GUY MANNING: TALL STORIES FOR SMALL CHILDREN

Guy is guitarist with Parallel Or Ninety Degrees, and on his debut album he was joined by PO90 keyboard player Andy Tillison, as well as bassist Jonathan Barrett, Simon Baskind on drums, Pav Chana on tables and Jon Burr on harmonica. The album is very impressive, and very mature in outlook. While there are many pieces that would not sound out of place on a Pink Floyd album, for example, there are also others which are far more reflective and Roy Harper in style. Three of the songs are epics, but are sub-divided into smaller songs that can be accessed separately. The vocals and music work so well together that the listener can concentrate heavily on the lyrics.

Feedback #59, July 2000

"Tall Stories For Small Children" is the debut full-length studio album by UK progressive rock artist Guy Manning (Parallel or 90 Degrees, The Tangent). The album was released through Cyclops Records in October 1999. All subequent Guy Manning solo releases have been released under the shortened Manning monicker. Manning plays and sings most instruments and vocals on the album, but a few guests help him out including Andy Tillison (Parallel or 90 Degrees, The Tangent).

Stylistically the 8 tracks on the 69:20 minutes long album is an eclectic mix of symphonic progressive rock, folk rock (Jethro Tull is an influence on those parts), and other rock and pop influences. Manning has a relatively distinct sounding voice and singing style. He´s arguably a skilled singer, and other than the lead vocals he has also arranged some nice sounding choirs and harmonies. There´s still something holding the vocal part of the album from reaching the highest levels, but that can in part also be attributed to the sound production, which is a bit thin sounding and lacking organic bottom.

"Tall Stories For Small Children" opens with the 14:07 minutes long multi-part epic "The Last Psalm" and then moves through various creative and interesting songwriting ideas and tracks (check out the middle-eastern orchestral arrangement on "The Voyager") until it closes with the 17:39 minutes long "Holy Ireland", which is another multi-part epic symphonic progressive rock composition.

Upon conclusion "Tall Stories For Small Children" is a decent quality debut album from Guy Manning. It has a home recorded quality to it that´s not providing the material with the best possible conditions to shine, and my guess would be that Manning recorded most of the album alone in this home studio, and that assumption is further enhanced by the programmed drums. So there are some positives regarding the relatively intriguing songwriting (although some tracks aren´t as remarkable as others), and the musicianship is also decent enough, but the sound production is dragging the album down. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.

Manning's debut is by far his most acoustic oriented album, driven mostly by acoustic guitar albeit with plenty of keyboard embellishments. It reflects a surprising musical maturity, especially in the first and longest track. Questionable sound effects and allusions to "Wizard of Oz" notwithstanding, "The Last Psalm" generally manages to hold interest thanks to that blend of instrumentation and a sense that one doesn't know what Manning will say next. It is nonethless a bit static at times, a general theme among Manning's work.

Other highlights of the album are "White Waters" and especially the wistful and atmospheric "The Candyman". Most of the rest of the album is dominated by 2 suites, "The Rise and Fall of Abel Mann" and "Holy Ireland". The first of these ends strongly, with "Post-Mortem: 3 Score Years and 10" having more than a little Camel in it, and "Post-Mortem: In My Life", being an uplifting ballad with a lovely melody. From the later suite, "The Widow's Tale" features more of that plaintive style with some well placed bass work, while "Priest's Song" is a welcome jig like tune blended with prog elements.

Because Manning has such a distinctive, albeit pleasant voice, and the instrumentation tends to be similar from track to track, this 69 minute album falls into the trap of perhaps seeming overly long and at times overly languid. Still, a good debut with plenty of promise, and that's no tall tale.

Guy Manning´s first CD is interesting, but quite different from his latter output I love so much. This is basicly a singer/songwriter record, mostly folkish, done in the vocal/acoustic guitar mode most of the time. The notable exception is the opener The Last Psalm, a terrific prog rock track that is one of his very best songs ever. Here we have a good example of what he would do in his future works (i.e. great instrumental arrangement to go with the song, with every instrument coming in and out at the right moment, building a fine climax). Not that the other songs here are bad, far from that. But as I said before, they are mostly acoustic affairs, excellent if you like folk tunes with a few sparse keys and percussion bits to add.

I guess my problem here is that english is not my native language and I have some difficult to grab the meaning of the lyrics in this style, while on his later works Manning´s music was as important as the words and you can appreciate his CDs without having to fully understand the text. There is not much variety here, at least not as much as I´m used since Anser´s Tree. So, in the end this a too long CD (69 minutes in all) to hold my atention in just one listen. Tall Stories For Small Children is better appreciated when you listen to it in small doses, when you can enjoy every track for its own sake. The weak production does not help either.

In the end I found this album to be a very promising start for a great and prolific songwriter. All the basic elements of his famous sound are already here and he would develop them greatly over the next few years culminating with masterpieces like Ten and Margaret´s Children.

A good beginning. 3 stars.