BE NOT TOO HARD

MMEB's sixth album Good Earth (1974) is sandwiched between more classic releases Solar Fire (1973) and Nightingales & Bombers (1975), and frankly, especially for a prog listener it is not quite as satisfying as them, not to speak of my fave MMEB album Roaring Silence (1976). This single took both songs from the album, the B sider being much more interesting this time.

'Be Not Too Hard' is a relaxed and semi-mellow song with a blues oriented classic rock sound. Mann's keyboards mainly just repeat one note during the song while Mick Rogers' vocals and guitar are on the front. Like so much of the band's output, this is not theirs originally. It was composed by Christopher Logue (never heard...) and recorded also by Joan Baez, about seven years before MMEB.

'Earth Hymn Part 2' is among Good Earth's best and proggiest pieces. It's almost an instrumental by nature since the treated main vocal part comes only near the end. Before that one hears an exciting, Mellotron-loaded soundscape with space rock nuances, even a hint of Tangerine Dream. Too bad that the source album dwells more on the hard rock as a whole.