SOLAR FIRE

The Earth Band's fourth album found the group quite gelled with a sound that was quite unified, likely the result of nearly three years of playing and touring together. Manfred Mann finally begins to show some progressive tendencies in both his writing and arranging, particularly on the opening 'Father of Day, Father of Night', technically a cover based on the Bob Dylan tune 'Father of Night'. Once again fans can lament the lack of a good Earth Band biography that might shed more light on the back story for both this album and that song.

The core lineup remained Mann, bassist Colin Pattenden, drummer Chris Slade and guitarist/lead vocalist Mick Rogers, although sadly all but Mann would all depart over the next few years. Rogers continued to explore heavier and more extended guitar passages on 'Solar Fire', particularly on the first side of the vinyl release, and Pattenden's bass playing took a more prominent role here than on any of the band's prior releases. Mann had still not reached his apex as a keyboardist although there is considerably more organ playing and even some use of mellotron on the longer tracks. The Chanter sisters provide backing vocals throughout along with sporadic use of the 'Grove singers', presumably a gospel group of some sort.

The opening Dylan track is an interesting one that seemed to signal a trend begun with the previous album 'Messin' of beginning an album with a lengthy, instrumental-heavy track. The band would carry this habit through their next few albums including with their mega-hit 'Blinded by the Light' on 'The Roaring Silence' as well as 'Spirit in the Night' on 'Nightingales & Bombers' and the title track on 'The Good Earth'. While the song is attributed to Dylan there is little resemblance beyond the lyrics to his original acoustic guitar/ piano ditty 'Father of Night' that was released on the 1970 album 'New Morning'. For one thing that song was not even a minute and a half long, while this version runs nearly ten minutes and is thick with organ, mellotron, synthesizers and some wicked guitar licks from Rogers. The original was intended to be an interpretation of the traditional Jewish standing prayer Amidah, but in Mann's hands and with Roger's sometimes Black Sabbath-like guitar and vocals it comes off as more of a spacey, mystic dirge in the vein of some of the stuff Led Zeppelin was doing at the same time. A bit of trivia, Dylan's 'New Morning' had knocked 'Led Zeppelin III' out of the top spot on the UK charts shortly after it was released back in 1970, while at the time 'Solar Fire' was released Zeppelin owned the top UK and U.S. charts with their multi-platinum 'Houses of the Holy'. Small world.

The rest of the album carries on the space theme beginning with another guitar-rich track, the heavy rock 'In the Beginning, Darkness' in which Rogers continues his Sabbath/Ozzy- leaning vocals and flailing guitar work. Slade figures prominently on this one with a drum solo midway and a persistent rhythm beat that carries the song throughout. The Chanter sisters provide chillingly precise backing vocals that serve to heighten the tension of Rogers' and Slade's interplay. Other than the disappointing fadeout ending this was one of the more solid Earth Band tracks to that point in their career.

Mann gets creative with some experimental synthesizer and mellotron work on the instrumental 'Pluto the Dog' before the band slows things down a bit with a rhythmic and grooving title track that belies Mann's pop tendencies, but in a good way.

"Saturn, Lord of the Ring/Mercury the Winged Messenger" has a weighty title that probably should have been saved for a more epic-length song, but Rogers' wailing guitar passages and Mann's eerie synthesizer work are consistent with the rest of the album's mood despite this composition adding little new to the mix. The same is true of the two 'Earth, the Circle' tracks except that Mann gets pretty funky and bluesy on organ in a way that recalls much of the band's first two albums, particularly on the 'part 2' portion.

The original U.S. version of this album (and I believe the UK version as well) did not include the non-album hit single 'Joybringer' which is based on 'Jupiter' from Gustav Holst's early twentieth-century 'The Planets' suite. This orchestral work has of course inspired many progressive bands including King Crimson, ELP and ELO among others, so it's inclusion in most reissues and the remastered version of this album is a logical one. The keyboards here seem more modern today than the rest of the album and the tune has stood the test of time quite well. It also became the band's first hit single in 1973.

'Solar Fire' should be considered among the 'classic' Earth Band albums, as it showcases the band and Mann's excellent skill at arranging melodic yet often rocking compositions. It also for the first time showed the band's ability to author songs together as a band, as opposed to the liberal use of covers that characterized their first three (and many subsequent) albums. Only 'Father of Day, Father of Night' is actually a cover, and even this one really only owes Dylan for the lyrics. This is a solid album that can be proudly included in any progressive rock fan's collection, and merits a four of five star rating. Highly recommended.

peace