Manfred Mann's Earth Band
| Manfred Mann's Earth Band | |
|---|---|
 Manfred Mann's Earth Band at the blacksheep Festival 2016 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Rock , progressive rock |
| founding | 1971, 1991 |
| resolution | 1988 |
| Website | www.manfredmann.co.uk |
| Founding members | |
| Manfred Mann | |
| Mick Rogers (until 1975; since 1983) | |
| Colin Pattenden (until 1977) | |
| Chris Slade (until 1978) | |
| Current occupation | |
| Manfred Mann | |
| Robert Hart (since 2011) | |
| Mick Rogers (until 1975; since 1983) | |
| Steve Kinch (since 1986) | |
| John Lingwood (since 2016) | |
| former members | |
Vocals, guitar |
Chris Thompson (1975–1979; 1981–1997) |
guitar |
Dave Flett (1975-1978) |
bass |
Pat King (1977-1982) |
Guitar, vocals |
Steve Waller (1979–1983; † 2000) |
Drums |
John Lingwood (1979-1986) |
singing |
Shona Laing (1981-1982) |
bass |
Matt Irving (1981–1986; † 2015) |
singing |
Maggie Ryder (1987) |
Drums |
Clive Bunker (1991-1993) |
Singing, percussion |
Noel McCalla (1991-2009) |
Drums |
John Trotter (1996-2000) |
Drums |
Richard Marcangelo (2000-2001) |
Drums |
Pete May (2001-2002) |
Drums |
Geoff Dunn (2002-2007) |
singing |
Peter Cox (2009-2011) |
Drums |
Jimmy Copley (2007-2015; † 2017) |
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Manfred Mann's Earth Band ( MMEB for short ) is a British rock band around the South African keyboardist Manfred Mann .
story
1971-1975
After great success with his band " Manfred Mann " in the 1960s, Manfred Mann founded his Earth Band in 1971 together with Colin Pattenden , Chris Slade and Mick Rogers .
The first album, which was simply released under the title Manfred Mann's Earth Band , still shows clear influences from Mann's R&B time in the 1960s. The style can best be described as blues rock , but there are clear borrowings from jazz rock ( Miles Davis ' albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew in 1969 bridged the gap between jazz and rock), rhythm & blues and experimental music. Some of the songs are self-written and some have been covered. With Please Mrs Henry , the Earth Band's first Bob Dylan cover can also be found on the album , but later concert setlists only made it to Captain Bobby Stout , written by Lane Tietgen , who gave Earth Band a decade-long concert with Martha's Madman in 1977 -Classic should deliver.
In 1972 the second album, Glorified Magnified, follows , which already points much more in the direction of the style that later became distinctive for the Earth Band: long, rhythmically sophisticated instrumental parts. The basis is mainly composed of self-written songs that Mann composed with co-producer Dave Hadfield. The album also features a cover version of Dylan's classic It's All Over Now Baby Blue .
The following year, Messin 'was released, an album that leaned back towards blues rock. Before founding the Earth Band, Mann wrote the eponymous song together with Mike Hugg for Chapter III . The musical borrowings from the two previous albums are also unmistakable.
The fourth album, Solar Fire , was also released in 1973 , the beginning of a phase in which the band was strongly oriented towards progressive rock . The influences of King Crimson , Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Yes are unmistakable. For a long time now, instrumental parts determined by the organ , Minimoog and electric guitar were significant . The album was influenced in the recording phase by motifs from Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets , but Holst's widow refused to approve it. Only the single Joybringer, not included in the album, quotes a Holst motif (Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity). An elaborate arrangement of Father of Day, Father of Night by Bob Dylan served as the opening track . From this point onwards, the Earth Band's formula for success was to cover compositions by other artists and to give them their own, unmistakable sound.
The following album The Good Earth (1974) consistently continued the concept recorded with Solar Fire . The artful sound picked up on the previous album was again mixed with blues rock borrowings. With I'll Be Gone and Launching Place , Earth Band covered the A and B sides of a single by the Australian band Spectrum , which was successful in their home country in the 1970s. As a marketing gimmick, every buyer in Great Britain received the alternative option to share a few square centimeters (“one square foot”) of land on a hill in Wales with the album : Quote: “The owner of this album is entitled to rights over one square foot of the earth situated at Llanerchyrfa in the County of Breron, Wales in Great Britain, subject to registration on or before 31st December, 1975. ” The back of the album contains an imprint of the relevant certificate and a photo of the hill.
The band's sixth album, released in 1975, Nightingales & Bombers , contained the Earth Band's first Bruce Springsteen cover version, Spirits in the Night . The sound of the album follows the title of this song and consistently contained a dark and mysterious flair. As a soloist, Manfred Mann's Minimoog dominated, which from this point on he increasingly used it with a resonance filter. This can be heard particularly well in the instrumental pieces As Above, So Below and Crossfade .
1976-1988
From 1975 there were changes: The singer and guitarist Mick Rogers left the band in the fall of 1975. He was replaced by Chris Thompson as singer and guitarist and Dave Flett , also on guitar. Colin Pattenden also left the band in the spring of 1977 after a tour of the USA. Pat King became the new bass player. The change in personnel was slowly followed by a change in musical style. Although the musical legacy of Solar Fire remained as the core of the band sound until the 1980s, the mainstream was increasingly turned .
