The Good Earth (Album)

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The Good Earth
Studio album by Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Publication
(s)

October 11, 1974 (UK & Europe)
October 28, 1974 (USA)

admission

1974

Label (s) Bronze Island (UK & Europe)
Warner Bros. Records (USA)

Format (s)

LP

Genre (s)

Rock , progressive rock

Title (number)

7th

running time

37:57

occupation

production

Manfred Mann and Earth Band

Studio (s)

The Workhouse, London

chronology
Solar Fire
(1973) 		The Good Earth Nightingales & Bombers
(1975)
Single release
November 1, 1974
(UK & Europe only) 		Be Not Too Hard (Edit)

The Good Earth is the fifth published music album by the British rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band . It was recorded at The Workhouse studio in London and was released in 1974.

The album

The Good Earth contains a mixture of cover versions and their own tracks, which is typical for the Earth Band . The cover versions are a song by Gary Wright and two tracks written by Mike Rudd, the guitarist of the Australian progressive rock band Spectrum . The song Be Not Too Hard is a setting of the poem of the same name by the British poet Christopher Logue by Mick Rogers, which has previously been musically implemented by Donovan and in whose version was sung by Joan Baez . Commercially, the album was rather disappointing and only reached number 157 in the US music charts , although there was no single release there .

Artistic design

The front of the record cover shows a square piece of flower meadow, cut with a spade or a similar tool, with an edge length of around 20 cm, with wildflowers , grasses , herbs , earth crumb and a few snails . In connection with the purchase of the album, there was the option of registering for the rights to a piece of land the size of one square foot (approx. 0.09 m 2 ) using a coupon printed on the inner sleeve (USA: outer sleeve) . Registration was possible until December 31, 1975. The total area of ​​all registered individual pieces of the piece of land located near the village of Llanfrechfa in Wales was then placed under special protection and remained untouched. This gives the album title a special meaning and the band took up the topic of environmental protection very early on in the mid-1970s .

reception

Robert Christgau found the album to be more accessible than its predecessor, but only gave it a rather moderate grade of "B-". He only finds the pieces I'll Be There (sic) and Be Not Too Hard worth mentioning.

Bruce Eder from allmusic describes the band as moving between hard rock , British blues rock influences and progressive rock. Although some less ambitious pieces are dispensable (called I'll Be Gone ), the best musical instincts of the band took hold of others and then led to results worth listening to, for which King Crimson or Be-Bop Deluxe should not be ashamed. The band are pushing their way to the top of their unique brand of progressive / hard rock. The album receives three and a half stars out of five.

Track list

page 1

  1. Give Me the Good Earth (Gary Wright) - 8:30
  2. Launching Place (Mike Rudd) - 5:50
  3. I'll Be Gone (Mike Rudd) - 3:39

Page 2

  2. Earth Hymn (Manfred Mann, Chris Slade) - 6:18
  3. Sky High (Manfred Mann, Mick Rogers) - 5:14
  4. Be Not Too Hard (Mick Rogers, Christopher Logue) - 4:11
  5. Earth Hymn Part 2 (Manfred Mann, Chris Slade) - 4:15

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Greg Russo: Mannerisms - The five phases of Manfred Mann . 2nd Edition. Crossfire Publications, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-9791845-2-9 , pp. 201 .
  2. ↑ a b Greg Russo: Mannerisms - The five phases of Manfred Mann . 2nd Edition. Crossfire Publications, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-9791845-2-9 , pp. 196 .
  3. ↑ a b Greg Russo: Mannerisms - The five phases of Manfred Mann . 2nd Edition. Crossfire Publications, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-9791845-2-9 , pp. 133 .
  4. ↑ The Good Earth (album) at Discogs
  5. ↑ The Good Earth at Discogs
  6. ^ Andy Taylor: Sitting on a slice of the Good Earth. In: A Yawn in Your E-Mail. Platform End (Manfred Mann's Earth Band Fan Club), June 2006, accessed April 16, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Robert Christgau on albums of the Earthband. In: robertchristgau.com. Retrieved April 16, 2019 .
  8. ↑ The Good Earth at Allmusic (English).

Web links