Celebrating Mani aka Gary Mounfield, 16th November 1962 to 20th November 2025.
There have been so many wonderfully written and heartfelt tributes to Mani in the past few days that there's not a lot that I can add. Unlike many of my blogosphere peers, my life wasn't transformed by The Stone Roses.
My friend Stu had the album and I like it, but not enough to buy anything more than the standalone single Fools Gold / What The World Is Waiting For, which I loved.
When The Stone Roses played at The Bierkeller in Bristol in the summer of 1989, I was either skint or otherwise occupied. My live picks for that year included Pixies, Inspiral Carpets and, er, The Monkees.
For all that, I thought they were great, and had a particular fondness for Mani, so when he joined Primal Scream following The Stone Roses' end, it was a very good thing.
In the tributes, there is an overwhelming sense of what a decent, down to earth person Mani was. Even from an ignorant distance, what stands out is his loyalty; Mani stuck with The Stone Roses., gave 15 years to Primal Scream and then heeded the call to get the old band back together.
There was also Freebass, the supergroup with Peter Hook and Andy Rourke, though other extra curricular activity was rare: a couple of songs on Bryan Ferry's 2010 album Olympia, two live rehearsal tracks with The Racketeers circa 2004, another couple with Aziz Ibrahim in 2000, and that's all I have.
What ties them all together is Mani's superlative bass. In compiling today's tribute, I found a 1983 demo by The Waterfront, a precursor to The Stone Roses, and Mani's shines through from that start.
At the end, I've pulled together a 10-song tribute to Mani, spanning all of the above. I won't pretend to be an expert, and my picks for The Stone Roses and Primal Scream may be obvious choices, but I hope the selection overall does Mani justice.
Man, could Mani play bass.
In preparing this post, I received an email from my friend Mike:
Hi Khayem,
sad news about Mani today.
I'm not sure my 'review' is appropriate in its entirety but:
1) Its a reminder for me about how I felt 30 years ago and
2) it does help me reflect on how good Mani was in a live setting.
Feel free to just read or take a bit of the essence
Regards,
Mike
I'm sharing Mike's entire item, unedited.
The Stone Roses – Great Hall Exeter University 5th December 1995
On a cold Tuesday night nigh on 30 years ago my mate Chris and I travelled down the M5 to see a band that many felt were the greatest of that era.
We both didn’t know Exeter at all and tried to find a car park that was ‘central’ before trudging off to find the University. Once entering the venue we realised it was packed to the rafters with students and blokes in their early 20’s hoping to have their ‘Spike Island’ moment. From memory it wasn’t long until the band took to the stage and a long intro started. The sound was good and the first thing you noticed was how good Reni and Mani sounded together. It didn’t take long until John Squires started to unleash his trademark riffs and all was good with the world. And then Ian Brown started singing…
I’ve often thought about this gig and looked at people reminiscing about going to see the Stone Roses in the late 1980’s-mid 1990’s. Were Reni and Mani the best rhythm section of our lifetime? A bold statement yes but I think one that could be argued. Was John Squire one of the best lead guitarists to come out of the UK? Again I think that is something that has good evidence behind it. However my issue always was the lead singer. I remember on the night trying to go to different parts of the Hall to see if it was a dodgy speaker or just where I was stood. The final track was ‘I am the Resurrection’ and I just thought at the time would I ever hear a better bassline played live in my lifetime and now that Mani has passed I think I can honestly say probably not.
We drove home through the snow agreeing on one thing – that when it was down to the musicians in the band they were faultless – Mani, Reni, John we salute you. If only you had let your lead singer go then they could have been one of the greatest live bands ever
RIP Mani.
Many thanks, Mike, wonderfully expressed. And now for some music.
1) BF Bass (Ode To Olympia) (Album Version): Bryan Ferry (2010)
2) Breaking Into Heaven (Album Version): The Stone Roses (1994)
3) Can't Go Back (Album Version): Primal Scream (2008)
4) Nuts For You (Live Rehearsal Track): The Racketeers (Wayne Kramer & Brian James) (2004)
5) You Don't Know (This About Me) (EP Version): Freebass ft. Tim Burgess (2010)
6) Where The Wind Blows: The Waterfront (1983)
7) I Am The Resurrection (Album Version): The Stone Roses (1989)
8) If They Move, Kill 'Em (Album Version): Primal Scream (1997)
9) Middle Road (Aziz Album Mix): Aziz ft. Paul Weller (2000)
10) The Milky Way Is Our Playground (EP Version): Freebass ft. Pete Wylie (2010)
No comments:
Post a Comment