GUY MANNING: TALL STORIES FOR SMALL CHILDREN

"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.