Nightingales & Bombers

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Nightingales & Bombers

| type = studio

| artist = Manfred Mann's Earth Band

| cover = Nightingales And Bombers.jpg

| alt =

| released = 22 August 1975

| recorded = 1975

| venue =

| studio = The Workhouse, Old Kent Road, London

| genre = Hard rock, progressive rock, art rock

| length = 37:57

| label = Bronze (UK)
Warner Bros. (U.S.)

| producer = Manfred Mann and Earth Band

| prev_title = The Good Earth

| prev_year = 1974

| next_title = The Roaring Silence

| next_year = 1976

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Nightingales & Bombers

| type = studio

| single1 = Spirits in the Night

| single1date = 25 July 1975 (UK)

}}

}}

{{Album reviews

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r67369|first=Richard|last=Foss}}

|rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2Score = B+{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: M|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=M&bk=70|accessdate=4 March 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}

|rev3 = Creem

|rev3Score = unrated{{cite magazine |last=Robins |first=Wayne |date=January 1976 |title=Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Nightingales & Bombers |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/manfred-manns-earth-band-inightingales-and-bombersi |access-date=25 July 2024 |magazine=Creem}}

|rev4 = Disc

|rev4Score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite magazine |author=DF |date=30 August 1975 |title=Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Nightingales & Bombers |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Disc/1975/Disc-1975-08-30-S-OCR.pdf |page=15 |access-date=25 July 2024 |magazine=Disc}}

|rev5 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev5Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite book |first=Colin |last=Larkin |author-link=Colin Larkin |chapter=Manfred Mann's Earth Band |title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music |year=1998 |publisher=Groves Dictionaries |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo05lark/page/3438/mode/2up 3438–39] |isbn=1-561-59237-4}}

|rev6 = Only Solitaire

|rev6Score = {{rating|2|5}}{{cite web|last=Starostin|first=George|author-link=George Starostin|title=Manfred Mann's Earth Band|url=https://starlingdb.org/music/earth.htm#Bombers|website=Only Solitaire}}

|rev7 = Record Mirror

|rev7Score = mixed{{cite magazine |author=PH |date=23 August 1975 |title=Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Nightingales & Bombers |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/75/Record-Mirror-1975-08-23.pdf |access-date=25 July 2024 |magazine=Record Mirror|page=19}}

|rev8 = Rolling Stone

|rev8Score = unfavourable{{cite magazine |first=Dave |last=Marsh |author-link=Dave Marsh |date=23 October 1975 |title=Manfred Mann's Earth Band: Nightingales & Bombers |page=69 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}

|rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev9Score = {{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book |last=Marsh|first=Dave |author-link=Dave Marsh |editor1-last=Marsh |editor1-first=Dave|editor2-last=Swenson |editor2-first=John |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |publisher=Random House |edition=2th |year=1983 |isbn=0-394-72107-1 |chapter=Manfred Mann|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstoner00mars/page/313 313–314]}}}}

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

{{blockquote|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[http://www.manfredmann.co.uk/music/night.html Manfred Mann's Earth Band Discography – Album Notes – 1975 Nightingales and Bombers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213225605/http://www.manfredmann.co.uk/music/night.html |date=2006-12-13 }} The Official Website of Manfred Mann's Earth Band }}

The recording was made on 19 May 1942 by a 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.The Bomber Command War Diaries by Middlebrook and Everitt (1985) p. 267

This was the last album to feature guitarist and original lead vocalist Mick Rogers until he returned for 1986's Criminal Tango.{{fact|date=March 2025}}