WATCH

Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Eclectic Prog

3.77 | 250 ratings

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Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

Davy's on the fish soup again!

By 1978, MMEB were round about their peak in terms of success. Creatively, they appeared to have stalled, if anything moving back towards a more commercial sound. That said, they were still producing excellent albums.

"Davy's on the road again" is the (rightly) the best known track on "Watch". It was a huge hit in the singles chart, but don't let that put you off, it's still a great song. The album version is somewhat longer, including as it does a keyboard solo omitted from the single. Like "Blinded by the light" before it, the song is a great piece of pop prog.

"Drowning on dry land/Fish soup" has some good guitar work, backed by mellotron. "California" was also released as a single, but enjoyed far less success. It's a much softer track, with some beautiful vocals by Chris Thompson. The song makes for a fine album track, but was clearly not strong enough in a pop context for singles success.

"Martha's madman" has become something of a live standard over the years. The album track here is probably the nearest to true prog the album gets, with Dave Flett once again contributing some admirable guitar.

The inclusion of the Dylan composed Manfred Mann classic "Mighty Quinn" is for me, a bit of a waste of space. The song, which was a huge hit for Manfred Mann's eponymous 60's combo, already sounded dated by the time this album was released, and is now little more than a fun sing-a-long.

The bonus tracks on the remastered CD are all just alternative edits of tracks on the album, there's nothing new (even Bouillabaisse" is just "Fish Soup" by another name). An enjoyable album with some find instrumental work, but in all just a little too commercial.

Easy Livin | 4/5 | 2004-4-14

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