Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Label: Bronze Records
Release: 1980
Length: 54:28
Rating: 3.5/5
At the start of the eighties, art rock champs Manfred Mann’s Earth Band were still riding a wave of boosted commercial popularity, even though their creative peaks were already behind them. Luckily for the band’s chief, South African keyboard wizard Manfred Mann, the brilliant singer Chris Thompson came back just in time after the commercial flop of his band Night, so he could lend his vocals to Manfred’s next studio project, titled »Chance«, which was in many ways a product of its time (for better and for worse). Sadly, Chris sang on only three tracks, namely »Lies (Through The 80s), »On The Run« and »For You«, yet another Bruce Springsteen cover, but all three of those standards were the best stuff on »Chance« anyway.
The album was hardly a peak of quality, since the songs on it, especially on the second half, wobble quite a bit, but with it Manfred and his crew managed to bridge the gap between the seventies and the eighties, even if they had to sacrifice a good chunk of their signature sound. Mr. Mann had started using ‘new era’ synth technology with great enthusiasm, so his traditional Hammond organ and Moog all but vanished from the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band sound, which got a lot more electronic, while the rhythm section, after cult drummer Chris Slade left before the previous album »Angel Station« (1979), despite being exceptionally solid, never reached its former heights. The best-known guest musicians this time were South African guitar maestro Trevor Rabin, who also helped with the production and three years later built himself a nice career as a member of Yes, and longtime Colosseum saxophonist Barbara Thompson, who had already worked with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band on the album »The Roaring Silence« (1976).
The aforementioned standards, the electrified »Lies« (Through The 80s)«, which features an exceptionally cynical, almost prophetic lyric about the start of the eighties, the nostalgic »On The Run« and the hit »For You«, which is every bit as good as the earlier Springsteen covers, led by »Blinded By The Light« and »Spirits In The Night«, and can be declared the high point of »Chance«, make for an immensely strong opening to the album. On »For You«, which is much more rock-oriented than the original and has an epic chorus, the Earth Band used no fewer than five guitarists, led by Manfred’s fellow countryman Rabin, Steve Waller and the briefly returning Mick Rogers, who didn’t contribute any vocals this time. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is nowhere near as interesting, although none of the remaining songs is truly bad either. Most of them sit somewhere in solid, decent average territory, while the vocal duties were split fairly successfully among various guest singers. On »Adolescent Dream«, the big chief of the band himself took the lead vocal with backing singer Carol Stocker’s help, but the experiment brought a pretty mixed result.
»Chance« already belonged in the category of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band albums that are ‘mandatory’ only for their diehards and can’t be counted among the art rock classics, because after holding up remarkably well through the whole of the seventies, Manfred’s band had begun to show its first signs of artistic exhaustion. The introduction of new keyboard technology was a welcome sonic refresh at the time, while today that kind of change doesn’t sound nearly as exciting. Still, their leap into the eighties came off relatively well, especially compared with some of their contemporaries, who were floundering quite a bit back then. After all, »Chance« coughed up a couple of unforgettable evergreens led by »For You« and (most importantly) Manfred managed to keep hold of the best singer in the group’s history and put him to good use.
Lineup
Manfred Mann – keyboards, vocals (“Adolescent Dream”)
John Lingwood – drums
Pat King – bass guitar, bass pedals
Mick Rogers – guitar
Steve Waller – guitar, vocals (“This Is Your Heart”)
Chris Thompson – vocals (“Lies Through The 80s”, “On The Run”, “For You”)
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Trevor Rabin – guitar
Robbie McIntosh – guitar
Geoff Whitehorn – guitar
Dyan Birch – vocals (“Guarantee” and others)
Willy Finlayson – vocals (“Heart On The Street”)
Peter Marsh – vocals (“Stranded”)
Carol Stocker – backing vocals
Barbara Thompson – saxophone
Production
Manfred Mann and Trevor Rabin
Track list
1. Lies (Through the 80s) (4:37)
2. On the Run (3:53)
3. For You (5:41)
4. Adolescent Dream (2:42)
5. Fritz the Blank (2:52)
6. Stranded (5:49)
7. Hello, I Am Your Heart (5:19)
8. No Guarante (3:50)
9. Heart on the Street (4:56)
