''Angel Station'' is the ninth album released by

Manfred Mann's Earth Band Manfred Mann's Earth Band are an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann. Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's "For You (Bruce Springsteen song), For You", "Blinded by the Light" an ...

, released in 1979. Several line-up changes were made for this album. Ex-

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

drummer

Geoff Britton Geoffrey Britton (born 1 August 1943) is an English rock drummer known for his work with Wings from August 1974 to January 1975, where he was featured on the '' Venus and Mars'' album. Career Britton was born in Lewisham, South East London). H ...

replaced founding drummer

Chris Slade Chris Slade (born Christopher Slade Rees; 30 October 1946) is a Welsh musician, best known for playing for the Australian rock band AC/DC. He drummed for the band from 1989 to 1994, performing on their 1990 album '' The Razors Edge'' along with ...

and

Steve Waller Stephen Charles Waller (30 June 1951 – 6 February 2000) was a British musician best known as the lead guitarist and a vocalist for Manfred Mann's Earth Band between 1979 and 1983. He featured on the albums ''Angel Station'', ''Chance'', ''I (W ...

replaced guitarist

Dave Flett David Flett (born, 2 June 1951) is a Scottish rock guitarist, best known for performing with Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Thin Lizzy. Career Early years and Manfred Mann Flett began his career with local groups in Aberdeen such as Cat Squirre ...

. Britton left the band soon after due to illness, and was replaced by John Lingwood. Also in the line-up were Pat King on bass guitar from the then current line-up and Chris Thompson.

Background

''Angel Station'' features a six-note descending theme in most of the songs on the album, woven into the context of each song in a different way, an idea hatched by Pat King after having watched

Close Encounters of the Third Kind ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...

. "Hollywood Town" and "You Are, I Am" share a common chord progression and basic arrangement. They occupied almost identical positions on either side of the LP. The album has the air of an emotional and musical crossword puzzle, or has affinities with the work of

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

, whose art is alluded to on the cover illustration. Of interest is the involvement of

Fingerprintz The Silencers are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1986 by Jimme O'Neill and Cha Burns, two ex-members of the post-punk outfit Fingerprintz. Their music is characterised by a melodic blend of pop, folk music, folk and tradi ...

Jimme O'Neill Jimme O'Neill is a Scottish singer and guitarist who has been the lead singer of Scottish rock band The Silencers since 1984. Having started his musical career with Cha Burns in Fingerprintz in the new wave music scene, they joined Martin Hanlin ...

whose influence can be heard in the edgy, angular instrumental "Platform End" (a song whose title was probably influenced by the fact that it originally closed the 1979 vinyl's A side, while it was also a play on the back cover of the previous album ''

Watch A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...

''), and ex-

Slapp Happy Slapp Happy was a German/English avant-garde pop, avant-pop group, formed in Germany in 1972. Their lineup consisted of Anthony Moore (keyboards), Peter Blegvad (guitar) and Dagmar Krause (vocals). The band members moved to England in 1974 wh ...

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

member

Anthony Moore Anthony Moore (also known as Anthony More) (born 13 August 1948) is a British experimental music composer, performer and producer. He was a founding member of the band Slapp Happy, worked with Henry Cow and has made a number of solo albums, incl ...

who produced the album and influenced its modern, sparse sound.

"This is Chris Thompson's last album with the Earth Band as he is forming his own band in the near future. I wish to thank him for a valuable creative and personal relationship, and wish him every success in the future." – ''Manfred Mann, 1979''

In spite of this announcement, Thompson's own outfit

Night Night (also described as night time, unconventionally spelled as "nite") is the period of ambient darkness from sunset to sunrise during each 24-hour day, when the Sun is below the horizon. The exact time when night begins and ends depends o ...

turned out as unsuccessful, releasing two mostly overlooked albums in 1979 and 1980 respectively, so the singer stayed with the Earth Band instead, returning on the group's next album ''

Chance Chance may refer to: Mathematics and Science * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the Likelihood function and/or Probability density function). * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Mary ...

