Up for auction "Manfred Mann's Earth Band" Group Signed Album Page. Signers are; Paul Jones, Mike Hugg, Mike D'Abo and Rob Townsend.  

ES-4112

Manfred Mann's Earth Band is an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann. Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's "For You", "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night". After forming in 1971 and with a short hiatus in the late 1980s/early 1990s, the Earth Band continues to perform and tour. Keyboardist Manfred Mann started in the 1960s with the self-titled band that had such hits as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and Bob Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn" and then moved on to jazz fusion-inspired Manfred Mann Chapter Three before forming the Earth Band in 1971. In his 2003 autobiography, Klaus Voormann, an associate of the Beatles and a former member of the group Manfred Mann, alleges to have inspired the Earth Band's name by having suggested several times throughout the 1960s that Mann's soft pop style of those days had to become "earthier" and rockier, not least because of the seemingly effeminate image of Mann's earlier band which had led to a number of close encounters with violence, particularly in Ireland. According to the officially approved version, however, the name was chosen at the suggestion of drummer Chris Slade in September 1971 and is related to the ecological movement ongoing at the time. The original line-up consisted of Mick Rogers (guitar and vocals), Manfred Mann (keyboards, Minimoog synthesizer and vocals), Colin Pattenden (bass guitar) and Chris Slade (drums and vocals). In its very earliest stages, the band was simply billed as "Manfred Mann" and thus a continuation of the 1960s group. The quartet released their first single, "Please Mrs. Henry", in 1971. Their second single, Randy Newman's "Living Without You", was also released by 'Manfred Mann' in Europe, but by 'Manfred Mann's Earth Band' in the USA, where the track became a minor chart hit. On two non-charting single releases in the UK in 1972/73, the group was billed simply as 'Earth Band', but otherwise, from 1972 forward, 'Manfred Mann's Earth Band' was the band name used on all releases. The membership of the Earth Band was stable between 1971 and 1976, during which time they released their first six albums. The Earth Band combines the stylistic approach of progressive rock with Mann's jazz-influenced Moog synthesizer playing and keen ear for melody. Beside producing their own material, a staple of the band's music and live performances from the beginning has been also relying on covers of songs by other modern pop/rock artists, notably Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, in their progressive rock style. Mann's interest in English 20th century classical music saw him adapt Gustav Holst's Planets Suite and turn a version of the "Jupiter" movement into a UK hit entitled Joybringer (included on the 1973 album Solar Fire). Other classical music adaptations include "Questions" from the 1976 album The Roaring Silence (which is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major), "Solar Fire is in Earth, the Circle, Pt. 1" (which uses the melody from Claude Debussy's "Jimbo's Lullaby") and "Starbird" also from 1976's The Roaring Silence (which is based upon Igor Stravinski's ballet The Firebird). The title song to 1973's Messin' (written by Mike Hugg and originally recorded by Chapter Three on their unissued third album), as well as most of the 1974 album The Good Earth, tapped into ecological concerns, a recurring theme in Mann's music in later years, with The Good Earth giving away a free gift of a piece of land in Wales with each album sold. Like other prog-rock acts, the band also issued concept albums on space and sci-fi themes (particularly the 1973 album Solar Fire and the singles "Launching Place" off the 1974 The Good Earth and "Starbird" off the 1976 The Roaring Silence) and religious or biblical imagery ("Prayer" on the band's debut album, "Buddah" on Messin', Dylan's "Father of Day, Father of Night" and "In the Beginning, Darkness" on Solar Fire, "The Road to Babylon" and "This Side of Paradise" on The Roaring Silence and "Resurrection" on the 1979 Angel Station). Social criticism was also addressed ("Black and Blue" on Messin' dealt particularly with slavery and "Chicago Institute" on Watch with mental institutions and science as a means of social control); a trend which grew throughout the 1980s, with songs such as Lies (Through the 1980s) on technological progress vs. social setbacks on Chance (1980), and with Mann's growing involvement with the anti-apartheid movement which was featured on the 1982 album Somewhere in Afrika. Mann's intention for acknowledgement of oppressed ethnic groups also influenced the 1992 album Plains Music, which featured traditional Native American music.