Mike d'Abo is involved in two tracks of this CD: The Double Feature version of "Handbags And Gladrags" 
and the duet with Mike Hurst "Going Going Gone", whic is written by Mike d'Abo. In the booklet that accompanies 
the Cd are two stories about these tracks, which are really interesting:

Double Feature - Handbags & Gladrags
This is the ORIGINAL "Handbags and Gladrags". That is to say it was the first recording of this classic 
Mike d'Abo song. Mike played it for me in mid 67, and I thought it was perfect for two postal workers from 
Birmingham, whom I had christined Double Feature. I recorded it for Deram, and scheduled a release, 
then I got word that Chris Farlowe had covered the song too, for Immediate. Now, I worked with Oldham's 
label, so we were connected on the business front. It was therefor not unusual for my partned, Chris Brough, 
to be at their New Oxford St office on one particular day. What was unusual was a phone call 
I received from him that day, scared witless and telling me Andrew's 'heavies' were holding him at a multi story car park. 
 thought it ws wind up, but I agreed to talk to Andrew. He came on the line and did his best James Cagney impression, 
telling me that unless I postponed the release of my version of Gladrags until after Farlowe's, 
his guys would throw Chris off the roof. No, he would never have done it, I knew that but Chris didn't. He begged me 
to agree. Reluctantly I did, telling Oldham in the process that he was a pathetic, drug ridden, amteur Kray brother. 
Chris finally returned to the office, white as a sheet. I told him he was a fool, that Andrew was playing at bad boys. 
But I kept my word, and the result was a number 1 for Chris Farlowe, and a disappearing act for poor old Double Feature, 
who's version I actually do really prefer.

Mike Hurst & Mike d'Abo - Going Going Gone
This track has an intersting history. When I decided to record Cat Stevens for the first time, I had to blag session time at Decca 
in order to pay the musicians I needed for "I Love My Dog". I told Dick Rowe of Decca that I was emigrating to the USA, and that 
for old times sake would he give me three hours in their studios to tecord this d'Abo song. Dick reluctantly agreed, and so in 
September 1966, there I was, with d'Abo playing piano and the other musos, including John Paul Jones, rattling off three tracks 
in three hours. That's how you did it then. I rushed through "Going Going Gone", and then concentrated
on Cat and his first songs, I was of course right, "Going Going Gone" was never offered up as a single to Decca, 
but boys did they love Cat Stevens. I was forgiven for my subterfuge. Needles to say, if "I Love My Dog" had not been a hit, 
I would have dah the arse sued off me by Decca. Just lucky I guess.

2004 has just started and Mike d'Abo announced his second CD release of the year 2004. After the "Hidden Gems & Treasured Friends" on the Angel Air label, Mike mailed me that President records will release a compilation CD of the best songs from "Indestructible" and "Tomorrow's Troubador" in May 2004, which were originally albums released on the President label in 1987 and 1988.

When I visited Mike in March 2004 he showed me what he proposed to President Records for the track listing. Now the CD is actually available through www.president-records.co.uk for the price of £ 9.99 I found out, that President records used exactly the list Mike showed me. The track listing is as follows:
 

Tracks 1-12 are studio recordings from the period February 1971 until January 1973.
Tracks 13-18 are from a live promotional concert at a radio station in Long Island/USA.
All songs (except for the Bob Dylan song "The Mighty Quinn") are written by Mike d'Abo.

Mike d'Abo got a call from Mo Foster, who played bass with him (and on the Smith & d'Abo album) in the past and he advised that whilst reviewing his tape storage, he had found various tapes, demos and acetates that they had recorded together in the early 70's. Mike painstakingly reviewed the 40 tracks seldom if ever previously heard.

The tracks give a real insight into where Mike was, musically speaking, in the early 70's. Here track by track were the musical footprints of someone still searching for their true identity. Mike said "Musically frustrated may be an overused term, but in my case, it's the best way to describe my state of mind in the aftermath of Manfred Mann, which disbanded in 1969. Glimpses of my song writing talents had already been revealed through "Handbags & Gladrags". Now the stage was set for me to deliver what I was capable of."

Following their 1972 tour of the USA, the d'Abo band returned to the UK to record what was supposed to be his next album, but due to management pressure after recording these tracks which now are released here for the first time, Mike recorded "Broken Rainbows" which was then released as his follow up to "Rachel's Place".

