WIRED

Here's another live album from Manfed mann's Earth Band, this one is recorded in 1977. The sound quality is inferior to "Budapest live" but the band sounds far more interesting! One of the trademarks from MMEB were the instrumental jams, so catchy and powerful featuring excellent, very propulsive interplay and fiery electric guitar soli and sensational Minomoog runs along powerful vocals and a dynamic rhythm-section.

One of the highlights is the epic "Father of day, father of night", one of the most compelling tracks ever made by MMEB, this rendition includes splendid wah-wah drenched guitarwork that can also be heard on "Blinded by the lights". The final song "The mighty Quinn" features again a fiery wah-wah drenched guitar solo, a propulsive rhytm-section and, last but not least, Mr. Manfred Mann delivering mindblowing sounds from his Minimoog! The final part of this song delivers the typical MMEB: propulsive and exciting with lots of great soli on keyboards and guitar.

THIS IS A PLEASANT LIVE ALBUM!!

I am kind of in two minds about this album. I had never before heard Manfred Mann live other than the live recordings, ' Nightingales and Bombers' from the same album and the incredible ' Waiter there is a Yawn In my Ear' from the Roaring Silence, so it was quite a surprise listening to Wired after purchasing it through secondspin.com.Chris Thompson does the vocals and in my opinion he always complimented MMEB with his strong voice and consistent range. Flett, Pattenden, Slade and Mann make up the rest of the band ( This is probably their most successful and long lived lineup) The highlight for me is ' Blinded by the Light' and ' Times is Right'. The songs chosen on this album are good especially the Watch album versions as well. The only draw back for me being the the difference between the live version and the studio version do not hold up as well. Still a good album however.

This first live album of MMEB holds some jewels.

After five studio albums, it was a good occasion to release this live one. A strong back catalogue of which many songs can be chosen should guarantee a good musical experience.

And this album is definitely a good one. From this very early repertoire "Captain Bobby Stout" which is an average hard/bluesy tune. Even if it was one of the best songs from their debut, I can't say that this extended version fascinates me.

"Father Of Day." from the great "Solar Fire" is somewhat emasculated here, unfortunately. The guitar solo is still a great moment but the studio version was so good (my fave out of their entire repertoire) that I could only be disappointed with this one. We'll have to wait for a (long) while to get a full version of this great song in a live rendition.

The album "Nightingales & Bombers" is featured with two numbers "Spirits In The Night" and "Time Is Right" (the weakest of this live offering IMO). Another good couple from "The Roaring Silence" showcasing "The Road To Babylon" and an excellent version of "Blinded By The Light".

From the album "Watch" (released in 78) the Dylan song "The Mighty Quinn" sounds way better than on the studio album. The final part is particularly exciting and features a superb guitar solo. A highlight.

At the end of the day, this is a good live album. I just miss some more numbers from "Solar Fire", but it must be because I am so in love with this album.

Three stars.