THE VERY BEST OF VOL. 1 & 2

The good earth (band)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band have tended to represent the lighter side of prog over the years, gradually moving towards more commercial albums as they enjoyed singles success. This excellent collection of many of their best tracks, foregoes chronological presentation in order to ensure the eye catching singles appear first. Thus the excellent early prog interpretation of Dylan's "Father of day, Father of night" is hidden away half way through CD2, while the enormously successful (and admittedly excellent) cover of Springsteen's "Blinded by the light" opens (and indeed closes with a live version) the album.

All the singles are here, although it is disappointing to find that room has only been found for the edited version of "Davy's on the road again". With the collection extending to 2 CD's, space is however available for some less well known, but nonetheless excellent MMEB tracks such as Bob Marley's "Redemption song" from "Somewhere in Afrika", and "Singing the dolphin through" plus "The road to Babylon" from "The roaring silence".

While MMEB are not short of song writing talent themselves, their forte has always been their ability to transform the works of others, and in particular Dylan and Springsteen, into prog pop classics. In addition to those already mentioned tracks, "For you", "Spirits in the night" and of course "The mighty Quinn" offer further worthy examples of such interpretations.

In all, a good diverse representation of the band's work. There are of course notable omissions, (personally I reckon "Waiting for the rain" should be number one on any draft listing for a MMEB compilation), but you can please some of the people etc.

Excellent compilation for Manfred Mann's Earth Band, able to represent the POP(ular) side of Prog. MMEB updates that Manfred Mann was produced in the 60's with the new language of Prog Rock. A large area is reserved for covers (Dylan, Springsteen, Bob Marley) managed to turn into songs with Prog Rock have little in common. Musically MMEB is not a light band (as sound) and the component Prog is not too bad. Being able to make a true reflection, the Prog side of MMEB consists of the Mini Moog that Manfred Mann is capable to sing and shine like few others. Despite MMEB can be considered a cover band with original songs, we can say that it is the product of the 70's and this 2 CD compilation confirms what I said.

I own a few albums of MMEB and MMB but I must admit that only compilations can involve me as the music proposed is capable of doing. So I can only recommend this compilation that contains all the hits from a band truly unique and totally perfect for those who love 70's music.