Manfred Mann's Earth Band

The kiss of death in rock music circa the early '70s was being a band left over from the '60s that refused to shed its carefree pop-rock past for more contemporary sounds. Sensing this, Manfred Mann put together his Earth Band (groovy, man!), and issued an album of the same name in 1972. The new group must have been listening to current hard rockers such as Led Zeppelin and Mountain, because the sound and direction of those two bands in particular are quite comparable to MANFRED MANN'S EARTH BAND. Standout tracks include the album opener "Tribute," a cover of Bob Dylan's BASEMENT TAPES tune "Please Mrs. Henry," and the prog-rocker "Sloth/Living Without You."