NUMBER TEN

After hearing the brilliant Songs From The Bilston House, I felt the urge to go back to Guy manning´s discography and revise some concepts I had about his earlier works. However, I was also too tempted to listen to his latest CD, Ten. Considering the high quality of the previous year´s efford, I felt that Ten,. done by the same team of musicians that worked so well on Songs... (plus some guests) could be of the same caliber. Fortunatly, my intuition was right. In fact, Ten is in some ways even better than SFTBH.

First of all I´ve got say I don´t agree with another recent review at all. Although 70´s Jethro Tull is an undeniable influence on some tracks, saying JT is all over the CD is going way too far. If anyone cares to give the CD a little careful atention, he´ll find that Manning´s music here is not only a labor of love, but also a fantastic mix of different styles of music put together to come up with something that becomes of its own (after all, who is totally original? Everybody has influences!). And Guy Manning did it in a inspired and well crafted way, putting together classic rock, celtic folk, symphonic prog and jazz in a creative manner. Some moments are truly brilliant, but none is bad or even weak. All the tunes rate from very good to excellent. And on at least two ocasions, they reach a truly transcendental beauty (more aout it below)..

The arrangements are very tasteful (I really love the way he uses the late 60´s/early 70´s styled Hammond organ). Not a single note wasted here, everyone and everything work for the music. It´s one of the most balanced CDs I heard in a long time. So while I like to hear this masterpiece from start to finish, two tracks are simply too good not to be mentioned: the ethereal, poignant, Valentine´s Night (with its delicate melody and great duet vocal by Manning and Julie King, truly magnificent) and the album´s biggest moment: the 15 minute epic House On The Hill. It´s the album´s track-worth-the price-of-the-CD type. It´s full of emotion, beauty and power, building up through many shifting moods and turns, until it reaches its climax that gives goose bumps everytime I reach this point. It´s the kind of song that seems only too short and makes you want to listen to it again and again and again (yes! This album has another prog classic).

Even though Manning himself claims he hasn´t ´written my Dark Side Of The Moon yet´, it is clear that he´s heading towards the right direction to deliver it. The man is releasing some of the finest works I´ve heard these days.. My final rating: something between 4,5 to 5 stars. Highly recommended to anyone who loves good, inspired, melodic music.