Search - Phil Manzanera :: Firebird V11

Guitarist's Holiday

Robert Carlberg | Seattle | 12/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Named after his signature guitar, Phil's latest continues his recent trend of meaty, intelligent, 3-dimensional albums which bear repeated listening to suss out everything that's going on. Drumming is by the great Charles Hayward (sounding better than ever!), bass by Israeli Yaron Stavi and piano by the Polish Lezek Mozdzer. Two tracks here were written thirty years ago for 801 (but never recorded). Snippets of sound effects, radio broadcasts and candid conversations pepper the mature tunes and largely-instrumental musical soundscapes, giving a truly cinematic sweep to the album.



One gets the impression, listening to this, that Manzanera has reached the position in his career where he can make any damn music he WANTS to make with whomever he wants to work and he doesn't have to give two hoots about commercial concerns."

Welcome back

Peter | Sydney Aus | 07/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was not sure whether to buy this one as I felt that Phil Manzanera's last few albums had been patchy, but I am glad that I did. He has got three things right.

Firstly, he seems to have realised that many of us out there want to hear his guitar -not his singing. Secondly, he has surrounded himself with a tight group of musicians that all contribute without dominating. Thirdly, he has found a theme - the Firebird guitar, that enables him to go back to his roots and this release evokes the heady days of Quiet Sun and Diamond Head. His guitar work is top form as ever, although a bit more mellow, supported by some really punchy keyboards and a strong rhythm section. Great to see Charles Hayward back with Phil.

It is an instrumental album, with the odd piece of spoken word - eg a segment of an old film on 'A few minutes'. The only track that doesn't really convince is the jam ' Mexican Hat' but that can be forgiven, given the strength of the rest of the material.

Hopefully he can get the same musicians around in a year or so and bring out a sequel."