Search - Barbara Manning :: Super Scissors

Essential 80s/90s Indie Rock

Irroub Golb | Soquel, CA, USA | 07/19/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Hugely influential, both as a solo artist and as a member of bands such as 28th Day, World of Pooh, and SF Seals, Barbara Manning is one of those geniuses on the fringes of pop music that goes woefully overlooked. While a newbie may want to start with her "Singles Under One Roof" compilation to get a more even glimpse of her at her best, this warts-and-all 3CD set offers insight into her craft that can't be gleaned from anywhere else. Besides the two studio albums, "Lately I Keep Scissors" and "One Perfect Green Blanket," there are also a number of studio outtakes, rough demos, radio sessions, and live recordings spread across the three discs. A fairly substantial insert full of pictures, contemporary reviews, and comments from a number of indie rock luminaries rounds out the set.



-Devin."

Great original folk music.

D. Hammel | Washington DC | 01/25/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Barbara Manning, who was for a long time known for her interpretations of other bands' music, has a beautiful compilation of two of her "more recent" and original full length albums. A combination of Lately I Keep Scissors and One Green Blanket added to a disc of previously unreleased tracks, makes a great American folk story although missing her epic, the "Arsonists Story" off of 1212.



Preceding great folk artists such as Jeff Mangum and Sam Beam, she set the stage "for anyone who would listen." Sometimes she teaches lessons like Aesop and other times she tells tragic, yet "funny" love stories like Stephin Merritt. With the pop sensibilities ("Never Park") and noise experimentation ("Make It Go Away") you can't help but make other comparisons to bands such as Lush and Sonic Youth respectively, on the first album at least.



Much of One Perfect Green Blanket will encourage similarities with Mary Timony (both in Helium and post-Helium days.) This album has a very contemporary style although released in 1992. She was well ahead of her time as proven on this second portion of the collection.



As rare as Iron & Wine's "Call Your Boys" single, this is an excellent (if not expensive) purchase for the Barbara Manning fan out there, but also a good introduction into her deeper, more aged releases."