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As we all know well by now, Chris Thompson was by far the most impressive vocalist Manfred had auditioned and so he promptly offered him the new
front man position. A dynamic and powerful singer with an incredible range, who as we shall see, contributed tremendously to the restructuring of the Earth Band. Although still relatively unknown he did however tour his native New
Zealand with a band called 'Hillberry Walker', who had no vinyl output, but nevertheless won support slots with Chuck berry and Little Richard. Thompson's first recording band 'Central Park Reunion' virtually sank without trace.
Next, Chris tried his hand at joining an established band, almost succeeding in replacing Russ Ballard in 'Argent' (another of my all time favourite bands), who eventually chose singer John Verity over him. Today, Chris Thompson is
respected and admired as one of the absolute best in the business. Errol Brown's 'Hot Chocolate', Queen's Brian May, Michael McDonald and Pat Simmonds of the Doobie Brothers keenly cited him as a personal favourite. Although a
competent rhythm guitarist, Manfred decided to expand the Earth Band to a quintet by adding another guitarist. Mick Rogers had certainly left some shoes to fill! His eventual successor was settled on, a long haired young man
hailing from the North of England. Dave Flett was only a mere 25 years of age. He had played in a couple of bands in his native Aberdeen, (a neighbour of Annie Lennox). Although somewhat of an unknown, he was one hell of a fiery
player - a real pro. Dave moved to London, not initially to further his musical career, but instead was offered a 9:00 - 5:00 job driving a laundry van around South London. Dave had a friend who had an acquaintance that happened to
work at Manfred's Workhouse Studio, and he knew about the guitarist vacancy in MMEB. He saw Fletty in his laundry van, yelled out to him at the traffic lights - which had just turned green! - The poor man still determined to let
the cat out of the bag sprinted after Dave's van down Lewisham High Street. He caught him at the next lights, sweating, panting and completely out of breath, tapped on his window to be the bearer of good news. An audition date was
set, and Dave was in, thus marking the beginning of MMEB Mark II.
Much to his new employers delight, Chris Thompson was not a Frank Zappa fanatic, like the recently departed Mick Rogers. He was instead a Bruce Springsteen fan which pleased
Manfred a great deal, as it was Manfred's first intention to rehearse another song from the Boss's 'Greetings From Asbury Park' album, which would ultimately lead to the Earth Band's song of all, 'Blinded By The Light'.
Once again an extensive rehearsal period was required to blend the two newcomers into the band, firstly fulfilling US club dates in November 1975, (a great US radio show of 'My Father's
Place' exists and is well worth investigating), with a roster of gigs in the UK to follow shortly afterwards. The first time I saw the new line-up was once again at The Greyhound, Croydon,
in January 1976. The suspense of seeing MMEB for the first time without Mick Rogers was virtually swallowing me up. As usual I was bright and early and positioned myself in the front
row. I was so happy to see them back in action again, with the additional bonus of hearing three new songs; 'Waiter, There's a Yawn In My Ear', 'Well Well Well' (later retitled 'Road To
Babylon') and 'Blinded By The Light'. I immediately took to Dave Flett thinking that he really looked the part. However in all honesty I found Chris Thompson's vocals a trifle difficult to get
used to, after all, I was a huge Mick Rogers fan. As time went by, I learned to love Chris's role in the Earth Band more and more. The second time I saw the new line-up was at the Imperial College, South Kensington. This
time around I was more familiar with the set. There was no holds barred! Whilst most students were courteous and sat cross-legged on the floor, I was once again going into
overkill. At the end of the gig I reached out to shake hands with Dave Flett, to politely enquire when I could expect to see them play again. I couldn't hear him properly as my ears were
ringing. I accidentally pulled him towards me, infact so hard that Dave fell off the stage (and he never forgave me for that!). Live appearances were plentiful and us fans were soon rewarded with a trio of dates at
London's Marquee Club, for a Bronze records week special. The other two gigs to round off that glorious Easter week were performed by Colosseum 2. During this time I was going out
with an Irish girl called Diane, we were walking down Old Compton Street heading towards
the famous London Music Club, and saw Manfred walking towards us. I thought, "Uh Huh, it's MY MANN!". He stopped to ask me how I was and
shook my hand. Somewhat bewildered he said, "I would love to know how you manage to turn up everywhere?". He smiled at me with genuine
affection, and off he went. As you can well imagine I was thrilled to bits that my endeavours were at last paying off, and that Manfred had finally acknowledged me as one of his most dedicated fans.
1976 was indeed a very successful year for MMEB. A number six chart placing resulted with 'Blinded By The Light', plus a top ten album with
'The Roaring Silence', and a sell out British tour. Manfred was certainly enjoying a tremendous resurgence in popularity. The year was rounded
off by three pre-Christmas gigs in Ipswich, Southampton and The New Victoria Theatre in London, (their first major London appearance
headlining). That particular weekend, they had previewed a new song, 'Davy's On The Road Again', dedicating it to their new guitarist.
Aficionados may be interested to know the song was originally penned by 'The Band's' Robbie Robertson.
In February 1977 'Blinded' finally reached the Number One chart position in America. MMEB just couldn't fail to succeed, they had struck a winning
formula! However, the second major change in personnel occurred when long serving bassist Colin Pattenden resigned, the second original band
member to leave. I had always loved Colin's playing and was sorry to hear of his departure, particularly as he had worked with Chris Slade so well.
Mark Clarke was soon drafted in as a replacement. A seasoned musician and vocalist, who had performed with Colosseum, Uriah Heep and
Tempest, (three Bronze acts). His stay was very brief indeed, and he left within a month to take up residency in the United States. The search
for that elusive bass player was on again! Somebody at The Workhouse recommended Pat (Speedy) King, another Scottish gentleman from
Crimmond, Aberdeen, who had played on sessions with Lulu, Cat Stevens and an obscure and collectable band called 'Trifle', whom incidentally
covered 'One Way Glass' on their lone album 'The First Meeting' in 1970. Then, would you believe, as good fortune would have it, 'ol Pat landed
himself a job as a croupier in the swish Playboy Club in Park Lane! Then it was back to more session work, this time around with Gary Glitter and
the Dooleys......AAAAHHH!! Before finally accepting a more respectable gig with Shanghai, along with veteran vocalist Cliff Bennett and Mick
Green (ex Johnny Kidd and the Pirates), released a pair of promising albums and further more received the distinguished honour of supporting Status Quo on tour.I |
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Incidentally, their drummer Pete Kirschner (ex Honeybus), later joined the Quo. No dates surfaced in 1977. I did however travel over to Holland to see the Kinks, MMEB (going down very well), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Nils Lofgren at The Pink Pop Festival. The only vinyl product to emerge during the first part of the year was a reworked 'Spirits In The Night'. If there was ever a single that deserved to be a hit in MMEB's lengthy career aside from 'Joybringer' and 'Blinded' it was this. Thus far to date then, 'California' - released in November was simple, melodic and lovely. Despite tremendous airplay, being Tony Blackburn's record of the week, and reaching number 2 on the Radio One playlist, it sadly eluded the UK Top 100 altogether.[Top] |
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