SONGS FROM THE BILSTON HOUSE

16 months ago, I got the last THE TANGENT album and I got hooked. Some months later, I spotted the cover of this album on ProgArchives and that intrigued me. I just got to have this album. I got it together with the other MANNING albums, but put it in the back of the long que while I was exploring Folk Prog and Fusion.

This is the ninth MANNING album and he got the inspiration from the house mentioned on the artwork. A run down, unhabitated house. The previous owner was dead and it gave Guy Manning the whole idea for this album. Well, nobody should label Guy Manning as Mr. Average. I had already learned this from his last album Number Ten and the follow up album to this album. I liked that album and I expected much of the same here. I was right.

The first song, the title song, is a bouncy song with some references to THE TANGENT. It is a very playful song and a good song. The second song The Calm Absurd starts with almost a spoken vocals like the new R&B scene queens from USA before a symphonic prog, jazz and folk rock part kicks in with full force. The music is absurd and it works. A very good song indeed. The third song Lost In Play starts with some texan accoustic guitars before the keys kicks in and some good vocals. This song also leans heavily on Irish folk music. It is playful and light. It is good and it works. Some hints of STRAWBS is detectable here. Thumbs up. The fourth song Understudy is a pretty bouncy and heavy song with some good rhythms and playful keys. This is a pretty standard progressive rock song and a fairly decent one too. The final three minutes of it is good with some good harmonies and breaks. More of this, please. Skimming Stones is another interesting, but untraditional song. It sits somewhere between Folk Rock, Fusion and Symphonic Prog. Untraditional means a traditional MANNING song. A very quirky song which works pretty well. Antares is a ballad, but not a sugar sweet ballad. It is another quirky Guy Manning composition with some violins and keys. It is a good song. Icarus & Me follows the same pattern. A quirky opening leads into a good mid-tempo song with some good saxophone in the VDGG tradition. Pillars Of Salt is a bit of a THE BEATLES worship in both lyrics and music. Some nods towards STRWBS and CARAVAN can also be detected here. A good ballad with an enchanting flute in the middle of it. The ballad Inner Moment closes the album with it's Celtic theme. It does not work as well as the other songs on this album, I am afraid.

"Songs From The Bilston House" is more a seventy minutes long collection of songs than one piece of coherent progressive rock. Yes, the songs are still progressive, but not in the symphonic prog meaning of the word "progressive". I would still put MANNING and this album somewhere between THE BEATLES, STRAWBS, the Canterbury Scene and THE TANGENT. Or rather; MANNING is MANNING. It is an unique band with it's own style. The vocals is also special and a big factor in MANNING's unique style. "Songs From The Bilston House" is a well worked album and one to saviour. I know I do. My only gripe is that it is not my type of music. In other words, it is neither symphonic enough or jazzy enough. It is perhaps too much rock'n'roll for me. But even I can see that this album is good value for money. That is why I like it.

4 stars

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