I have always been a fan of Chris Thompson. His powerful, raw, emotional and extremely characteristic voice has brought many a Manfred Mann Earth Band (MMEB) album to a hit status. The band, led by the eccentric South African keyboardist Mann, who incorporated so much Springsteen into his music, was the musical home for English-born Thompson between 1975 and 1999, with a hiatus between 1986 and 1996. Despite being born in England, Chris has spent a large part of his youth/life in New Zealand, to return to his native soil in 1973, via Australia.
Chris Thompson’s voice can be heard on iconic albums such as The Roaring Silence (1976), Watch (1978), Angel Station (1979) and Chance (1980). That is what the music fans remember him for. But Thompson was so much more than just the voice of MMEB as he recorded and performed live with Alan Parsons, Mike Oldfield, Jeff Wayne, Brian May, Steve Hackett and the Mandoki Soulmates, amongst others. He was also active in the American band Night for some time and managed to record and release a fair number of solo albums. He is also (co-)writer of You’re The Voice, the song that would be taken into the charts by John Farnham. Quite a busy bee 😉
Chris Thompson, now 76, does not performing that often anymore, however when he does, it’s often with a backing band with Norwegian roots, featuring guitarist Mads Eriksen. That is also roughly the line-up that supports him on his latest album, The Final Round: Live, recorded at Musiktheater Rex in Bensheim, Germany. The recordings took place in November 2022 and released at the end of 2023. In late 2024 Chris Thompson offered a limited run of signed copies of the album in support of Laufen mit Herz a children’s cancer charity based in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The Final Round: Live contains 18 songs and lasts slightly more than two hours. It also marks the last live album ever by the legendary singer with that distinctive voice. The concept is simple: play the best-known songs from the MMEB albums you worked on, and from which the audience recognizes your voice. Sprinkle that with a few solo pieces and end with the biggest hit that you never sang on yourself. Make sure your backing band consists of good musicians, and do your thing. The greater part of that plan seems to work: with songs such as For You, Father Of Day, Don’t Kill It Carol, Blinded By The Light, The Mighty Quinn and Davy’s On The Road Again, the criteria is more than met.
The band is truly excellent with an outstanding Mads Eriksen on lead guitar. The sad disappointment is unfortunately Thompson himself: his enormous voice is no more and all the power is gone. The sound mix camouflages this by applying liberal amounts of reverb and echo, but it’s still not quite/not at all what we have come to expect. At his best I hear a kind of Ian Gillan, with a lot of soul and reverb, but the power of the latter, although also lost in strength, is completely missing. So sad, it could have been a great final live album if that so important element had been possible.
Surprising choices for Chicago Institute and a nice blues rocker like Whole Lot To Give, however for that real Manfred Mann feeling we will have to go back to Budapest Live (1984), unfortunately. This performance recorded on 20th November 2022 at the end of the tour turned out to be the last official show of Thompson et al. After 21 years he has perhaps wisely called it a day, but not before he had qualified the band as the ‘best band ever’.
TRACK LISTING
01. Waiter There’s A Yawn In My Ear (6:15)
02. Demolition Man (6:43)
03. You Angel You (3:57)
04. Angels At My Gate (5:48)
05. Messin (8:31)
06. For You (3:33)
07. Father Of Day (8:21)
08. Martha’s Madman (7:49)
09. Woe Is Me (5:37)
10. Chicago Institute (4:30)
11. Whole Lot To Give (8:53)
12. Buddah (9:55)
13. Don’t Kill It Carol (7:58)
14. Blinded By The Light (9:37)
15. Drum Solo Into For You Reprise (5:12)
16. The Mighty Quinn (7:32)
17. You’re The Voice (5:18)
18. Davy’s On The Road Again (6:04)
Total Time – 121:00
MUSICIANS
Chris Thompson – Lead Vocals, Guitars
Mads Eriksen – Guitars, Vocals
Frank Hovland – Bass, Vocals
Gunnar Bjelland – Keyboards
Zsolt Meszaros – Drums
~ With:
Marc Rohles – Keyboards (1 & 17)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 16th August 2024
DISCOGRAPHY
– Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
2006 (2004)
Mann Alive (1998)
Soft Vengeance (1996)
Criminal Tango (1986)
Budapest Live (1983)
Somewhere in Afrika (1982)
Chance (1980)
Angel Station (1979)
Watch (1978)
The Roaring Silence (1976)
– Solo:
The Final Round: Live (2023)
Jukebox-The Ultimate Collection 1975-2015 (2015)
Toys & Dishes (2014)
Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me (2012)
Acoustic (2011)
Chris Thompson & Band – One Hot Night in the Cold (Live at the Private Music Club) (2006)
Timeline (2005)
Rediscovery (2004)
Won’t Lie Down (2001)
Backtrack 1980-1994 (1999)
The Challenge (Face It) (1989)
Beat of Love (1989)
High Cost of Living (1986)
Radio Voices (1985)
Out of the Night (1983)
If You Remember Me (1979)
