Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Sing Dylan (1998)

I've been listening to a lot of Manfred Mann's 60's output recently, and when I heard them again I fondly recalled their interpretations of the three Bob Dylan songs that gave them hit singles, with 'If You Gotta Go, Go Now' reaching #2 in 1965, 'Just Like A Woman' breaking the Top Ten in 1966, and 'The Mighty Quinn' hitting the top spot in 1968. That's not forgetting their version of 'With God On My Side' from their 'My Little Red Book Of Winners' album from 1965, and I wondered if they'd recorded any more Dylan songs that I wasn't aware of, After some investigation I found that those were the only four songs that they covered, but Manfred Mann's Earth Band were another story, with the outfit that Mann formed after the break-up of the jazz fusion-inspired Manfred Mann Chapter Three in 1971 releasing a Dylan cover as their very first single. Feeling that Chapter Three had suffered from too many self-imposed rules, being frustrated with mostly only playing Mike Hugg's compositions. and not being an economically feasible venture, Mann formed the new group with Mick Rogers on guitar and vocals, Mann himself on keyboards, Minimoog synthesizer and vocals, Colin Pattenden on bass guitar and Chris Slade on drums and vocals, and the quartet released a cover of Bob Dylan's 'Please, Mrs. Henry' as their debut record in 1971. An album, 'Stepping Sideways', was recorded but not released because the band's style was rapidly maturing, and the group felt it was not representative of their live act anymore. Their sound was very much grounded in the current progressive rock sound, and 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', while the accompanying 'Solar Fire' album included a cover of Dylan's 'Father Of Day, Father Of Night'. 

The title song to 1973's 'Messin'', was written by Mike Hugg and originally recorded by Chapter Three on their unissued third album, and it also included a rollicking take on Dylan's 'Get Your Rocks Off!'. Their 1974 album 'The Good Earth', tapped into ecological concerns, which was a recurring theme in Mann's music in later years, and it gave away a free piece of land in Wales with each album sold. The group's sixth album, 1975's 'Nightingales & Bombers', took its title from a World War II naturalist's recording of a nightingale singing in a garden as warplanes flew overhead, and the US edition included an extra track, which was a cover of Dylan's 'Quit Your Low Down Ways' sung by Mick Rogers. For 1978's 'Watch' album the band included a live version of their 1968 hit as Manfred Mann, and 'The Mighty Quinn' was also released as a single in a shortened version, while the following year, the 'Angel Station' album featured a cover of Dylan's 'You Angel You'. For their 1998 live album, 'Mann Alive', they included two new Dylan songs, with 'The Times They Are A-Changin'' and 'Shelter From The Storm' appearing for the first time on an Earth Band record, and so although my original idea of an album of Dylan cover by Manfred Mann came to nothing, this one of recordings by the later Earth Band is a perfectly acceptable replacement. 

Track listing

01 Get Your Rocks Off!
02 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
03 Please, Mrs Henry
04 Father Of Day, Father Of Night
05 Quit Your Lowdown Ways
06 The Times They Are A-Changin'

07 You Angel You
08 The Mighty Quinn
09 Shelter From The Storm