Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Glorified Magnified (1972)

The second album by Manfred Mann's Earth Band to be released in 1972, Glorified Magnified is as solid a heavy rock album as you're likely to find from that era, and it still holds up three decades later, mostly because these guys are smarter than the music they're playing and don't mind indulging their taste as well as their dexterity. They can romp and stomp through "Meat" or "I'm Gonna Have You All," complete with a slashing guitar solo by Mick Rogers on the latter, or throw in a synthesizer interlude by Mann on "One Way Glass" that's so quietly and carefully executed as to be worthy of a classical piece -- and not skip a beat doing it. Between Rogers' bold yet tasteful leads, Mann's beautifully assertive yet virtuoso synthesizer and general keyboard work, and Colin Pattenden's muscular bass playing, this is a consistently inspired group, even when their material isn't as interesting as what they do with it, which is the case here. On "Look Around," for example, Rogers' playing on the break starts off as brief, fragmentary digressions off from a not too terribly diverting central riff that turn into longer progressions that eventually take the entire band with him -- and just when you think you've got this band pegged in terms of what it's about, along comes "Ashes to the Wind," opening side two of the original LP, which includes room for an acoustic guitar amid the high-wattage excursions, all leading into a surprisingly effective synthesizer workout by Mann on "Wind," before moving onto the acoustic guitar-driven "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." The latter, which adds instrumentation until it's so totally removed from its opening section as to be a different song, is one of the best Dylan covers of its era, and is almost worth the price of admission by itself. And then there's the title instrumental, a mix of rock and synthesizer sounds -- with a choir in there somewhere -- that sounds like mid-'70s King Crimson in rehearsal.