As Is is a 1966 pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 album by Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...

. It was their fourth overall (including a "greatest hits" package) but their first for Fontana Records

Fontana Records

Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....

 and their first to feature new members Mike d'Abo

Mike d'Abo

Michael David "Mike" d'Abo is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the former lead vocalist of Manfred Mann.-Biography:...

 and Klaus Voorman. It was produced by Shel Talmy

Shel Talmy

Shel Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter, arranger best known for his work in London with The Who and The Kinks in the 1960s, with a role in many other English bands including Cat Stevens and Pentangle...

 and released in the U.K. on 21 October 1966 (STL5377).

Overview

The twelve tracks on the record include the line-up's first single release, a cut-down version of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Just Like a Woman

Just Like a Woman

Just Like a Woman is a 1992 British film by Christopher Monger starring Julie Walters, Adrian Pasdar and Paul Freeman. Gerald, a finance executive , finds himself thrown out by his wife when she discovers women's underwear in their flat; in fact the clothes belong to him. He takes lodgings with...

" that reached the UK top ten. A short cool jazz

Cool jazz

Cool is a style of modern jazz music that arose following the Second World War. It is characterized by its relaxed tempos and lighter tone, in contrast to the bebop style that preceded it...

 version of "Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves (song)

"Autumn Leaves" is a much-recorded popular song. Originally it was a 1945 French song "Les Feuilles mortes" with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert. Yves Montand introduced "Les feuilles mortes" in 1946 in the film Les Portes de la Nuit...

", reminiscent of the Modern Jazz Quartet

Modern Jazz Quartet

The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...

 with Mike Hugg's vibraphone

Vibraphone

The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....

 and double bass from the group's former bassist Dave Richmond, sounds like an out-take from the group's instrumental releases: these two make weight for a fairly short collection of group compositions. As d'Abo's presence somehow sparked Mike Hugg

Mike Hugg

Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...

 into producing baroque pop

Baroque pop

Baroque pop, Baroque rock, or English baroque, often used interchangeably with chamber pop/rock, is a pop and rock music subgenre which originated in the mid-1960s in the United Kingdom and United States...

 miniatures both contribute three songs: d'Abo's "Box Office Draw" and "Trouble and Tea" are well-crafted pop, while "As Long as I Have Lovin'" is a generic soul ballad. Hugg's "Morning After the Party", also released as a "B" side and on the compilation album What a Mann, recalls the rowdy rhythm and blues of the group's past while two of his three collaborations with Mann suggest something of the direction they would later take with Manfred Mann Chapter Three

Manfred Mann Chapter Three

Manfred Mann Chapter Three was a British experimental jazz rock band founded by South African keyboard player Manfred Mann and long-time partner Mike Hugg...

. Guitarist Tom McGuinness

Tom McGuinness

Tom McGuinness is a guitarist songwriter, author, record and TV producer. he is best known as the guitarist from Manfred Mann and The Blues Band...

 provides a range of textures including his trademark National Steel Guitar and contributes sleeve notes and a gentle folk-ballad. The group continued to exploit studio multitracking: keyboardist Mann layering Mellotron

Mellotron

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

s, bassist Voorman taking over from Mike Vickers

Mike Vickers

Mike Vickers is a British musician who came to prominence as guitarist, flautist and saxophonist with the 1960s band, Manfred Mann. He originally played flute and saxophone but with the increasing popularity of guitars in bands it was decided that Manfred Mann should have a guitarist in its line-up...

on flutes.

Track list

Side one

1. "Trouble and Tea" (D'Abo) 2:12
2. "A Now and Then Thing" (McGuinness) 2:44
3. "Each Other's Company" (Hugg) 2:56
4. "Box Office Draw" (D'Abo) 2:13
5. "Dealer, Dealer" (Hugg, Mann, Thomas) 3:17
6. "Morning After the Party" (Hugg) 2:34

Side two

1. "Another Kind of Music" (Hugg, Mann) 2:32
2. "As Long as I Have Lovin'" (D'Abo) 2:44
3. "Autumn Leaves" (Kosma, Mercer) 1:56
4. "Superstitious Guy" (Hugg) 2:46
5. "You're My Girl" (Hugg, Mann, Thomas) 2:48
6. "Just Like a Woman" (Dylan) 2:54