Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (MMEB) were the first band I ever
saw live, when, 33 years ago, I went with my elder brother to see them at the
Brighton Dome. Seeing a line up of the Earth Band with only two surviving members
from the 1970s was never going to match a 16 year old’s rock rite of passage.
Back then they were a band that, while far from hip, had had some success only
a few months earlier with a consistently good album “Angel Station”. Then, only
in their mid to late 30s, they had toured the album extensively. They also had
a mixing desk at The Dome. And, they had Chris Thompson on vocals. His is the
voice on the most highly rated MMEB albums, all of which, unsurprisingly, were released
in the 1970s. He was never especially mellifluous or highly dextrous in the vocal
department, but Thompson could do subtlety, and gritty, as required.
Tuesday night’s man in the vocal spotlight was one Robert Hart.
He doesn’t play much guitar, leaving himself free to pose with the mic stand like
he was Rod Stewart in the 1970s. Close-up, in an intimately small venue like
the Jazz Café, this is not a pretty sight. Hart is a competent but uninspiring member
of the rock belter school of vocals. It was little surprise to discover later
that he was Bad Company’s singer long after Paul Rogers had moved on.
MMEB have a great bass player, Steve Kinch, almost a veteran
himself as he joined way back in 1986; a solid and slightly more youthful drummer,
Jimmy Copley; and of course an almost undimmed 72 year old Manfred Mann on trademark
keyboards together with original member Mick Rogers (no relation) on lead guitar
and occasional vocals.
This was a relatively short performance; the night’s entertainment
was partly filled with 45 minutes of Lesley Mendelson, a painfully sincere and
wholly inappropriate 20-something female singer-songwriter from New York. The
Earth Band themselves managed just eleven, admittedly not short, numbers, most
of which would have figured on any “Best of” compilation. Subtler, but, for
fans, highly popular numbers were probably out of Hart’s technical and
emotional range. In some cases they would probably be too musically challenging
for the rest of the band too, at least without that mixing desk and more time spent in
rehearsal. The atmospheric quality found on numbers like “Waiting for the Rain”
(from “Angel Station”, 1979); “It’s All Over Now Baby Blue” (a brave Dylan
cover from 1972); or “Drowning on Dry Land” and “Circles” (from their most commercially
and critically successful LP, “Watch” (1978)) was nowhere to be heard. The performance
of “Martha’s Madman”, taken from “Watch”, failed to get remotely close to the
drama of the original.
“Blinded by the Light” (originally a Springsteen song) was both obligatory
and, as it turned out, well performed on the night. Hart, for once, did not
overdo the vocals, while he and Kinche provided a solid, but not overly dominating,
chorus to accompany Manfred’s verse part (as per the band’s original version).
MMEB are renowned for their covers; detractors would, a little unfairly, say
not for much else. In most cases in the 1970s their interpretations actually
complemented, even, in the above Springsteen example at least, arguably enhancing
the original, in the process of often changing songs beyond recognition. “For
You”, also performed, proved a far, far less satisfying cover of a Springsteen
original. It wasn’t totally absurd though that a third should be added to the night’s
repertoire. “Dancing in the Dark” though proved to be just about the worst
cover I can remember having had the displeasure of hearing a name act do. (And
I heard Westlife do “Matthew and Son” on a rainy morning in London in
1996). This was embarrassing, even, it seemed, to some of the members
of the Earth Band. Total cabaret, and not particularly well done. Unlike “Blinded
by The Light”, and the welter of Dylan covers for which they’re famous, it was made
all the worse for being more or less a straight reproduction, at least until Manfred
tried to rescue it with another blast of what, live, sometimes became an excess
of keyboard noodling.
Things picked up when Robert disappeared and Mick Rogers took
over vocal duties. He is weaker in volume but more in keeping with the style for
which the band is renowned. He sang lead on “Father of Night”, a relatively
obscure Dylan song first recorded by MMEB in 1973, and made it one of the
highlights of the evening. When most of the rest of the band then exited for a well-earned
comfort break, Rogers dusted off another gem, this time from an even earlier Manfred
incarnation: “Doo Wah Diddy”. Singing with only his guitar and the drummer for
accompaniment, Rogers alternated between the pace of the mid-60s original and a
bold, rockabilly-style, reinterpretation.
A fairly decent fist was made of “Davy’s on the Road Again”,
written by Robbie Robertson and John Simon, a live version of which MMEB are as
equally renowned for as “Blinded by the Light”. For the encore yet another song
from “Watch” was chosen, Dylan’s “Mighty Quinn”, which soon relapsed into a pub-style
sing along.
It has to be said that there was a lot of emotion on the
stage. The band, very friendly, upbeat and engaging with the many apparently recognisable
faces in the audience, were plainly having a good time, including even the irascible
old anti-star himself, Manfred Mann. At times he would delight his long time
followers by emerging from behind his fixed and rather defensive bank of keyboards
and strut his stuff with a strap-on “keytar”.
When the band linked arms for one of several bows, you
wondered how much longer there would be as many as two original members still
doing this routine. “For as long as people want to pay,” he recently commented,
and there is a very hard core of devotees who will no doubt go on doing so for
as long as he is still able to play.
