MANFRED MANN '06: 2006

Several albums of the band ranged from good (the majority of his earlier output) to excellent ("Solar Fire"). But these were produced ages ago. The evolution of the band towards a pure pop oriented music couldn't please an old fan as I am.

On this album, the Mann makes some illusion with the good opening track "Demons And Dragons". Because when you listen this album further on, those terrible beats we have been used to during "Masque" or to a lesser extent "Soft Vengeance" are back again.

The poorest track probably being "Down In Mexico". Only good to practice the press nextT exercise. This album features a lot of uninspired and boring music like the instrumental "Happenstance" vaguely Oriental influenced.

This soul influence is also too dominant for my taste. "The History Of Sexual Jealousy" sounds more as a weak Motown track of the seventies than anything else. I'm afraid that this record is just the continuation of a long downhill initiated a loooooong time ago.

The Mann (with or without his band) has been very discreet in terms of album releases. This is his third effort in seventeen years. And I wonder who could be interested in such an album in the third millennium.

All of a sudden, a brilliant instrumental track falls like a gift. "Black Eyes" is a superb melody and the guitar play is just splendid. Unfortunately (as it often happens on poor albums) this great moment is rather short.

Soul / funky music covers the majority of the tracks of this album ("Mars", "Get Out Of This") and I have never been able to digest these genres. And the quality of the song writing also leaves much to be desired.

A charming song as "Frog" comes as a relief. A very nice and gentle story. The third good number so far. Touching, emotional. Things are also on the good side with the pop "Two Friends". At least the global soul mood has gone and the keyboards solo is rather well executed.

The heavy beat of "Monkman" is compensated with some church choir vocals (hence the title). Not great but an original mix. Actually, the album gets better towards the end even if, again, another good instrumental is waaaaay too short ("Marche Slave").

As a contradiction, the Mann gets back to some sort of mix between Motown and rap style. Independent Woman is just terrible my prog friends.

Two stars is my rating. Some average to good tracks prevents me to use the one star rating, but be aware that half of this album is pretty much unbearable. The best thing to do is to get his early albums (up to The Roaring Silence.

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