Feeling that Chapter Three had suffered from too many self-imposed rules, being frustrated with mostly only playing Mike Hugg's compositions and not being an economically feasible venture (due to the number of musicians involved) were all reasons for forming the new group, which was open to songs from outside the band (like Mann's earlier groups) and developed due to the different musical backgrounds of its members as opposed to adhering to a strict musical concept.

A debut album "Stepping Sideways" was recorded but not released because the band's style was rapidly maturing, and the group felt it was not representative of their live act anymore.

The Earth Band combines the stylistic approach of progressive rock with Mann's jazz-influenced Moog synthesizer playing and emphasis on melody.

Beside producing their own material, a staple of the band's music and live performances from the beginning has been also relying on covers of songs by other modern pop/rock artists, notably Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, in their progressive rock style.

Mann's interest in English 20th century classical music saw him adapt Gustav Holst's Planets Suite and turn a version of the "Jupiter" movement into a UK hit entitled "Joybringer" (perhaps surprisingly excluded from the 1973 album Solar Fire).

[2] Other classical music adaptations include "Questions" from the 1976 album The Roaring Silence (which is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert's Impromptu in G flat Major), "Earth, the Circle, Pt.

1" from Solar Fire (which uses the melody from Claude Debussy's "Jimbo's Lullaby") and "Starbird" also from 1976's The Roaring Silence (which is based upon Igor Stravinski's ballet The Firebird).

Like other prog-rock acts, the band also issued concept albums on space and sci-fi themes (particularly the 1973 album Solar Fire and the singles "Launching Place" off the 1974 The Good Earth and "Starbird" off the 1976 The Roaring Silence) and religious or biblical imagery ("Prayer" on the band's debut album, "Buddah" on Messin', Dylan's "Father of Day, Father of Night" and "In the Beginning, Darkness" on Solar Fire, "The Road to Babylon" and "This Side of Paradise" on The Roaring Silence and "Resurrection" on the 1979 Angel Station).

The group's sixth album, 1975's Nightingales & Bombers, took its title from a World War II naturalist's recording of a nightingale singing in a garden as warplanes flew overhead; the recording appears in a track on the album (the US version included an extra track, a cover of Bob Dylan's; "Quit Your Low Down Ways" sung by Mick Rogers).

Following these popular successes, the Earth Band released the album Watch (1978), which produced another UK hit single in "Davy's on the Road Again".

[2] This song, as well as the re-recording of "Mighty Quinn" (also released as a single to celebrate the original 1968 hit's tenth anniversary), was recorded live with studio overdubs.

By this time, Mann had become personally active in the international anti-apartheid movement and was banned from entering his home country of South Africa.

[2] The album included a cover of The Police's "Demolition Man" (sung by Steve Waller) and a version of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song".

The accompanying tour (incorporating visual effects such as cartoons, robots and exploding amplifiers) was a big success and led to the Budapest live album, which was later followed by a DVD of the TV broadcast.

Steve Kinch played bass on this album Criminal Tango (1986), which featured both Mick Rogers and Chris Thompson on vocals.

Manfred Mann's Earth Band was revived in 1991 with a lineup of Manfred Mann, Mick Rogers, Steve Kinch, singer Noel McCalla and former Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker and resumed recording, covering tracks by artists as varied as Paul Weller, Robert Cray, Del Amitri and The Lovin' Spoonful.

Most of the band's original albums have been re-released in recent years and a 4-CD set (Odds & Sods - Mis-takes & Out-takes) featuring many previously unissued versions of tracks was released in August 2005.

This features twenty tracks ranging from three recorded in Sweden in 1973 ("Father of Day", "Captain Bobby Stout" and "Black & Blue") to a 2005 performance of "Mighty Quinn".

In 2007 two separate dance remixes of Bruce Springsteen songs as performed by Manfred Mann's Earth Band entered the Austrian Charts.

[5] In 2010 the song "You Are - I Am" from Angel Station was sampled by Kanye West on his critically acclaimed album: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

He began playing drums in the 1960s, being heavily influenced by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, turning pro in 1968.

[11] Lingwood has played with many musicians over the years, including Roger Chapman (still doing occasional gigs), Maddy Prior and Elkie Brooks.

However, Andy and Tony Qunta subsequently continued to play with Kinch in the formation Head On, which attempted to implement more sophisticated music.

[16] Then in 1985, again through Andy Qunta, Kinch got the chance to audition for the open position of bassist with Manfred Mann's Earth Band.