The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band

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Manfred Mann's Earth Band

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This album is a very pleasing and fun album. Manfred Mann, the leader of the group and keyboardist, did a superb job finding the musicians for his band and arranging ALL covers on this CD. Being Manfred's band him being a keyboardist, there is a lot of keyboard action of pretty much every song. Only two songs on this album are of original material...being Questions & On the Run. The song Blinded by the Light, which was written by Bruce Springsteen, is probably the best cover of all time. The song topped the U.S. charts in February of 1977, so it's something that you are hopefully familiar with. Songs like Questions, Circles, and Hollywood are great slower songs. You Angel You is a happier song with a good beat to it. Davey's On the Road Again and Quinn the Eskimo (once a top 10 hit) have a live approach to them with a nice sound and great solos by both the guitar and keyboards. Quit Your Lowdown Ways, Don't Kill It Carol, For You, Blinded by the Light, and Spirit in the Night (once a top 40 hit) are the rock-styled awesome songs. Chris Thompson, the lead vocalist who appears on all songs but Spirit in the Night & Quit Your Low Down Ways (Mick Rogers being the lead singer on those songs), is a superb vocalist that fits the songs he is in perfectly. My only flaw with it is that a couple of songs like On the Run, although an alright song, sound too retro, meaning too 1980's sounding. Even living through the 80's, I never liked that style of music. Please, don't take my word for buying this album unless you know of Manfred Mann's Earth Band. As with EVERY album, please listen to sound samples of every song before you buy.