Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Manfred's Moogs Article 1975

The Many Moogs of Manfred (Sounds - UK Article 1975)

One of the few bands which uses synthesisers but has not been guilty of synthesiser overkill is Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

Manfred's keyboard work has always been restrained - blended into the overall band sound and not allowed to dominate unreasonably. But what has led him to use the synthesizer in the first place?

"As a keyboard player I always felt a great frustration first with the piano - even though you have a physical connection with it - and particularly with the organ. In the early days I always envied people like saxophone players who had a close physical contact with the sound they produced". "And later with guitarists. They could band down on the strings and make it louder, whereas all I was doing was making an electrical connection and moving my foot down a fraction of an inch."

"It's a great paradox, therefore, that when syntehsizers were developed it brought a return to some kind of physical connection with the sound. There's so much control of notes in terms of bending notes, sliding notes, filters etc... I play all my solos on the synthesiser - I just don't get any feeling out of anything else now."

"I think in the end sytnthesisers will become the definitive keyboard instruments. They are a really long term advance in musical instrument making. I'm absolutely certain of that."

How long I wondered, did it take one to become reasonably proficient on the instrument?

"I don't know really. When I got hold of mine, I just took it home, pissed about a bit and then started using it on gigs. I'm always learning - there's always some sound, even on my little model (a Mini Moog), that I haven't used before."

"The big problem is when to use what, it's not what you do to get the sound. It's how do you fit it into the context of ordinary music instead of self indulgently fiddling around with electronics? That's the problem."

"I've now two now - the Mini Moog and an American one called the Electrocomp 101. Not many people use the Electrocomp, yet it's incredibly good, because it's got a two-note capacity. It's incredibly versatile, and yet it's quite simple to use. Normally the oscillator jumps to the lowest note triggered ion the keyboard. The guy who designed the Electrocomp had the brilliant idea of having one oscillator which would jump to the lowest note and another which would jump to the highest. It's such a simple thing - it's not like polyphonic - but the difference between one and two notes is a huge advance."

"And the Mini Moog is a brilliant invention - a simple, usable synthesizer. You know people get lovely sounds on others and Stevie Wonder uses this model and Billy Preston uses that, but the Mini Moog is completely different - the possibilities are so simple to realise."

"I think that's where the real growth of sytnthesisers will be - in simple, usable instruments with different sounds rather than one which encompasses everything. For example how much better to select your sample and hold device than have to reprogramme your synthesiser to perform a sample and hold function." How much better indeed... but what exactly is a sample and hold device? Manfred explained that it is the method by which you generate a varying frequency and 'sample' it at regular intervals. Because the frequency is varying like a sine-wave, this regular sampling picks out notes at different frequencies, and it sounds more like the notes are going up and down at random. The speed of sampling can be varied so that, for example, your apparently random notes can coincide with the rhythm the rest of the band is playing. Simple but effective.

"But I try to play the instrument creatively, and I try personally to play good music but I'm not in the business of promoting myself as opposed to the band. I'm not in the business of trying to be a keyboard 'name' - I'm more interested in the direction of the band."

And the news there of course is that the line up of the band has changed, guitarist Mick Rogers being replaced by singer/guitarist Chris Thompson and guitarist Dave Flett. Manfred envisages that, whereas the band had been perhaps 80 percent 'instrumental' before, it will now be more like 60 percent instrumental with much more emphasis on vocals.

Having rehearsed extensively with the new band members, the band has been going out on 'test gigs' where they are not publicised as the Earth Band.

"I'm so cautious." explained Manfred, "I've got to be absolutely sure before I get up and do something, that it really is right. It's the same with an album. My belief is that the first 10 gigs any band does will be duff, yet I believe now, listening to us at rehearsal, that my caution has been unnecessary."

"When you play on stage, you really put yourself on the line. Anyone has got the right to get up, turn his back on you and walk out - which is an insult, because you're playing and he's walked out on you. That's why I don't ever want to play in a band that's no good live."

"Gigs are very important to me personally, but professionally I'm more concerned about making good albums. I don't like making records but I need to spend much more time making them. I wish there were no such things as recording studios, but there are."

Manfred in fact, is part owner of a studio in Old Kent Road. As long ago as 1968, he realised that his band was spending so much money in the studio that they might as well have their own. Financially this investment hasn't paid off, he says, but creatively he reckons it has,"

"We try and make things so that other people who use the studio feel as good about it as we do. It makes a tremendous difference - just the facility of having a base is good. Basically a recording studio is usually a very carefully designed instrument to prevent you making music. We're basically live musicians - we like to play loud, and that causes problems. We like to stand round close together - that's not very easy to do. We like to hear each other without headphones - that can't be done."

"You can't just talk to the engineer - you've got to wait until he presses a button, and so it goes on. But I'm pretty determined now to stop fighting recording studios and for the band to become good in the studio. The best albums are made by people that can do that."

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