Search - Guy Manning :: Ansers Tree

Manning's Anser's Tree a Real Treat

ProgDog | 11/09/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Manning's "Anser's Tree" presents a fictitious family tree for Dr. Jonathan Anser who lives in the not-too-distant future. The concept came to Guy as he imagined stories of people from the past and people in a rather watery future. The homonym concept driving "Anser's Tree" is "Ancestry." The album presents our collective search for meaning and belonging as a part of a vast pattern spanning several hundred years and ending with the same search. Far from a fruitless journey, the search reveals many revelatory, and mysterious, narratives that coalesce into the existential fabric of existence.



Ranging across a wide spectrum of sound, "Anser`s Tree" grants the listener a "feel" of each era through clever inclusion of Canterbury thematic elements, mature songwriting and a balanced presentation of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. The CD is truly a delight for the ears.



While Guy Manning plays Acoustic 6 and 12 String Classical Guitars, Electric Guitar, Mandolin, Keyboards, Basses, Drums, Percussions and provides Samples and Vocals, he is joined by Andy Tillison on Moog, by Ian Walter Fairbairn on "Fiddles," by David Million on Electric Guitars, by Stephen Dundon on Flutes, by Neil Harris on piano and Arp, and by Laura Fowles on Saxes and Vocals. Manning's sound is so mature at this point in his career that the album sounds like a true band, even though the CD is really a solo effort with guest musicians.



Manning continues to establish himself as the "Troubadour of Prog," emphasizing the importance of a well-crafted melody. "I'm working with good musicians...but I do not build songs for extensive solos. There are little solos here and there, but we're not like (other bands) that can simply jam along and dazzle the audience for hours." The "dazzle" here lies in the solid, consistent songwriting abilities of Manning himself.



Guy Manning has a prolific career. As a solo artist, he releases a CD roughly every year. This incredible output is tempered by a cycle of activity and emotions in Guy's "fiscal year," a year that commences around November. In classic sardonic tone, Guy relates how his family "helps" him: "It's usually about that time that I start to whine and moan that I don't know what I'm going to write, and my family look at me and say `Shut up.'... Around January or February, I've started to work in my home studio, and my family come into the studio and ask me what I'm doing in there, and I tell them, `Shut up.'" By about August, Guy has written and recorded the majority of the work. The next two months are devoted to the details of the album, like artwork by Guy's friend and artist Ed Unitsky. Sometime in October, the CD is out and Guy starts the whole process over. As he attests, "You either can write songs and produce them with ease, or you can't. In my case, the yearly cycle seems to have been something that works for me." His plans may change for 2007. "Who knows? Maybe next year I'll give you a break. I may be collaborating with a band. Not sure yet, so I can't say who." Whether or not Guy decides to collaborate or release another solo effort, if the results are similar to "Anser's Tree," we are all in for a great ride.



If you have a prog fan in your home, "Anser's Tree" should be under your Christmas tree. A fantastic listen, this CD will probably wind up as one of my top picks of 2006."

Unbelievably, still getting better and better!,

ProgDad | UK | 11/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Reviewer: Dr. D. B. Sillars (Amazon UK 100 Reviewer) Nov 2006



Barely a year since his last opus, Guy brings us another first class collection to revel in. Amazingly he has upped the ante yet again. "Anser's Tree" is surely his most complex work yet, both musically and thematically. Seven songs linked genealogically, each concerning characters inhabiting certain periods of time over a 500 year period. Though the songs easily work in isolation, Guy's ability to weave vivid tales has always been a trademark of his writing. Here he expands on simple storytelling by linking each character to portray how elements of the person we are can be traced back to our antecedents. The premise that there is a genetic flow through our family tree is a powerful concept, especially as I am presently looking at my own family tree. But Guy deals with even more than this as the track "Professor Adam Logan (2001-2094)" looks at the potential consequences of global warming. This is taken to a speculative conclusion on the final track "Dr. Jonathan Anser (2089-????)", where the character strikes a solitary figure in the aftermath of the planets destruction, trying to find his roots to not only understand himself, but mankind.



Musically, Guy has dressed his powerful and engrossing narrative in some of his lushest and compulsive settings and arrangements yet. The opening "Margaret Montgomery (1581-????)" has a gorgeous folk tinged feel to it, with Stephen Dundon's earthy flute really to the fore. Things get a bit more proggy on the next track, "Jack Roberts (1699-1734)" with lots of excellent Moog courtesy of Andy Tillison. The sax break by the ever excellent Laura Fowles really brings this piece to a fantastic conclusion. This may be my favourite piece on the album. "Joshua Logan (1990-2048)" is wonderfully exuberant with some nice mellotron washes and scintillating electric guitar playing from David Million. More mellotron strings are featured on the concluding track "Dr. Jonathan Anser (2089-????)" adding to the melancholy air of the protagonist's final journey. Everything before has led to this moment and the album ends with a militaristic build up, the saxes squalling into the foreground before fading out into nothing! A powerful and emotive finale to what for me is an exceptionally thought provoking and highly distinctive album.



Over the course of eight studio albums, Guy Manning has developed a growing reputation for producing quality songwriting. He is also a more than able multi-instrumentalist. For me the last few albums have clearly shown someone at the top their game, producing work of a standard that is rarely equalled by most not just working in the prog genre but in rock music in general. "Anser's Tree" may be his most significant musical statement yet. In fact I know it is!

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