From: MURPH@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (M.A. Murphy)
Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative
Subject: Re: Roger Manning--a figment???
Date: 15 Apr 92 02:35:29 GMT
 <Apr.10.22.38.09.1992.22076@romulus.rutgers.edu>
 <1992Apr13.094042.26365@nestroy.wu-wien.ac.at>
Organization: University of Maine System

In article <1992Apr13.094042.26365@nestroy.wu-wien.ac.at>, lell@dec2.wu-wien.ac.at (Christoph Lell ) says:
>
>In article <Apr.10.22.38.09.1992.22076@romulus.rutgers.edu>,                  s.edu (voy toy) writes:
>woj@romulus.rutger
>|> hansencarlaa@bvc.edu writes:
>|> >       Has anyone ever heard of Roger Manning?
>|>
>|> he has an album on sst records that came out a few years back. forgot the
>|> title, but since sst has been having problems, i dunno how available it
>|> might be...
>
>I talked to Roger when I was in New York. He played (practiced) in Washington
>Square Park and he is very, very good. ANyway I Asked him how I could get
>ahold of his album and he said that not he himself had a copy. So I

I spoke with Roger at length after seeing him perform in Boston.  This
was shortly after his SST album came out, which makes the show early spring
of '89, I guess.  Judging from our conversation, sales of the album
were respectable, but not huge.  The biggest problem Roger found was that
SST was unable to get (or get enough) LPs/CDs into local stores where
Roger was performing.  If you like Roger's stuff, you might also check
out Kirk Kelly.  I'm including reviews and info pertaining to both of them.

The following reviews appeared in past issues of Network Audio Bits
and are Copyright (c) by Michael A. Murphy.

========================================================================

Go Man Go!                             Go Man Go
Kirk Kelly                             Talkin' Train Blues
Producer: Brian Ritchie           T    Corporation Plow
Engineer: Todd Rusch              R    Red Blues
SST 223                           A    I Pity the Poor British Soldier
Released: 1988                    C    Heroes of Tomorrow
Total Time: 32:32                 K    Haul Away Joe
Source - LP                       S    Last Dance
                                       California Blues
                                       Marching Off to Gaul
                                       Never More


   Have you  had Michelle  Schocked's album in  close proximity  to your
turntable, CD player or cassette deck recently?  Yes?  Good.  Now go out
(Go Man Go!)  and pick up Kirk Kelly's album.   Chances are that it will
also spend a good deal of time being played.

   Kirk Kelly comes from the same scene, centered around New York's East
Village and Lower East Side, that spawned Shocked,  Cindy Lee Berryhill,
and  Roger  Manning.   Each  of  these  artists  has garnered  a  recent
recording contract.    Shocked's _Short Sharp  Shocked_ was  released on
Polygram.  Berryhill's _Who's Gonna Save The World_ came out on Rhino in
late 1987.    Kelly and  Manning both  were signed  to SST.    The early
success of  Suzanne Vega and  the booming  success of Tracy  Chapman has
helped to  bring these  artists and their  music to  national attention.
These New Yorkers  (actually,  Berryhill is a  transplanted Californian)
have dubbed their music 'anti-folk' and their motto is 'Go Man Go'.

   _Go Man Go!_ is a gritty,   political album which embodies the 'anti-
folk' spirit.    Kelly's voice fosters images  of Bob Dylan,   who would
probably identify well with these anti-folkers  were he starting out now
instead  of almost  30 years  ago.   Kelly's  instrumentation (guitar  &
harmonica)  adds  to the Dylan-like image.    But Kelly isn't  Dylan and
Dylan did begin his career almost 30 years ago.

   Kelly's attitude and  lyricism come off really well on  _Go Man Go!_.
His lyrics,  both subtle and obvious,  are very political.   He takes on
democracy and its  attitude and U.S.  foreign policy in  'Red Blues' ("i
don't wanna be no communist/those damn  liberals get me really pissed"),
the cold-heartedness of the banking  and corporate world in 'Corporation
Plow', and big business/government and useless, expensive things that no
one ever wants to use in 'California Blues' ("if you need a job, there's
lots of work to do/at  rockwell,  northrop,  lockheed,  hughes./building
things nobody ever wants to use./don't try to explain it to me i'll only
get confused./all i know is what i see on local t.v. news.").

   Kelly's  unaccompanied vocal  on his  adaptation  of the  traditional
'Haul Away Joe' is stunning!   Kelly's voice isn't sweet or particularly
smooth,  but it has a grittiness and  character that makes his music and
songs come alive.  _Go Man Go!_ is an excellent debut album.   His songs
make a lot  of sense and evoke  some pretty strong emotions.    With any
luck this album will do as well  as Michelle Shocked's.   It should also
stir up as much talk and controversy as her album.

