BUDAPEST LIVE

Hungary for more (sorry!)

Manfred Mann's Earth Band were, in their heyday, a very credible live act. Their performances were powerful but the musicianship was always of a high quality. Unlike many other bands, they do not make a habit of releasing live albums, thus enhancing the attraction of this collection.

The renditions are reasonably faithful to the originals, with the occasional slightly extended keyboard flurries from Manfred Mann and guitar solos by Steve Waller.

Chris Thompson is in fine form on vocals, Personally I find his voice to be one of the most atmospheric in the business. The version of Bob Marley's "Redemption song", stripped down to a soft, but at the same time powerful, acoustic performance is particularly noteworthy. "Lies (through the 80's)" is a great upbeat, commercial number. It is more notable now for the lyrics, which reflect all that was new in the late 70's, early 80's ("Credit card limits, push button cash"!).

"Budapest - Live" manages to capture the atmosphere of MMEB's live performances, while retaining something close to studio quality in the music.

Totally meaningless "live" album from the very pop-ish, non-progressive period of the band. This is very boring rock with usual Dylan/Springsteen covers and nothing else. Very dissapointing for somebody who had previously enjoyed delicious sounds of "Solar Fire" or "Watch". To be avoided!

In 1980 I witnessed a Manfred Mann's Earth Band gig in The Hague that was part of the "Angel station" tour. It was a completely sold out concert and the crowd reacted very enthousiastic to the great performance from the band. They sounded very inspired and Manfred Mann delivered many of his distinctive, very exciting Minimoog soli, layered with spectacular work on the pitchbend button. Also worth mentioning are the funny cartoons like "Instant sex", an instrumental jam that showcases the band and especially Manfed Mann at his best! Unfortunaltely the record companies never released a video or a decent album that captured this incredible era from Manfred Mann's Earth band.

This re- realeased CD (including 3 bonustracks) has some of the magic of the aforementioned excitement. The tracking list is wrong, this should not happen if you are taken your buyers serious! On this live-CD you will be pleased by pleasant renditions from 'classics' like "Spirits in the night" (great guitar work), "Davey's on the road again" (spectacular Minimoog solo), "Blinded by the light" and of course the stage favorite "Mighty Quinn" (the title refers to Roger McQuinn from The Byrds), this time wihtout that sensational work on the keyboards. From the additional bonustracks I like the catchy "Don't kill Carol" (great Minimoog work), one of the better songs from the album "Angel station".

A PLEASANT LIVE ALBUM WITH SOME MAGIC

I'm quite surprised this album is rated so low.I'm not a great fan of live albums but this succeeds in wipping up a good size head of steam and the audience are suitably up for it.You get a greatest hits played live by a band that is top quality.I especially like New Zealander Chris Thompson...has to be one of the best lead vocalists in the biz.Ok its not an album of progressive epic peices and does veer close to AOR territory in some ways but I still believe the class of the musicians elevates this well above mediocrity.

To play a rock concert in Budapest in 1983 was not a common thing I guess. And to record a live album from such a session, even less. But the Mann did it!

But apart from this anecdotal remark, while one listens to this (short) live record, one comes to the feeling that very little here is of great interest. Several pop-rock songs well played of course but the best ones were already featured on their first live album ("Wired" recorded in Boston in 1977).

These are the very good opener "Spirits In The Night" and "Blinded By The Light".

Both "The Mighty Quinn" as well as "Davy's." were already featured as well and apart for the latter one, these versions do not bring any new musical angle. Straight forward and simple rock song structure.

The live rendition of "Redemption Song" (a second tier Bob Marley's song) has little to do with the very much "African" mood of their studio version ("Somewhere In Afrika" album) and the "Police" cover "Demolition Man" has never been a fave of mine.

My conclusion is that this album is hardly essential. For die-hard fans only. Two stars.

Isn't it sad that a band with so many 70's classic studio albums like MMEB, never had a worthy live album to show their stage performances. Indeed, buy the time Budapest came out, it was much, much to late, because the band was in its final days, and possibly that this was their last album (to my knowledge anyway), possibly released as contract filler/ender. Indeed, the 80's were not kind to MMEB, despite some encouraging commercial success with their previous Somewhere In Africa and that Chance had spawned two hits. But by 83 and the east European tour behind what was still the Iron Curtain (this was a three night stay in Budapest), but outside the singer Chris Thompson (and Manfred of course), there is no-one else left from the glorious mid-70's line-up. And obviously Manfred probably struggled to keep Thompson in the band, as can be witnessed by useless (for MMEB) rendition of Redemption Song. Of course, the music scene had changed by 83, and the band tried tio adapt, still pulling their success through a series of cover (there isn't one single original MMEB composition on this set), but even the new covers lacked the delicious and meandering arrangements that was the Mann-magic the previous decades: the Police (Demolition Man) and Marley (Redemption Song) songs are all-too 80's and feature straight unrefined arrangements.

OK, MMEB was probably opening a new potential market and wasn't about to take risks in featuring more adventurous material, but this set list downright sucks. But the probably undiscerning (for then) Hungarian crowd seemed to appreciate this basic rundown of the later hits (outside Spirits and Blinded, all others are from 78 and younger). And to be honest, the older stuff re not well played (especially my fave Sprits In The Night, but I always thought Mick Rogers sang it best), and sometimes rushed, if not even botched. It doesn't help either that the poor recording quality, flat production and thin-overall sound are hardly impressive. So you get a bunch of Springsteen songs (Dancer is missing), two Dylan ones (though they did quite a few more throughout the years), etc? But nothing from Solar Fire or Angel station - their two best albums, IMHO. :-((

Soooo, I'd found this album at the bottom of a drawer in a lab I'm newly working in, so I decided that 30 years after hearing it a few times, I'd take it home to listen to it. Guess what??? It's going straight back in that drawer tomorrow morning. BTW, just in case you care, there were another 50 albums in that drawer, and this was no doubt the best in that selection. Gotta find me another lab, where they got better musical tastes. ;o))) (just kidding Burckard) Fortunately, I'll probably be on pension or even dead when it'll be time for another reappraisal in some 30 years. That bad, you ask?? Nope, but I felt incisive and discernant.