'' (1980) already. The album was on the US

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

charts for thirteen weeks, peaking at No. 144 on 9 June 1979. The single "You Angel You" spent seven weeks on the US

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart peaking at No. 58 on 14 July 1979. The album spent eight weeks and reached No. 4 on the German Media Control Albums Chart.

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

sampled the bridge from "You Are, I Am" for the track "

So Appalled "So Appalled" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West from his fifth studio album, '' My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' (2010). The song was produced by West, along with No I.D. and Mike Dean, and features verses by Jay-Z, Cy ...

" from West's 2010 album, ''

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy ''My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'' is the fifth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 22, 2010, following a period of public controversy for West. Re ...

''. Manfred Mann adapted this recording into his own track "One Hand in the Air" on his 2014 album '' Lone Arranger''. ''Platform End'' also became the title of the official MMEB fanclub's magazine, nowadays it is the fanclub website's name.

Track listing

Side one

# "Don't Kill It Carol" (

Mike Heron James Michael Heron (born 27 December 1942) is a Scotland, Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work in the Incredible String Band in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Heron was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and at ...

) – 6:18 # "You Angel You" (

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

) – 4:02 # "Hollywood Town" (

Harriet Schock Harriet Schock (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, teacher, author, and actress. She made three albums for a major label in the 1970s, scoring gold and platinum awards for her Grammy-nominated "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lad ...

) – 5:09 # ""Belle" of the Earth" (

Manfred Mann Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two differen ...

) – 2:46 # "Platform End" (Mann,

Pat King Patrick John King (1944 – January 25, 2022) also known as Speedy King, was a Scottish bassist, best known for his association with Manfred Mann's Earth Band. History King was born in Aberdeen in 1944 and raised in Fraserburgh, Scotland. Afte ...

, Chris Thompson,

) – 1:32

Side two

"Angels at My Gate" (Mann, Hirth Martinez, O'Neill) – 4:50 # "You Are – I Am" (Mann) – 5:11 # "Waiting for the Rain" (

Billy Falcon Billy Falcon (born July 13, 1956) is an American musician, composer and music producer. He released rock albums throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, as well as appearing on The Way International's "High Country Caravan". He is currently active ...

) – 6:17 # "Resurrection" (Mann) – 2:42

1999 CD re-issue Bonus Tracks

"Don't Kill It Carol" (single version) (Heron) – 3:58 # "You Angel You" (single version) (Dylan) – 3:46

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

The Earth Band

* Chris Thompson – vocals (chorus of "Don't Kill It Carol", "You Angel You", "Hollywood Town", ""Belle" of the Earth", "You Are - I Am", "Waiting for the Rain") *

– guitar, vocals (verse of "Don't Kill it Carol", "You Angel You", ""Belle" of the Earth", "Angels at My Gate", "You Are - I Am") *

– keyboards, vocals ("Resurrection", bridge of "Don't Kill It Carol") *

– bass guitar *

– drums,

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

Additional musicians

– guitar,

sequencer Sequencer may refer to: Technology * Drum sequencer (controller), an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically * DNA sequencer, a machine used to automatically produce a sequence readout from a biological DNA sam ...

, synthesizer *

– rhythm guitar, arrangements * – violin ("Waiting for the Rain") *

Dyan Birch Dyan Joan Birch (25 January 1949 – 10 October 2020) was an English singer. Born in Liverpool, Birch worked as a teenager in Brian Epstein's NEMS record shop in the city. In 1969 she and her friends formed the band Arrival, and moved to London. ...

– backing vocals

Technical

– producer * Rik Walton –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Davie Phee, Edwin Cross – assistant engineers * Martin Poole –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* John Shaw – photography (front cover) * Pat King – photography (back cover)

Notes

External links

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{{Authority control Manfred Mann's Earth Band albums 1979 albums Bronze Records albums Warner Records albums