Off Earth

Opening with Mike Hugg's title track, which builds on Mick Rogers' intense riffing and the killer vocals of Vicki Brown, Judith Powell, Liza Strike, and Ruby James, Messin' is pretty intense and involving from its very first bars. It's also damned topical and serious, for all of the free-wheeling rock & roll spirits and the progressive rock complexities that go into the playing. And the result is a spellbinding whole, featuring some astonishing keyboard flourishes by Manfred Mann himself (who ventures into Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson territory on "Buddah," even as the rest of the band seems to be emulating Deep Purple) and killer guitar from Mick Rogers, while Colin Pattenden and Chris Slade lay down the rhythm section like a pair of articulate pile-drivers.

A celebration to mark 50 years of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band! Mannthology brings together all of the band’s singles from 1971 to date, including some from solo projects, and contains previously unreleased tracks, hard-to-obtain B sides and rare mixes. The set showcases Manfred’s striking ability to identify, arrange and perform other people’s songs to make them his own, including songs by Dylan, Springsteen, Marley, Weller and Sting.