Mansun

[deansodisco]

RIGHT, I know these are not Brit-Pop at all, but they're British with pop sensibilities, and have a guitar so...I guess they belong here.

I love these guys, both Attack of the Grey Lantern and Six belong high on my ~best of all time~ charts and possess the title of 'best Liverpool band, despite saying they came from pissing Chester' from me.

Sadly after Stove King (bassist) stole £500,000 from the bands account they split up, but eh, the material's still there, and Paul Draper is stilllll working on a solo project that has been owed for nearly 8 damn years now.

ANYWAY, thoughts?

[marilynroxie]

Ah yes! It's your fault I ended up finally listening to them the other month, I think since I'd noticed you scrobbling something and whatnot. 'Attack of the Grey Lantern' was brilliant, 'Six' just came across to me as so-so...I've been meaning to go back and revisit the albums though!

[deansodisco]

AH Six is one of my favourite albums of all time I love it in so many ways...

Grey Lantern I adore too obviously, anything that managed to make Liverpool sound less ~Beatles~ and more raunchy and stupid like Taxloss does is fine by me!

I've been listening to tons of their b-sides, and I've even come to like Little Kix a bit (they got forced to write that, and Paul was told he couldn't produce it...despite him solely producing Six and that selling amazingly well).

[headphones]

Ah yes, the underdogs of Britpop. Or the Proggest band of the Britpop era. Or the band who deserved so much more, but was cut short due to the betrayal of Stove. (What did he do with all that money? It's been hushed hushed, and nobody seems to have the answer!)

But at the end of the day, they gave us some of the best tunes, 4 albums, and countless b-sides, and 14 ep's! Little Kix might tread a bit on Coldplay's territory, but Paul Draper was no longer allowed to produce his own music, and that's why he may have not been in the right frame of mind to be forced to lose control of his own band from under him.

But for those who need to discover them, Attack Of The Grey Lantern is all you really need. Six if you couldn't get enough. Little Kix if you don't mind the change in direction into more poppy tunes, and Kleptomania if you were lamenting on what could have been a great 4th album. (It's 1st disc are the demos that may have been a return to their first/2nd album's style/direction, the other 2 discs are missing b-sides, singles, or demos)

Buying the AOTGL 3cd edition was the best purchase I made, because it saved me the hassle of going on eBay to buy the missing ep's. I just with they would do a similar treatment for Six or Little Kix, but that probably won't happen.

Was AOTGL a concept album? Not really, and if you were hoping for one, then it's no wonder Paul Draper had to break things down for you in "A Open Letter to the Lyrical Transporter". But yes, many of the songs are about strange characters such as stripper vicars, egg shaped fred, & Dark Mavis, but there is so much going on, that you can always discover something new if you pay attention.

It saddens me that when Mansun split, that there would be no more ep's, songs, albums. They join a list of bands you will never see return in nostalgia tours, mainly The Smiths, The Jam, & Stone Roses. (You know it's rather sad when relationships in a band crumble that badly that they'll never even consider sharing a stage ever again).

I'd love to listen to anything Paul Draper comes out with as a solo artist, but who really knows? I'd love to know what Dominic Chad is up to, but more than likely, it's not music. Andy I have heard is a drum tech (I think?), and Stove King got into motor racing, but I know that Paul has never forgiven Stove for his crimes.

A band with this many ideas, and so many expectations placed on them can usually implode, and sadly, this was the fate of Mansun. But what a ride they gave us. Thanks Lads!