Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Chance
#409
by Tom Mott
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Chance
Genre: Wrapped Up Like a Douche
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Tom’s Rating: 3.6 out of 5
Highlights:
Lies (Through the 80s)
Adolescent Dream
For You
Stranded
No Guarantee
There's a grandness here that reminds me of Planet P Project "Why Me" or The Kinks "Give The People What They Want.”
I love Manfred Mann. The hits anyways. His version of Blinded by the Light is definitive. Their song Fox on the Run -- no, not that Fox on the Run -- is a classic, and oddly became a bluegrass classic. Watch the video for Fox on the Run on YouTube, and tell me Klaus Voorman, designer of the Revolver cover for the Beatles, doesn't look like a member of an East Coast new wave bar band circa 1979 (Cars, Feelies) ten years ahead of his time. That's one good lookin' dude.
Anyways, while you're all listening to Dylan, I'm listening to Donovan. Manfred Mann ... look, he's not the Beatles. I know that. Not the Kinks. But the British Invasion is a big tent, and he was in the mix with the Small Faces, The Animals, and DC5. All contenders.) And this is Manfred Mann's Earth Band, which makes it more like Wings or Starship I suppose.
So.
This album.
I never heard it before. If it was someone else, I'd probably immediately rate it 1 point lower. What can I say. I'm a label whore. This is not the music I'm looking for. But for what it's doing, it does it well. If you like their version of Blinded By the Light, this is that, but without that song. The production is crisp, clean, and rich. The synths hava a certain Styx-Kansas feel to them. This would be fantastic on headphones in 1980, right alongside "Pieces of Eight." The lead vocals -- hey, it's the Blinbed By the Light guy! Calling occupants of interplanetary craft. Did someone call a starship? Your ride is here. Alice Cooper "We're All Clones" comes to mind. I won't listen again, but none of it sounds like filler. It's all really well done ... but doesn't quite hit the target. Not filler. But there's no single. One thing about being forced to listen: it's like art school. The more you look at someone's work, the more you get out of it. And the less you want to judge. Just fucking applaud the effort, you know?
