Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - Archives Volumes 1-5: 1981-2007

Now-official bootlegs from 1981-2009

Aimed squarely at the hardcore, this slim-line box set will certainly please fans, even if it offers little to entice newcomers. The audio quality of these bootleg recordings varies from averagely hissy to passably good; and, in the case of the latest concert, ropey.

There are some fine performances, though, especially by earlier incarnations of the group. The setlists, however, while including several rarely-aired numbers, repeat numerous staples. This allows nerdish comparisons to be drawn, but smacks of a missed opportunity. Still, Disc One’s Köln/Paris 1981 recordings feature cracking renditions of Angels At My Gate and Spirits In The Night, even if another MMEB standard, Blinded By The Light, goes a bit Chas’n’Dave.

Disc Two’s dozen, from Vienna 1986, boasts belting Chris Thompson vocals on Redemption Song and a superb Going Underground, as well as romping dual vocals with Mick Rogers on Do Anything You Wanna Do. Rogers leads the atmospheric Father Of Day, before a witty Third Man and kick-ass closer, Davy’s On The Road Again. Disc Three’s Köln show, this time from ’91, treads much the same ground, while Disc Four, recorded in Norway, is marked out with some visceral guitar. There’s more of the same on the final set – recorded from the confines of an outside toilet, it seems.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Creature | MMARCHIVE 1-5 (5-CD)

Reviewed by Tim Jones
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