Now at last "Hidden Gems & Treasured Friends" is released in all it's glory.

The above story is printed as information on the record company's website www.angelair.co.uk. Mike already told me about this item when I last met him. He then also told me, that Mo Foster even had live tapes. Hopefully these will be found as well and released of course.

On this album some well known songs from Mike himself, but also two that we already know by John Christie ("I'm A Ram" and "Relax") and lots of new songs. The album is certainly worth listening and it also has a nice booklet with beautiful pictures and stories on how Mike and his band (Affinity) worked in those days.

Thank you Mike for adding the address of "The Mike d'Abo Website" in the booklet !!!

11-2003 CD Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right – Island 0602498612187

Tracks:
 

Already in 2001 Mike d'Abo gave me a demo CD by his daughter Olivia, of which you will find the information a little lower on this page. She has a beautiful voice and I especially like her song "Broken". In the mean time Olivia is married with producer Patrick Leonard and besides producing Madonna CD's in the past, he now produced this Bon Jovi CD and Olivia's voice can be heard on the track "Livin' On A Prayer". By the way: the whole CD is worth listening to !!!

10-2003 CD The Manfreds – Uncovered

Tracks:

1. Sunshine Superman	8. Gimme Little Sign
2. On Broadway	9. What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)
3. Lean On Me	10. Sunshine Day
4. Free	11. Mary Ann
5. On The Beach	12. Mercy Mercy Mercy
6. Midnight At The Oasis	13. Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye
7. I Believe When I Fall In Love	14. I'm Into Something Good

Mike d'Abo played a demo version of this CD to me already in March 2003 which sounds very good. Of course the CD is only available at The Manfreds concerts, but if you are not able to go to one of their concerts, let me know and I will take care you get a copy.

Paul sings on the tracks: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 13.
Mike sings on the tracks: 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11.
Paul and Mike sing on the tracks: 3 and 14.

06-2003 CD A Little Miss Understood – Mike d'Abo Collection Vol. 2 – RPM 264 (UK)

Tracks:
 

When RPM released volume 1 in 2001, they already suggested, that there would be more volumes. And indeed RPM (which is a great record company if you look at all their wonderful releases) released volume 2 in June 2003, and it's good to see my name and web site on the booklet. This is what they put on their website about the CD:

Mike d'Abo's career has enjoyed a considerable resurgence in recent years, due in no small part to the renewed interest of his best known songs from the 60's, "Handbags And Gladrags" and "Build Me Up Buttercup". This collection of songs, which makes up Volume 2, (title is from another famous d'Abo songs as covered by Rod Stewart) is compiled from recordings he made from 1972 – 1976, and is a worthy sequel to The Mike d'Abo Collection Volume 1, which traced his early recording career from 1964 – 1970. Featured here is the absolute cream of no less than three of his albums from the 70's, "Down At Rachel's Place" (1970), "Broken Rainbows" (1974) and finally, "Smith & d'Abo" (tracks 16-20) (1976)  – an album which brought together the twin talents of d'Abo and the former Dave Clark Five pianist and singer, Mike Smith. A bonus track is also included, "Stardust Serenade", previously only available in Japan, and released there as a single in 1974. All the familiar hallmarks of d'Abo's writing can be heard in this collection of songs. They conjure up images of a romantic dreamer, often treading a rocky path in search of spiritual fulfilment. Yet, in spite of setbacks, the message conveyed is one of hope. These images accurately reflect d'Abo's own recollections of those years back in the early 70's.

If you want to buy this CD, visit the site of RPM records: www.rpmrecords.co.uk

26-11-2001 CD The Mike d'Abo Collection Volume 1 1964-1970 …………………………………. RPM 232 (UK)

RPM is a record company that released a great number of great items on 60's artists (look at their website !!!), always accompanied by a great info sheet with lots of interesting information and great pictures.