   It wasn't until I started typing up this review that I really noticed
that _Go Man Go!_ is only 32 minutes long.  It seems so much longer when
one is  immersed in the  music.   It's too  bad that Kelly's  version of
'This  Administration' was  not  included  here.   Cindy  Lee  Berryhill
covered the tune on her album.  It would have fit right in with the rest
of these tunes,  though with the  (slight)  change of administrations it
would  not  have been  quite  so  timely  as  when it  was  released  on
Berryhill's album.

========================================================================

                                       The #14 Blues
Roger Manning                          The Pearly Blues
Roger Manning                          The Lefty Rhetoric Blues
Producers: John Gurrin & Roger    T    The Hitch-hikers Blues
           Manning                R    The West Valley Blues
                                  A    Strange Little Blues
SST Records SST-203               C    The Airport Blues
Released 1988                     K    The #16 Blues
Total Time: 37:00                 S    The #17 Blues
Source - LP                            Blues For the Chosen Few
                                       The 1010 Blues
Rating - ****                          The Sicilian Train Blues

   If rave press clippings were cash, Roger Manning would be a rich man.
He's done a  lot of gigging in  support of his SST  album (simply titled
_Roger Manning_) and received good reviews almost everywhere he's gone.

   I had  the opportunity to  see Roger perform at  the end of  March in
Boston.   I saw him in the Rat with about 200 other people, give or take
100...   There  were all of  maybe five or six  people who had  heard of
Roger before the show (My wife and I  made two)  and maybe one or two of
those  had heard  his record  (I didn't  have a  copy until  a few  days
later).    Yet this  same crowd  who'd completely  ignored the  previous
bluegrass band  watched and listened attentively  when Roger did  his 45
minute set.

   Roger is not necessarily an imposing figure, but while he was onstage
at the  Rat he  had the respect  and the attention  of the  crowd.   His
personna  is not  one that  you would  expect  to be  charming,  but  he
proceeded to do just that (charm the crowd) during his set.   In talking
with Roger after  the show I found him  to be very much  like his music.
Real.  Real music.  Real person.

   Roger performed many of the songs that appear on his album and one or
two that  do not.    Though almost all  of the crowd  had not  heard his
music,  they  responded to it,   laughing at the  humorous/ironic stuff,
making comments  in between  songs that  Roger responded  to.   He  also
encouraged audience participation,  getting us involved in between songs
with some lively  banter,  telling stories between  (and during!)  songs
much like performers like Arlo Guthrie  or Pete Seeger,  though with the
small  crowd it  was much  more intimate  and personal  than the  larger
crowds that Guthrie often commands these days  (I saw Arlo some time ago
with about 1500 others).

   Roger's songs,  as I've said,  are real.   This is perhaps what makes
him such an appealing artist.   His songs are difficult to grasp just by
looking at  the titles (#14  Blues,   #16 Blues  & #17 Blues,   the 1010
blues), but his lyrics are easy to grasp.  "She pulled my heart out with
her little blue eyes,  kissed it and put it back again" from "The Pearly
Blues" and "Listen  to the lefties talkin' on  the radio/they're puttin'
down the government/what do they know?!" from "Lefty Rhetoric Blues" are
good examples.   His musical style is also easy to grasp,  as he usually
performs with only his guitar as accompaniment (the album features Jason
Goodrow on bass on two tracks and Steve Dansiger of Pianosaurus on drums
on 6 tracks).   He  calls his music folkgrass,  which is  about as apt a
description as I can think of.   I might  add that his style is a little
thrashy,  which ably supports his reedy tenor as he talk-sings (which is
another reason that  his performances seem more  like conversations than
your usual concert) his many 'blues'.

   In the last  issue of Network Audio  Bits I wrote about  Kirk Kelly's
(he and Roger are good friends)  album _Go Man Go_ and mentioned that it
had spent a  lot of time on  my turntable.   Roger's album  has spent an
equal amount of time there, played almost daily during most of April and
early May.   I  could say a lot  of the same things  about Roger's album
that I  did about  Kirk's (well,  I  did,  sort of,   but the  words are
different)  and they'd all be true.   Check out both albums.   And check
out both performers live shows.  Maybe next time I see Roger there'll be
as many as 20 or 30 people in the crowd who've heard of him!

========================================================================
-------

                                            Murph

                                            Michael A. Murphy
                                            MURPH@MAINE.BITNET

If you do not understand my silence
you will not understand my words.
Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative