The Roaring Silence

THE ROARING SILENCE
 
 
The Roaring Silence  is an album released in 1976 by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.  “Blinded by the Light”, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, is a cover version of a song by Bruce Springsteen.  This album also marked the arrival of vocalist/guitarist Chris Hamlet Thompson.  The main riff of “Waiter, There’s a Yawn in My Ear” is taken from the Manfred Mann Chapter Three track “Fish” which was recorded for their abandoned third album.  It was ultimately released in 2005 on the Odds & Sods – Mis-takes & Out-takes box set.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

The best-known and probably best album by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band is The Roaring Silence (1976); the Wikipedia article comments:  “Like other Earth Band albums, this includes material by other composers.  ‘Blinded by the Light’, which reached Number One in Billboard’s Hot 100, is a cover version of a track by Bruce Springsteen; ‘Questions’ is based on the main theme of Franz Schubert’s Impromptu in G Flat Major; [and] ‘Starbird’ takes its theme from Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird.”  

 

The original album cover of The Roaring Silence is beige; a reissue of The Roaring Silence with a blue cover included “Spirit in the Night”, which was released on the band’s previous album, Nightingales and Bombers but with the name shown on the album as “Spirits in the Night”.   

 

(June 2014)