Manfred Mann's Earth Band (album)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band is the eponymous debut studio album by English rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band, released on 24 January 1972 by Polydor Records.

Marketing and sales

Manfred Mann's Earth Band was first released in January 1972 by Polydor Records in the United States, where it sold modestly and charted for six weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 138 on 18 March. The single "Living Without You" spent seven weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number 69 on 8 April. In the United Kingdom, the album was released on 18 February by Philips Records to lesser sales.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Christgau's Record Guide	A+
Creem	favourable
Disc
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Only Solitaire
Rolling Stone	unfavourable
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Sounds

The album was met with positive reviews from American critics. Henry Edwards of High Fidelity said the Earth Band had proved themselves greatly superior to other acts in the "British Blues Invasion of the Seventies" by displaying a dedication to the music rather than flaunting their individual abilities. He also applauded bandleader Manfred Mann's performances of "Part Time Man" and "I'm Up and I'm Leaving", writing that they possessed "that haunting, urgent quality that has always marked Mann not only as a quality rocker but also as a musician with serious intentions and the ability to realize them". Ramparts magazine called the album a respite from the "excessively abstracted psychedelic/hard rock" of the time, as well as an exceptional-sounding record that would prove to be "a landmark in the assimilation of new technology into rock without yielding to any impulse to make it a gimmick". At the end of 1972, Manfred Mann's Earth Band was named the third best album of the year in Robert Christgau's column for Newsday. The music critic applauded Mann's innovative synthesizer parts and both the "original and borrowed" lyrics, while calling the album "one of those future-rock records that will probably spawn no heirs, even by the group that made it". Reviewers in the UK were less receptive to the album, according to Robert Corich in his notes for its reissue.

Christgau later ranked the album number 17 on a decade-end list for The Village Voice, and described it as "an extraordinary cult record" that achieved rock's dichotomous "art-commerce" synthesis, something he said Mann had espoused since the early years of his music career. AllMusic critic J.P. Ollio called it "a completely satisfying album and one of the most underrated of the '70s", in which the Earth Band explored "arty and progressive directions" without succumbing to the weight of their own pretensions. Ollio highlighted the record's "hypnotic instrumentals", Mann's "exhilarating original songs", and the "three definitive covers" of Randy Newman's "Living Without You", Dr. John's "Jump Sturdy", and Bob Dylan's "Please, Mrs. Henry".

Track listing

Side one

"California Coastline" (Walt Meskell, Tim Martin) – 2:48
"Captain Bobby Stout" (Lane Tietgen) – 6:54
"Sloth" (Manfred Mann, Mick Rogers) – 1:27
"Living Without You" (Randy Newman) – 3:36
"Tribute" (Mann) – 5:32

Side two

"Please Mrs Henry" (Bob Dylan) – 4:32
"Jump Sturdy" (Dr. John Creaux) – 4:49
"Prayer" (Mann) – 5:41
"Part Time Man" (David Sadler, Mann) – 3:05
"I'm Up and I'm Leaving" (Mann, Sadler) – 3:11

Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–10 on CD reissues.

1999 CD bonus tracks

"Living Without You" (Single version mono) (Newman) – 3:36
"California Coastline" (Single version mono) (Meskell, Martin) – 2:47
"Mrs Henry" (Single version mono) (Dylan) – 2:39

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's 1999 reissue booklet.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Manfred Mann – Hammond organ, Minimoog synthesizer, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Part Time Man” and “I’m Up and Leaving”, production
Mick Rogers – electric guitar, lead vocals
Colin Pattenden – bass guitar
Chris Slade – drums

Additional personnel

David Mackay – producer
Dave Hadfield – engineer, producer
John Pantry – engineer
Bloomsbury Group – design
Bob Foster – photography
Re-mastered by: Robert M. Corich and Mike Brown

Charts

Chart (1972)	Peak position
US Billboard 200	138

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Norway (IFPI Norway)	Platinum	50,000
Sales figures based on certification alone.

References

^ Corich, Robert M.; Taylor, Andy (May 1999). Manfred Mann's Earth Band (CD reissue booklet). Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Cohesion Records. MANN 003.
"Manfred Mann Earth Band Living Without You – Tribute (EP)". Spirit of Rock. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
"Manfred Mann Earth Band Mrs. Henry – Prayer (EP)". Spirit of Rock. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
"Great Rock Discography". p. 514.
"Billboard 200 – March 18, 1972". Retrieved 30 July 2017.
"Billboard Hot 100 – April 4, 1972". Retrieved 6 August 2017.
^ Ollio, J.P. (n.d.). "Manfred Mann's Earth Band – Manfred Mann's Earth Band". AllMusic. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: M". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved 4 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
Marsh, Dave (April 1972). "Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Manfred Mann's Earth Band". Creem. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
AT (25 March 1972). "Manfred Mann: Manfred Mann's Earth Band" (PDF). Disc. p. 17. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
Larkin, Colin (1998). "Manfred Mann's Earth Band". Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Groves Dictionaries. pp. 3438–39. ISBN 1-561-59237-4.
Starostin, George. "Manfred Mann's Earth Band". Only Solitaire.
Metal Mike Saunders (30 March 1972). "Manfred Mann: Manfred Mann's Earth Band". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
Marsh, Dave (1983). "Manfred Mann". In Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (eds.). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2th ed.). Random House. pp. 313–314. ISBN 0-394-72107-1.
Fielder, Hugh (1978). "And he means it, Mann". Sounds. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
Edwards, Henry (April 1972). "The Lighter Side". High Fidelity. p. 106.
Anon. (April 1972). "Records". Ramparts. p. 60.
Christgau, Robert (31 December 1972). "Choice Bits From a 'Sorry' Year". Newsday. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
Christgau, Robert (17 December 1979). "Decade Personal Best: '70s". The Village Voice. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
"Manfred Mann's Earth Band Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
"IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved 1 March 2020.

External links

Manfred Mann's Earth Band at Discogs (list of releases)
Manfred Mann's Earth Band (2014 Creature Music remaster) (Adobe Flash) at Spotify (streamed copy where licensed)

v t e Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Manfred Mann Mick Rogers Robert Hart John Lingwood Steve Kinch Chris Thompson Steve Waller Chris Slade Colin Pattenden Pat King Jimmy Copley Clive Bunker Dave Flett Matt Irving Shona Laing Richard Marcangelo Geoff Britton Noel McCalla John Trotter Geoff Dunn Pete May
Studio albums	Manfred Mann's Earth Band (1972) Glorified Magnified (1972) Messin' (Get Your Rocks Off) (1973) Solar Fire (1973) The Good Earth (1974) Nightingales and Bombers (1975) The Roaring Silence (1976) Watch (1978) Angel Station (1979) Chance (1980) Somewhere in Afrika (1982) Criminal Tango (1986) Masque (1987) Plains Music (1991) Soft Vengeance (1996) 2006 (2004) Lone Arranger (2014)
Live albums	Budapest Live (1984) Mann Alive (1998)
Compilations	Blinded by the Light: The Very Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band (1992) The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band Re-Mastered (1999) The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band Re-Mastered Volume II (2001) Odds & Sods – Mis-takes & Out-takes (2005)
Songs	"I'll Be Gone" (1974) "Spirits in the Night" (1975) "Blinded by the Light" (1976) "Mighty Quinn" (1978) "Davy's on the Road Again" (1978) "Don't Kill It Carol" (1979) "For You" (1981) "Redemption Song" (1983) "Runner" (1984)
Related articles	Discography Manfred Mann Manfred Mann Chapter Three The Manfreds

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