Nightingales & Bombers

Nightingales & Bombers
Studio album by Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Released	22 August 1975
Recorded	1975 at The Workhouse, London
Genre	Rock, hard rock, progressive rock
Length	44:45
Label	Bronze (UK) Warner Bros. (U.S.)
Producer	Manfred Mann and Earth Band
Manfred Mann's Earth Band chronology
The Good Earth (1974) Nightingales & Bombers (1975) The Roaring Silence (1976)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	B+ [2]

Nightingales & Bombers is an album released in 1975 by Manfred Mann's Earth Band.

"The title of this album was inspired by a recording made in Surrey, England during the Second World War, by an ornithologist intending to record Nightingales. The bombers flew over at the same time and were recorded by accident. The recording has been incorporated in 'As Above, So Below'". - Manfred Mann 1975 ^[3]

The recording was made on 19 May 1942 by a BBC sound engineer for the BBC. Intending to capture the nightingale's song he also, by accident, recorded the sound of RAF bombers on their way to attack Mannheim, Germany. In that raid 197 planes were dispatched and 12 were lost. ^[4]

Track listing

Side one

1. "Spirits in the Night" (Bruce Springsteen) – 6:29
2. "Countdown" (Mann) – 3:05
3. "Time Is Right" (Mann, Slade, Rogers) – 6:32
4. "Crossfade" (Mann, Slade, Rogers, Pattenden) – 3:38

Side two

5. "Visionary Mountains" (Pam Nestor, Joan Armatrading) – 5:42
6. "Nightingales and Bombers" (Rogers) – 4:53
7. "Fat Nelly" (Mann, Thomas) – 3:20
8. "As Above So Below (Recorded Live)" (Mann, Slade, Rogers, Pattenden) – 4:18

Bonus tracks on 1999 re-issue

9. "Quit Your Low Down Ways" (from US Release) (Bob Dylan) – 3:25
10. "Spirits in the Night" (single version) (Springsteen) – 3:17

Personnel

• Manfred Mann – organ, synthesisers
• Mick Rogers – guitars, vocals
• Chris Slade – drums, percussion
• Colin Pattenden – bass

with

• Ruby James – backing vocals
• Doreen Chanter – backing vocals
• Martha Smith – backing vocals
• David Millman – viola
• Chris Warren-Green – violin
• Nigel Warren-Green – cello
• Graham Elliott – cello
• David Boswell-Brown – cello

Notes

1. ↑ Foss, Richard. Nightingales & Bombers at AllMusic
2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: manfred mann's earth band". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 4 October 2011. 
3. ↑ Manfred Mann's Earth Band Discography – Album Notes – 1975 Nightingales and Bombers The Official Website of Manfred Mann's Earth Band
4. ↑ The Bomber Command War Diaries by Middlebrook and Everitt (1985) p. 267

External links

• Nightingales & Bombers at Discogs (list of releases)