This CD will have six A Band Of Angels songs, all tracks of the "d'Abo" album, "Miss Me In The Morning" and "Cinderella Arabella" both from the Peter Sellers/Goldie Hawn film "There's A Girl In My Soup", and the never released Mike d'Abo song "Because You Are". Mark Stratford of RPM Records tried to include three songs that Mike wrote for Manfred Mann (Trouble And Tea/Box Office Draw/The Vicar's Daughter), but the record company on Manfred Mann wasn't cooperative, so these tracks had to be left out. But there's enough other songs to enjoy. The CD was officially released on Monday November 26, 2001, which also was the day I met Mike d'Abo to go to a concert of The Manfreds in Hayes/U.K..

The CD can easily be bought through the internet, but if you have difficulties in getting it, please contact me.

The other day I spoke to Mike's wife Lisa, and she told me that RPM is interested in releasing "The Mike d'Abo Collection Volume 2". That is good news. Of course the sales of volume 1 are positively influenced by the big hit the Stereophonics had with Mike's song "Handbags And Gladrags", but that is only great for us Mike d'Abo fans.

08-2003 That Driving Beat – Doin' The Mod Volume 5 …………………………… Castle Music CMRCD 757 (UK)

After "(Accept My) Invitation" on "Doing The Mod – Volume one" another A Band Of Angels song on a compilation CD from the Castle Music label.

12-2001 CD Down At Rachel's Place – A&M Records UICY-3334 (Japan)

Tracks:

1. Rachel's Place	6. Little Miss Understood
2. Belinda	7. Salvation Song
3. Poor Man's Son	8. Battlefield
4. You Are The Singer	9. Tomorrow On My Mind
5. My Life (Is Starting From Today)

I already mentioned it on this page, but now finally I've received a copy of this CD. It's a straight copy of the album, with (unfortunately) no extra tracks. The inlay with the song lyrics and the handwritten song titles has been included in the CD version as well. And besides that, there is another inlay with (probably) the musical history of Mike d'Abo, but because it's written in Japanese, I really have no idea what they write. But because there are some pictures and some English song/album titles, I can guess what they are trying to say.

The law in Japan say, that songs are protected for twenty years. After that anybody can release music without having to pay for the rights of the songs. So in this case a main record company (A&M) can release a CD without having to pay rights to Mike, which is a bit strange of course.

12-2001 CD Broken Rainbows – A&M Records UICY-3335 (Japan)

Tracks:
 

The third Mike d'Abo album can be bought on CD too. Also this CD is a straight copy of the original album, and also this time they included the English and Japanese song lyrics on a separate inlay. Only this inlay is a bit smaller and there are no pictures included by the Mike d'Abo story.

For all those people who want to order these two Japanese CD's (and you really should do that !!!), I advise you to go to the following website, like I did, and both CD's are delivered very quick, with paying by creditcard: www.hmv.co.jp

16-07-2001 CD Smith & d'Abo …………………………………… Sony Records International SRCS 9844 (Japan)

Tracks:
 

Because of the title of the book that I'm writing ("The Music Of Smith & d'Abo") this is one of the most important releases of the year.

The CD is only released in Japan and has the same tracks as the album. The CD release was announced quite early in 2001 and to be honest, I hoped that there would be at least one extra track included as so often happen with Japanese releases.

You can order the CD at: www.hmv.co.jo

00-2000 Mike d'Abo & The Beat Goes On – Live At Ronnie Scotts (no label/catalogue number) (UK)

In June 2000 Mike d'Abo did five shows at the Ronnie Scotts club in Birmingham/UK, which he recorded. In February 2001 the CD "Mike d'Abo & The Beat Goes On! Live At Ronnie Scott" was finally available and you will be sorry if you don't order it now !!!

During the show Mike played/sang songs from his whole recording career, like "Invitation" (A Band Of Angels), "King Herod's Song" (Jesus Christ Superstar), "Miss Me In The Morning" (from the "There's A Girl In My Soup" soundtrack), many Manfred Mann Songs and of course songs he wrote but which became famous by others artists like "Build Me Up Buttercup" (The Foundations) and "Handbags And Gladrags" (Chris Farlowe and Rod Stewart).

