Phil Manzanera is, most undoubtably, the most underrated modern guitarist of his age. For those of you who aren’t aware of him, he is most famous for being the plank spanker in Roxy Music. He is also famous for producing Brian Eno’s “Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)” album and being the brains behind the 801 Live band/album.
His solo career has been patchy…and that’s coming from me, a fan who cites this guitarist as one of his main influences. His first solo “Diamond Head” is an essential purchase and is a who’s who of rock at the time. His subsequent works have veered from OK (K-Scope, Listen Now) to brilliantly futuristic (Primitive Guitars) to mediocre (Southern Cross).
Luckily, 6PM owes more to “Diamond Head” than to any other of his albums and features many of the performers that appeared on that original 1975 release. Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt, Paul Thompson, Andy McKay and Bill McCormick all appear and are augmented by performances from Chrissie Hynde and David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. To quote PM himself, this is an album he has waited 26 years to make.
The opening track “Broken Dreams” is a paean to his dead father and his a direct nod to the acid-rock of the late sixties. It sounds like Floyd amongst others. “Green Spikey Cactus” is far more left-field and features some incendiary harmonica from Chrissie Hynde. With a superbly catchy chorus, this track is a real summery song. Come on, let’s come together right now!
This upbeat feeling continues with “Love Devotion”, song about love obviously, but trust me, it isn’t mawkish. It’s a love song for boys, OK? Again, it is up (with a bit of down) and has another sing along chorus. “Wish You Well” is a much more sombre affair and is a tribute to Ian McDonald (not that one – the one who played on 801 & Diamond Head) who committed suicide last year and features a bass solo from his brother, Bill MacCormick. With a few dodgy couplets, this is prolly my least favourite track on the record.
The title track is guitar-led instrumental, which features some signature playing from PM and when you hear this, you will hear the precise tone and playing that inspires my own noodlings on the electric banjo. Then it is back to the songs again with “Waiting for the Sun to Shine” which is most apt in this wash-out of a British summer we are experiencing and is my “Song of the Summer”. Again, it is catchy, upbeat and if it was fronted by some blond 20-year-old lad, it would be a massive success on the hit parade.
Towards the end of the record is a series of songs that are linked together…yup we are talking prog, my friends. The Cissbury Ring – as that’s what the collection is called – is a musical journey around the South Downs. Starting with “Cissbury Ring”, another upbeat track that sounds like it has been nicked from my old pals Supergrass. “Porlock” is an instrumental that features the ethereal trumpet of Robert Wyatt (I forgot to mention that RW plays his share of the drums on this record too, yahoo!). The collection ends with the trilogy of songs “Shoreline/Always You/Sacred Days” which veer from bleak to introspection to optimism. The last two tracks feature some strong guitar playing from David Gilmour…in fact the last track features some guitar sparring from DG & PM.
I must admit that I didn’t have any expectations when I heard about this. Luckily, the album didn’t disappoint and it is a very strong collection of songs. They aren’t going to be to everyone’s tastes – some might dismiss them as being a little light or a little fey, but I think that this is the strongest collection of songs PM has put out since Diamond Head. I was also surprised by PM’s vocals. His influences are worn on his sleeve from Pink Floyd to Robert Wyatt to Kevin Ayers. It’s all here if you know what you are looking for. It’s a very English record.
I am thoroughly enjoying this record and recommend it. And the packaging is pretty snazzy too (if you like digipaks, that is).