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Guy
Manning : 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars , electric guitars,
vocals, keyboards, e-bow, bass, mandoline, harp, drums, percussion
Rick Ashton : bass
Jonathan MacDonald Binns : drums
Laura Fowles : saxophone, vocals
Neil Harris : keys, percussion
Gareth Harwood : electric guitar
GasGueststen :
Andy Tillison-Diskdrive (Parallel or 90 Degrees) : organ, analogue
synth
Angela Goldthorpe (Mostly Autumn) : recorder, flute |
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Productive Guy Manning (4 albums in as
many years) delivers once more a sample-card of his manifold skills
with “The Ragged Curtain”. Accompanied by old campaigners like Laura
Fowles on saxophone and Andy Tillison-Diskdrive, known from Parallel
or 90 Degrees, we rather get served up a singer-songwriter with prog
adorations. “Tightrope” sounds damned delicious as a warmed up Pink
Floyd completed with orchestral sound tapestries. Manning broaches
every possible style to create the ultimate atmosphere. So, you’ll
find a delicious flowing reggae rhythm in “Where Do All The Madmen
Go” in which Manning has no scruples to steal the main theme from
Mott The Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes”. The most important piece on
this album is “Ragged Curtain” (over 25 minutes), that starts of
with an authentic Jethro Tull feeling. Nice spun out passages, with
a guest appearance by Angela Goldthorpe from Mostly Autumn on the
flute, change this epic track into a powerful musical journey with
lots of variation. The material from Guy Manning isn’t the sort of
music you would kill for, but I venture to say that this “The Ragged
Curtain” floats beautifully on the surface as the oil near our
coast, not so long ago!
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