This CD is only available when visiting one of Mike's concerts and through this website. If you want a copy, send GBP 15,00 (this includes air mail postage) in cash to the following address:

Herman Hamerpagt
Postbus 151
4940 AD  Raamsdonksveer
HOLLAND

Full track listing:

1. How Sweet It Is	10. Ha! Ha! Said The Clown
2. Invitation	11. Velvet Glove
3. Just Like A Woman	12. Gotta Have More
4. Semi-detached Suburban Mr. Jones	13. Fox On The Run
5. Build Me Up Buttercup	14. My Name Is Jack
6. King Herod's Song	15. Ragamuffin Man
7. Miss Me In The Morning	16. Great Balls Of Fire
8. Handbags And Gladrags	17. The Mighty Quinn
9. Mambo	18. Do Wah Diddy Diddy

00-2001 Olivia d'Abo – promo CD

When I stayed with Mike d'Abo in November 2001, Mike let me hear a promo CD by his daughter Olivia. The vocals and piano are played by Olivia d'Abo and the CD has been produced by Thomas Barquee. Mike also told me that there was a regular CD on it's way, produced by Olivia's new boyfriend Patrick Leonard who is famous because he produced several CD's by Madonna, but so far I haven't heard if it really happened.

Tracks of the promo CD (which has beautiful pictures of Olivia on the front and back cover):

1. Broken	(written by Olivia d'Abo)	4:47
2. Ordinary	(written by Olivia d'Abo/Thomas Barquee)	4:05
3. Cold	written by Olivia d'Abo/Thomas Barquee)	4:38
4. Cold (Jonny Nitro remix)	(written by Olivia d'Abo/Thomas Barquee)	3:00

Especially "Broken" is a fantastic song. We played it over and over again. It sounds very much in the style of Madonna and then especially her CD "Ray Of Light". Olivia has a fine voice and I can imagine that she will easily score big hits.
Who knows ……….

19-09-2001 Date With Destiny – Mike d'Abo promo CD

Another thing Mike d'Abo let me hear while I visited him in November 2001, was the song "Date With Destiny" of which he put two different takes on a CD-R for me. Mike found it was his final follow up to "Handbags And Gladrags".
"Date With Destiny" is a ballad and on the promo you hear Mike singing and playing the piano and there is a full orchestral backing. Mike recorded it in the hope that someone else will record it. I like take 2 very much.

24-02-2003  2CD+DVD  The Evolution of Manfred Mann – Creature Music MANFRED 1

Mike d'Abo told me some time ago, that there would be a CD with songs by Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band, accompanied by a TV advertisement campaign. Finally this CD saw the light in February 2003. The tracks are:
 

A nice collection of music and clips. I was much surprised to see Mike d'Abo with two bonus tracks on the CD. Mike sings two newly recorded versions of "Handbags And Gladrags" and "Miss Me In The Morning", and his voice sounds better than ever !!! Also nice to see three clips of Manfred Mann with Mike d'Abo, because it is not easy to find things like that. "Semi Detached Suburban Mr. James" and "Just Like A Woman" and still in black and white, while "Fox On The Run" is a colour film in the style of a video clip (I didn't know Mike d'Abo could ride horses). On the DVD there are interviews with Manfred Mann between each song.

This really is something great, but you must not miss the 2CD "The Ascent Of Mann" with a lot of songs that were never released and the 2CD set from Australia "All Manner Of Mann", with also tracks by Mike d'Abo, Smith & d'Abo, Paul Jones, Mike Vickers, McGuinness Flint.

05-02-2003 HMV Japan releases of Manfred Mann albums

Robert Lawrence from Halifax/Canada sent me an e-mail to tell me, that HMV Japan will release many Manfred Mann ablums like "As Is", "Mighty Garvey" and many more. The CD's are set for release on February 5, 2003.

Manfred Mann video clip

Robert Lawrence also mailed me about a 30 seconds video clip from UK "Top Of The Pops" 1968 of  Mike doing "Mighty Quinn" with Manfred Mann (best thing to do is paste this into your real player, as it doesn't activate right away at the site). If you want to see the clip go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk.totp/artists/m/manfred_mann/clips/mighty_quimm.shtml

What's more to come …………….

It's unbelievable what has been released by Mike d'Abo the last couple of years. Certainly this will not be the end of the releases. The "The Mike d'Abo Collection Volume 1 & 2" at least suggest that there will be more (let's hope so !!!) volumes
in the future, and the record company RPM has shown interest in releasing volume 3, and that's good to know.

All above mentioned CD's should be easy to buy through the internet, but if you have problems to buy them, please contact me and I'll see what I can do for you.

So watch this site regularly !!!