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The Outpost Cafe / Re: Argent
« on: April 18, 2016, 03:46:22 PM »I understand that in the US, The Roaring Silence was pretty much MMEB's only major chart entry - in Germany they ruled record sales and tours for pretty much a decade, early 70ies to early 80ies. Any household that rocked a littlen but not too much, had a couple of MMEB albums, some Barclay James Harvest and Supertramp as well as Wish You Were Here - it was the prog lite standard home furnishing so to say.
To this day, MMEB tour Germany on a regular basis, they don't fill large halls anymore, but they're good for a 1.500 people draw on a warm summer night outdoor gig.
More people know Father of Day, Father of Night, Mighty Quinn, Spirits in the Night, Blinded by the Light and Davey's on the Road again from MMEB in Germany, than from Dylan, Springsteen and The Band. When Springsteen first played here, people thought he was covering MMEB and not very well either, their more technical, yet less cluttered arrangements had become so ingrained. If I'm honest, then I prefer the MMEB versions to the Boss originals to this day.
I was also a fan of MMEB, prior to the one hit...well, a couple over here. I started on Solar Fire, sequed into The Good Earth, and then The Roaring Silence. And I agree - I prefer how Manfred Mann interprets other people's songs better than they do. I think I may have even made a reference to that on a record review. He was detached from the song, and was able to see its true potential. Sad that people don't remember Nightingales and Bombers, but they do remember the Springsteen hit.
