Manfred Mann’s Earth Band are an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann. The band’s hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen’s “For You”, “Blinded by the Light” and “Spirit in the Night”. After forming in 1971 and despite a short hiatus in the late 1980s/early 1990s, the Earth Band has continued to perform and tour through the present. (More from Wikipedia)
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band released their first album, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in 1972 and has an impressive discography by any standard. One of the endearing features of the band’s music is that they continue to unearth obscure Bob Dylan songs for their albums, with one of them, “Get Your Rocks Off” being used as the album name, Get Your Rocks Off (1973). I have been collecting Earth Band albums for close to 40 years and keep finding new ones every few years. Allmusic lists 21 albums by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
The best-known and probably best album by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band is The Roaring Silence (1976); the Wikipedia article comments: “Like other Earth Band albums, this includes material by other composers. ‘Blinded by the Light’, which reached Number One in Billboard’s Hot 100, is a cover version of a track by Bruce Springsteen; ‘Questions’ is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert’s Impromptu in G Flat Major; [and] ‘Starbird’ takes its theme from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird.”
The original album cover of The Roaring Silence is beige; a reissue of The Roaring Silence with a blue cover included “Spirit in the Night”, which was released on the band’s previous album, Nightingales and Bombers but with the name shown on the album as “Spirits in the Night”.
(June 2014)
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Items: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
