I tried hard to like this album. When I was turned on to Mansun a few years ago, their first album made me a fan, but this time, no such luck. Mansun has found itself in a peculiar situation. Their first album, Attack Of The Gray Lantern, was hailed for its wonderful singles “Wide Open Space” and “She Makes My Nose Bleed”. With their latest album, Six, they try desperately to pick up where they left off. The title track is a pretty good song, but it is too much like their most popular tune and as the song builds you will find yourself waiting for them to blast into the chorus for “Wide Open Space”. Not a good sign.
“Serotonin” is also a nice sounding dance and hum in your eardrum. “Cancer” comes on without warning. It does something that has been popular since the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll and that is to attempt to create controversy with lyrics. Paul Draper spouts, “I’m emotionally raped by Jesus/ I’m emotionally raped by Jesus now/ but somehow I’m still here”. It may enrage someone somewhere, but it sounds like a pointless plot to this listener. “Television” sounds like some stray Tears For Fears b-side with its ’80’s pop meets ’90’s progressive-rock bore. The last three songs seem to melt together in a soothing current of music.
Mansun has tried to perfect their brit-pop sound that bands like Oasis, Blur, and the Verve have already mastered. “Legacy” is a step in the right direction, but falls short when compared to songs like the Verve’s “Lucky Man”. I think Mansun’s problem is that they try too hard to do what the Verve has done. Such is Mansun’s love for the Verve that they even contrived their name from a Verve single entitled “A Man Called Sun”. There is one major difference between the two bands: the Verve’s songs go on for an eternity, Mansun’s just seem like they do.
+ cc
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.