Various Artists - The Hitmakers Sing Bruce Springsteen (2020)

From 1969 through early 1971, Bruce Springsteen performed with the band Child, which later changed its name to Steel Mill, and included Danny Federici, Vini Lopez, Vinnie Roslin, and later Steven Van Zandt and Robbin Thompson. They quickly gathered a cult following, and in an attempt to shape a unique and genuine musical and lyrical style, he also performed with the bands Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom from early-to-mid-1971, and the Sundance Blues Band in mid-1971. After this he formed The Bruce Springsteen Band, which stayed together for about a year, but in October 1972 he formed a new group for the recording of his debut album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.', and they eventually became known as the E Street Band, although the name was not used until September 1974. In 1972 he signed to Columbia Records, and despite the expectations of Columbia executives that he would record an acoustic album, he brought many of his New Jersey-based colleagues into the studio with him for the recording sessions for his first album, taping a mixture of acoustic and rock-based songs. The gestation of the record was not without it trials, as when it was completed, his manager Mike Appel and Columbia's John Hammond preferred the solo tracks, while Springsteen preferred the band songs, and so a compromise was reached that the record would feature five songs with the band ('For You', 'Growin' Up', 'Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?', 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City', and 'Lost in the Flood') and five solo songs ('Mary Queen Of Arkansas', 'The Angel', 'Jazz Musician', 'Arabian Nights' and 'Visitation At Fort Horn'). However, when Columbia Records president Clive Davis heard this early version he felt that it lacked a potential hit single, and rejected it. Springsteen quickly wrote and recorded 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Spirit In The Night', and Columbia accepted the revised album, with Davis eventually being proved correct when Manfred Mann's Earthband had massive hit singles with these two "commercial" songs. David Bowie was also an early fan, recording a version of 'Growing Up' during the sessions for his 'Pin-Ups' album in 1973, and tackling 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' in 1989, and so here is a selection of covers of all the tracks from Springsteen's debut album, which for once includes two from the same band, as I think most people would agree that the Manfred Mann's Earthband versions are the definitive recordings of their two contributions, other than Springsteen's own, of course.  

Track listing

01 Blinded By The Light (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1976) 
02 Growin' Up (Any Trouble 1980)  
03 Mary Queen Of Arkansas (Dusty Wright 1997) 
04 Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street? (Purple Ivy Shadows 1999) 
05 Lost In The Flood (Yirzov Schuynis 2013)
06 The Angel (Zachary Scott Johnson 2020)
07 For You (Greg Kihn 1977)  
08 Spirit In The Night (Manfred Mann's Earthband 1975)
09 It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City (David Bowie 1989)

Various Artists - The Planets (2015)

I was answering a comment the other week on one of my Manfred Mann posts and it reminded me that the 1973 hit single 'Joybringer' was based on the melody from 'Saturn:The Bringer Of Joy' from Gustav Holst's 'The Planets Suite'. It's always been my favourite piece of classical music - one of the few pieces that I can listen to regularly - and I wondered if any other rock songs were based on sections of it. I know that when Gustav Holst died his daughter Imogen took over looking after the copyright of his music, and one thing she was very insistent on was that no other form of music other than orchestral was to be used while it was in copyright, so I've often wondered how King Crimson got away with using 'Mars:The Bringer Of War' as the basis or their 'The Devil's Triangle' from their 'In The Wake Of Poseidon' album in 1970, but somehow they did, and so I now had two pieces. The rest of the album took some research, as those did seem to be the two most popular pieces, but once I found Cailyn Lloyd's 'Voyager' album from 2015 I had the choice of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, all of which he'd covered in a progressive rock style, with organ and guitar well to the fore. Jeff Wayne and Rick Wakeman had also decided to record an album based on 'The Planets', but they covered the whole suite, using keyboards and orchestra, and so I chose what was generally considered to be the best track from that recording, 'Venus:Bringer of Peace'. 
When Holst wrote the suite, he originally intended the whole thing to be played on two pianos, and it was later scored for orchestra to become the classical piece that we know today, but I thought it would be interesting to hear at least one piece in its original form, so 'Mercury:The Winged Messenger' is played on two pianos by Richard Markham and David Nettle. On my trawl of the net in search of new interpretations, one of the most unusual that I found was a Youtube video of a concert by a jazz trio, led by pianist Ryan Skiles. He's scored the whole thing for a jazz trio, and it was something of a triumph, with many complementary comments, so I decided to use 'Saturn:The Bringer Of Old Age' from the concert for this album. To round it all off we have Neptune:The Mystic' from probably the most famous modern interpretation, by Isao Tomita, who recorded the whole suite on keyboards and synthesizers in 1976. This was the first time that Imogen Holst became infamous in the rock world when she forced the withdrawal of all UK copies of the album, although I managed to get my hands on one just before they were recalled, as did a number of other fans of the Japanese synth wizard, and the album is more freely available now since the copyright expired. If you haven't heard 'The Planets' played by an orchestra then I do recommend it, and you'll recognise at least a couple of the pieces even if you aren't into classical music. If you are already a fan then I hope that this rock version shows it in a new light.    

