SUMMER 1996

Issue No 9

Contents

• Manfred (article by Manfred)
• The Birth of MMEB
• Manfred Mann's Earthband 1996
• Soft Vengeance 1996 Eurpoean Tour - The Band and Crew
• Manfred Mann Fact File
• Fish Soup (news)
• MMEB Discography 1971 - 1991 (Greg Russo)

Manfred's Article

Andy Taylor has asked me to write an article for MMEB fans, which is something that I've never done before in my career, I've however decided to take this seriously and write at some length.

First of all may I say that I am genuinely gratified by your continued interest in MMEB and it is not something I take for granted, or am in any sense blaze about.

What I would like to do in this letter, is to give an inside into, and explanation for what I've done over the last few years (since Plains Music), this may partly explain why it's taken so long to produce the new E.B. album.

The standard way that most people make albums, is to go into the studio, record an album, and then after release go on tour, and promote the album with a concert tour.

We decided in 1991 to break this pattern, (partly accidentally because we were offered a summer tour with The Beach Boys). We would rehearse songs for the concert stage first, and then having performed them in front of an audience, we would consider them as songs for the album. This would give us the benefit and experience of repeated performance in front of audiences, to knock out the rough spots, and to be comfortable with the arrangements etc.

Part of me, was attracted by breaking the accepted current methods of working and trying to do something new, although of course in one sense it wasn't new at all, in fact it was the way the original Manfred Mann group recorded its very first album in 1964, or at least most of that album 'Five Faces Of Manfred Mann'.

The Earth Band that did the '91 concerts included two new members Noel McCalla (who had sung beautifully on Plains Music), and Clive Bunker (drums).

For me, personally it was pretty nerve wracking to appear in front of an E.B. audience with a new singer. As a result we rehearsed very intensively over a fairly long period, because I wanted to be quite sure that we could carry it off.

For those of you who saw the performances over the past few years, I hope it was obvious that I needn't have been concerned. Noel was a wonderful singer and performer, and it only took one line of 'Shelter From The Storm', our opening song, for the audience doubts to evaporate, (or so it seemed).

In deciding how to record the album, it seemed obvious that we should play live in the studio as we had on stage. However, I think I ought to explain how I view the concept of 'live in the studio' because it has meant different things at different times, due to changing technology.

In the early 1960's, there was no alternative other than playing live. 'LIVE' meant all playing together at the same time, with vocals and perhaps SOLOS added afterwards. This was four track recording, and it meant that if the group played out of time or badly it was awful and if good it could be wonderful, but the concept of timing meant playing well in time with each other, not a metronome click, so that any variations took place naturally, because we were interacting with each other we didn't bother to analyse it at all. We were just concerned to 'lock - into' each others playing, as best we could. We couldn't repair mistakes. We had to play it all again.

As the 60's and 70's went by, we were able to use more and more tracks for recording, currently 48, which meant that we could start repairing mistakes, and eventually doing our playing one at a time. However since human beings are not metronomes, what we were doing was adding timing inaccuracy because headphones are not the same as playing in the same room at the same time. This is one of the reasons for the speed on some 50's and 60's recordings.

There is much more I could say on this subject, for example the use of computers and how they affect our concept of timing, but, I'll never get to the point if I do. The point being that I decided to record this album to an old fashioned, almost retro fashion. We rehearsed and played all at the same time in the same room, over a period of 7 or 8 days and did about 10 songs and then overdubbed vocals.

Some of these songs had been performed in concert and been enormously successful. However to my surprise and immense disappointment, it simply didn't work on tape. For some reason the emotion and power, simply didn't transmit from the speakers. I really didn't know why, but I suppose it's obviously really, we expect different things on tape as opposed to live performance.

In making the album we went through a number of different stages, very roughly, these are:-

a). The original live recording.
b). The tracks that Richard Burgess produced.
c). Chris Thompson's reinvolvement.

Each of these phases have produced some tracks I am happy with and some that have failed. Let me explain the reinvolvement with Chris Thompson.

Early in '95 at the suggestion of our mutual accountant, (currently under Police investigation for financial irregularities, involving Chris Thompson, myself, Robert Palmer, Chris Slade and Colin Pattenden), I tentatively decided to try Chris on 2 or 3 tracks, which I felt might benefit from his voice.

Immediately certain things felt right, it was as if the traditional sound of the Earth Band was resurfacing, and as a result we've done a few more tracks. This wasn't at all easy, because in some cases, I had to completely re-do tracks in different keys, in order to get the best out of Chris. One of the difficulties in working with Chris Thompson is that he always sounds very good, never ever bad, and it can be misleading, because although his sound is good, it's not necessarily great, and the emotion doesn't ultimately transmit as you might imagine it would. Pleasure and Pain which is one of my favourite tracks was finished after endless work, first with Noel and then with Chris, and it was O.K. I then decided to start it again in another key, because I thought perhaps Chris could do it still better. Although C# is very close to C, it made an enormous difference, suddenly lo and behold it felt wonderful and the final track was fairly quick to finish and mix.

Another problem I have is being a split personality. Although I really am at all times trying to make music that stands the test of time, music that Earth Band fans are not disappointed with, and music that hopefully can stand comparison with the best that we've done before, which is not at all easy. There is another aspect, which is derived from the fact that I did once make 'Do Wah Diddy', 'Pretty Flamingo', `Mighty Quinn`in the 1960's and 'Joybringer', 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Davey' in the 1970's. These were all very successful hit chart singles. I suppose there is a part of me that realises that one successful chart type single would make an enormous difference to the longevity and future success of Earth Band. As a result I do very often spend too much time on tracks that could conceivably be 'HIT records' and which very often aren't used in the end, because they neither sound like they would succeed and on the other hand they aren't good album tracks.

Another problem I have is that less and less of Rock music moves me in the way it used to when I was younger, and as a result less of my own music touches me emotionally, and so the search goes on and on. There is also of course the sometimes quite subtile distinction between what is a classic sound and what is simply 'old fashioned'. Don't let me give the impression that I approach the music in this way, not at all, I operate very much on instinct, it's only when I step away from it all that I can analyse it in this manner.

Nevertheless, as I write this we are virtually finished, it just remains to conclude the business arrangement which may delay things a bit.

I hope that you enjoy the results, and once again thanks for your support.

Manfred Mann
March 1996

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