in 2004:

24/5: Fans' Photos page updated today.

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5/4:  Irene has asked us to tell all 'Groovin' subscribers know that the next edition has been held up at the printers but she hopes to have it mailed out soon.

1/3:   Marcus Cliffe's band, Miracle Mile, have a new single out as of this week - available at all good record stores.  Click on thumbnail for more info.

26/1 See Tour Dates page for venue details etc.

26/1:  'Double Take' is the brand new solo album from Tom McGuinness and is available now from the online shop on this site. The album features 12 tracks including 4 McGuinness originals plus 2 tracks co-written with long-time writing partner Lou Stonebridge, songs co-written with each of former McGuinness Flint colleagues Graham Lyle & Benny Gallagher respectively, another co-written with Paul Jones and also covers of 3 of Tom's favourite pieces including a version of 'The Glory Of Love' and Tom's take on Thelonius Monk's 'Blue Monk'! Full details are of course included on the sleeve of the album which features on its front a wonderful painting by Tom's wife, Jennifer. Musically the line-up is as per his first eponymous album with Manfreds colleague Marcus Cliffe in charge of bass, keyboard and drum duties and with Tom covering all the other stringed instruments featured. Simon Currie, again of The Manfreds, also guests on saxes on one song

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10/7:  Available on CD in the UK for the first time, and from the Shop page of this site now, is the 'lost' McGuinness Flint album of rare Dylan songs from 1972, Japanese issue. Read more about it in this clip from Mojo magazine Dec 2003:

5/6: Photos page updated today - Marcus has sent us some pics of the band on their recent Australia tour.  Marcus himself will be in Japan for part of July & August touring with YAZAWA who is Japan's answer to Bruce Springsteen, and who will be headlining World Rock Day above such luminaries as Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, then doing a 6 week acoustic tour around Japan. Also the new Miracle Mile album(the band Marcus is in with Trevor Jones) is now finished with a release date of 9 August.  This is already being played on BRBM in Birmingham see  www.miraclemile.co.uk  for details. Marcus is also off to Spain on the 10 June with Mark Knopfler to do some live tv

5/6 A Manfreds fan has kindly sent us this cartoon, which appeared in a woman's magazine a long while ago:

25/5:  Tour Dates page updated today.

9/4:  Tour Dates page updated today.  Also the Reviews page now has a recent review of a Manfreds gig by Libby Purves writing in The Times.

7/1:  The current (February) edition of Record Collector has a front cover featuring 20 LPs That Shook The World - The British R&B Invasion.  Pictured is The Five Faces of Manfred Mann album alongside albums by The Stones, The Who, The Animals etc.  There's a long article inside about all the albums plus an interview with Paul.

4/12:  We've today started up a new page on the site, ie Fans' Photos which contains some new pics recently sent in to us, for which many thanks.

4/12:  At Buxton Opera House on 26 November Mike D'Abo took a bit of a tumble on stage.  Luckily he suffered no injury and is fine.  We have since been passed this drawing by Klaus Voorman of Mike doing his death defying leap: 

From Manfreds fan Judith Rookledge:  "Paul Jones had a fall too at the London Palladium show. He stepped backwards into one of the monitors in front of Mike's keyboards and fell flat on his back over it ... all the audience could see was his feet sticking out over the top of the monitor! He was soon back up on his feet though and appeared none the worse for it. It looked quite a heavy fall so I hope he didn't suffer for it later. He and Mike shook hands afterwards and joked that it was one to each of them now!"

4/12:  This month's MOJO magazine has a long piece on Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes. It includes aninterview with Tom McGuinness re The Mighty Quinn and Manfred Mann

4/12: Hypertension have released Something Beautiful Remains by Graham Lyle. It's  a collection of him singing his hit compositions, What's Love Got To Do With It?, Should Have Known Better etc plus Darlin' Man by Graham & Tom McGuinness. (HYP 3223).  Graham Lyle & His Splendidos will be performing Something Beautiful Remains and Heart On My Sleeve on Top Of The Pops 2 on Wed 10 December.

11/11: On Thursday 20 November at 6:30 pm BBC Look North will be showing a little item about Marcus Cliffe as part of a music business series they’ve done ... this is only available terrestrially in the north region but digital viewers can see it anywhere.

13/5:  New CD  - The Manfreds – ‘Uncovered’ NOW AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE!  GO TO THE SHOP PAGE TO LISTEN TO CLIPS ....

The album features covers of 14 great songs performed by the band, the strength of the originals enhanced by the superb musicianship and jazz influences of Paul, the two Mikes, Tom, Marcus, Rob and Simon.

(See further below for photos taken during the recording sessions).

  7/1/03:  Scroll down on the left and you'll see we've now added a Search facility to the site.

1/1/03:  Message from Marcus:  "Thought I’d send you some photos of the ongoing new album for the site.  We did track laying for a few days at the Cow Shed and then we’ve been doing overdubs, vocals etc at my place (Norbury Brook) and we’ll be mixing here Jan/Feb. I’m going to be on tour with Mark Knopfler until August next year so keep a look out for tour dates if any Manfred fans want to come along and cheer us on. I think the 4 nights at the Albert hall have already sold out though.

I’ve finished the Miracle mile album now and that comes out in Feb but watch the music press for reviews Jan/Feb.  Here’s a link to the first review http://www.rainsound.net/   Let's hope they’re all so good."