Track listing

01 Mars:The Bringer Of War (King Crimson)
02 Venus:The Bringer Of Peace (Rick Wakeman & Jeff Wayne)
03 Mercury:The Winger Messenger (Richard Markham & David Nettle)
04 Joybringer (Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
05 Saturn:The Bringer Of Old Age (Ryan Skiles Trio)
06 Uranus:The Magician (Cailyn Lloyd)
07 Neptune:The Mystic (Isao Tomita)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - To The Limit (2006)

This companion to the earlier 'Can't Eat Meat' post is made of previously unreleased songs which have since turned up on box sets and reissues, and which are mostly from the period 1987 to 1996, although a couple are earlier and a couple are later. Overall, though, this is a nice collection of later-period music from this well-respected band.

Track listing 

01 Pretty Good (from the US only album 'Get Your Rocks Off' 1973)
02 Quit Your Low Down Ways (from the US version of 'Nightingales & Bombers' 1975)
03 Summer In The City (previously unreleased 1987)
04 Salmon Fishing (previously unreleased 1992)
05 All Through The Night (previously unreleased 1988)
06 Better Place (previously unreleased 1996)
07 Lead Me To Water (previously unreleased 1993)
08 To The Limit (previously unreleased 1993)
09 Don't Let Me Down (previously unreleased 1991)
10 Hillbrow (previously unreleased 2006)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Stepping Sideways (1971)

From the beginnings of the Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers, to Manfred Mann the pop group, and later with the jazz-rock of Manfred Mann Chapter III, keyboardist Manfred Mann has built up a following with a repertoire of blues, pop,  experimental jazz rock, and eventually progressive rock with his Earth Band. Manfred Mann Chapter III started in 1969, but the group only lasted two years and broke up in 1971, when Mann wanted to move in a more rock-orientated direction and formed Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. The band started recording in 1971, and released their first two singles, covers of Randy Newman's 'Living Without You' and Dylan's 'Please Mrs. Henry', as by Manfred Mann, but all subsequent releases were credited to the Earth Band. They'd more or less finished recording the album when the group’s music started to change while touring, and Mann decided to shelve this version of the album and start again. What changed was the style of music, which became more electric and less acoustic, and Mann decided that this album was not representative of what the new band was playing live. Test pressings of the album had already been pressed, and people who heard it later were of the opinion that many of the 'Stepping Sideways' tracks are as good as much of what ended up on the Earth Band’s official debut. I've put this album together using the track listing from the test pressings, and added in the 'Please Mrs. Henry' single. The tracks which did eventually end up on the released debut album are the same versions as on that release.

Track listing

01 Ned Kelly
02 Ashes To The Wind
03 Part Time Man
04 Living Without You
05 Jump Sturdy
06 California Coastline
07 Ain't No Crime
08 Please Mrs. Henry
09 Holly Holy
10 Tribute

Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Can't Eat Meat (1987)

Following the hiccup with the aborted release of their proposed first album 'Stepping Sideways', Manfred Mann's Earth Band eventually issued their eponymous debut in 1972, and although I've always considered them to be primarily an albums band, they did release a number of singles, having their first hit in 1973 with 'Joybringer', based on the melody of 'Jupiter' from Gustav Holst's 'The Planets Suite'. They followed this a few years later with covers of two Bruce Springsteen songs, 'Spirits In The Night' and 'Blinded By The Light', giving them their biggest chart success, and the latter was also their breakthrough release in the US, kick-starting a long and successful career in that country. Generally b-sides were plucked from the then current album, but a couple of their singles were treated to exclusive songs, and they even released a few stand-alone singles, such as their cover of 'I (Who Have Nothing)' in 1981, and in 1983, a cover of Ian Thomas's 'Runner', which had been written in tribute to cancer sufferer Terry Fox and his run across Canada for cancer awareness, which sadly took him before he finished. Despite having a number of gifted songwriters in the band, most of their chart success seemed to be with cover versions, with 'For You' being another Springsteen song, and 'Redemption' Song' coming from the pen of Bob Marley. Despite this, they usually made the songs their own, with 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Spirits In The Night' being considered the definitive versions. This collection spans over a decade of their single releases, and includes three of those stand-alone singles, a number of rare b-sides, and an unreleased take of 'Joybringer', which shows the song in a completely different light.       

Track listing

01 Can't Eat Meat (b-side of 'Joybringer' 1973)
02 Joybringer (unreleased version 1974)
03 Bouillabaisse (b-side of 'Davy's On The Road Again' 1978)
04 A Fool Am I (b-side of 'For You' 1980)
05 I (Who Have Nothing) (single 1981)
06 Man In A Jam (b-side of 'I (Who Have Nothing)')
07 Rebel (single 1983)
08 War Dream (b-side of 'Redemption Song' 1982)
09 Holiday's Dream (b-side of 'Eyes Of Nostradaus' 1982)
10 Two Friends (From Mars & Saturn) (b-side of 'Geronimo's Cadillac' 1987)
11 Runner (single 1983)