The greatest commercial successes followed for Manfred Mann's Earth Band in 1976 and 1978 with the albums The Roaring Silence and Watch . These records feature songs like Blinded by the Light (another Springsteen cover) and Davy's on the Road again , which became international chart hits. Blinded by the Light reached number 1 on the US singles chart.
The band remained commercially successful in the years that followed. The albums Angel Station (1979) and Chance (1980) tended increasingly towards pop music. The concept album Somewhere in Afrika (1982) dealt thematically with apartheid in the band leader's South African homeland, including a version of the Bob Marley classic Redemption Song and Demolition Man , originally by The Police . As early as 1978, Chris Slade, the last member of Mann's original formation, had left the group. Lead guitarist Dave Flett also went with him. For this, Steve Waller (guitar) and Geoff Britton (drums) joined the band. Britton was replaced by John Lingwood (drums) a short time after the recordings for the album Angel Station , before its release, because his health was ailing.
In 1983 a compilation of three concerts in Budapest was released as an LP under the name Budapest Live . With the exception of Spirits in the Night from the Nightingales and Bombers album, the record only contained songs from the commercially successful phase since 1978.
After 1983 the Earth Band fell silent. It wasn't until 1986 that a new album was released, Criminal Tango , on which Mick Rogers played again. In 1987 Masque followed , which contained a re-recording of the song Joybringer , which was the first commercial success for the Earth Band as a single for the Solar Fire album. Maggie Ryder also worked as a singer and replaced Chris Thompson, who concentrated on his solo career and wrote the world hit You're the voice for John Farnham . However, both albums no longer reached the sales figures of their predecessors. In 1988 the Earth Band broke up.
Since 1991
In 1991 Manfred Mann managed to reorganize the band with Mick Rogers. The 1990s were mainly characterized by tours and live performances, where singers Noel McCalla and later Chris Thompson joined the band. As a result, a new studio and live album ( Soft Vengeance , 1996 and Mann Alive , 1998) were released in the 1990s . Chris Thompson left the band again in 1997.
In 2004 Manfred Mann released another studio album called 2006 , on which he went new musical ways and on which he gave himself the new alias "Manfred Mann '06" in order to distinguish himself from his previous work with MMEB for this project . According to his own statement, the name is intended as a joke: The CD was released in all countries in 2004 and 2005. On the album, which was released under Manfred Mann with Manfred Mann's Earth Band , Chris Thompson could be heard again alongside the band members at the time. In addition to many other artists, saxophonist Barbara Thompson and rapper Thomas D. had guest appearances.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band continued to perform regularly, especially in Central Europe. The line-up corresponded to the formation from the 1990s, but the drummer changed several times. A little more consistency in this position came from 2007 with Jimmy Copley . Noel McCalla left the band in September 2009. Peter Cox joined the band as the new lead singer . In the summer of 2010, Noel McCalla was still there at some concerts (including in Dormagen and Rottweil ) to represent Cox, who was prevented by other obligations. On March 18, 2011 the band finally announced in their newsletter no. 13 that Peter Cox would be replaced by Robert Hart as the new singer. In December 2015, Jimmy Copley had to leave the band after being diagnosed with leukemia . John Lingwood has been back on drums since 2016 .
In 2009 Manfred Mann announced a solo album on which various artists should support him. The release of the album, which was finally titled Lone Arranger , took until October 17th, 2014. Another Mick Rogers solo album, initially planned under the title The Guitarist , was released on March 15, 2013 as Sharabang .
Manfred Mann 2016
Mick Rogers 2016
Robert Hart 2016
Steve Kinch 2016, with John Lingwood in the background
The guitarist and singer Mick Rogers (2010)
Manfred Mann's Earth Band live in Gelsenkirchen on June 11, 2010
Discography
See there the sections about Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
literature
- Greg Russo: Mannerisms - The Five Phases of Manfred Mann . 2nd Edition. Crossfire Publications, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-9791845-2-9 (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ About The Good Earth
- ↑ Entry on the band's website for The Good Earth ( memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Melody Maker, November 8, 1975, p. 4
- ^ New Musical Express, April 16, 1977, p. 3
- ^ New Musical Express, February 18, 1978, p. 5
- ↑ a b Mannerisms - The five phases of Manfred Mann, Greg Russo, Crossfire Publications, 1995, ISBN 0-9648157-1-0 , page 114
- ↑ a b Melody Maker, February 10, 1979, p. 4
- ↑ Mannerisms - The five phases of Manfred Mann, Greg Russo, Crossfire Publications, 1995, ISBN 0-9648157-1-0 , page 117
- ↑ Mannerisms - The five phases of Manfred Mann, Greg Russo, Crossfire Publications, 1995, ISBN 0-9648157-1-0 , page 164
- ↑ Press information on the band's website , accessed on November 29, 2014
- ↑ BBC article on Jimmy Copley's project Live on through the music
- ^ Entry on the band website about Lone Arranger , accessed on November 29, 2014
- ^ Entry on Mick Rogers ' personal website , accessed November 29, 2014
