Best Springsteen interpreters: Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Spirit in the Night

For You

"Blinded By The Light"

never liked that song - horrid title.

Manfred Mann certain did better jobs with those early Springsteen songs. No doubt about it.

Springsteen just had a lot to learn about arranging songs and got much better with subsequent albums. Greetings from Asbury Park was especially raw and needed better arrangements which Mannfred Mann was able to deliver.

I'd have loved to hear Manfred cover of some of Springsteen's later hits from the 70s and early 80s, just to see what they did with it. But those three songs were all improved by Manfred, especially Blinded by the Light.

“Revved up like a deuce?” Oh, please.

Yeah, I wish they would have done a full album of Springsteen songs, especially after they had a minor '80s comeback in 1984 with their single "Runner" (not a Springsteen song, but it was the same year he had released Born in the USA. I think at that point Chris Thompson was long gone to a solo career (a not very successful one), but maybe they could have brought him back.

[quote] I hated the whole album of Born in the USA (but loved Tunnel of Love & Hungry Heart).

Hungry Heart? IMO, that song is basic (in a bad way) and cheesy.

I also loved the song he wrote that Gary U.S. Bonds covered, This Little Girl. Where the Manfred Mann and Pointer Sisters songs didn't immediately scream Springsteen, this one is almost like a Bruce demo with Gary doing the scratch vocal.

Wrapped up like a DOUCHE, ya know

Well, if you've never been a big Springsteen fan I guess that explains it.

I didn’t like many songs on BITUSA until I heard the live versions on the 1986 box set. “No Surrender” is a classic live. And “Jersey Girl,” which had not been released before, is such a great song (thanks, Tom Waits). The very best of all, however, is the live version of “Thunder Road,” which was already one of the ten best songs of all time.

So my favorite Springsteen interpreter is Springsteen.

Bowie: game recognize game.

My favorite Bruce cover is done by Rage Against the Machine- the Ghost of Tom Joad. Bruce was such a fan of this cover he had RATM guitarist Tom Morello play on an electric remake Bruce and the E Street Band did. That version is also great.

What genre of music is this? Could never tolerate it

Springsteen's recordings are like Thomas Kinkaide paintings so of course other artists do it better

It's easy to cover something, hard to create it.

So you would discount all the great vocalists, from Sinatra to Fitzgerald, because they "covered" songs instead of writing them?

R17 I was talking about Manfred Mann's Earth Band (the subject of the thread). But I don't consider singing pop standards as "singing covers". The term originated with rock music, I think.

Fine, then I'll add Linda Ronstadt into that, since she had a 15 year career "covering" rock songs before she switched to standards.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band did more than just "cover" the song. They aren't a wedding band. They came up with the arrangements and produced the record themselves, as well as performing it. Is that easy? Let's see you do it.

R19 Sorry I hurt your feelings, Manfred, I didn't know you were posting in the thread.