Attack of the Grey Lantern

by

Mansun

Edit

Sadly, Mansun are no longer with us, having broken up at the end of 2003, but this, their first album (the UK version) is fantastic. This is rock album as sweeping cinematic epic, every song seguing into the next and containg a central thread filled with colorful (sordid, in frontman Paul Draper's words) characters such as Dark Mavis, the Stripper Vicar, The Chad, and Egg Shaped Fred. Absolutely gorgeous in its musicianship, singing, and production, this is a great album if you're into great British bands like Blur, Suede, Pulp, and Radiohead, and want to dig a little deeper into that sound and style. In fact this album is the one that knocked Blur's fantastic 1997 self titled album off the #1 spot in the charts. All the songs on here are excellent, but check out the opening trilogy of tracks, Stripper Vicar, Egg Shaped Fred, Wide Open Space, and the majestic and haunting finale, Dark Mavis. Phenomenal. One last note...DO NOT BUY THE US VERSION OF THIS ALBUM. It is chopped up, rearranged, has songs missing, and completely ruins the album as it was intended. You'll spend a bit more for the UK version, but it's worth it. Besides, the added tracks on the US version are available on the excellent Kleptomania box set.

Having read all this great stuff about 'Attack of the Grey Lanturn' and being a proud owner and lover of their second album 'Six', I had no hesitation in purchasing this record. However, it did disappoint me just slightly. On 'Six', there is a sense of wonder at the incredible, progressive musical experiments and charmingly mad nature of what's going on. On 'Attack of the Grey Lanturn', the songs don't seem to be as well-written at their core. Nevertheless, its a very interesting album, really unlike anything else.

It begins brightly with the pleasent, orchestral 'The Chad Who Loved Me' with its rumbling guitar and epic scope (still no match for the title track of 'Six', which opens it) and the rather mad dance-y camp groove of 'Mansun's Only Love Song'. It, and many songs on here, would be somewhat mislabelled under Indie Rock, being far more reliant on synthesisers etc than guitars, although their subsequent albums are more guitar-based.

'Taxloss' however is irritating and its stupid tune and overblown nature leaves you desperate to just put something else on by its 3rd minute, let alone the 7th. The acoustic, yearning 'You. Who Do You Hate?' is much better, and when it explodes into heavy rock it is extremely cool. 'Wide Open Space' follows and its an expertly constructed exercise in paranoia like Radiohead with a poppier melodic core, but doesn't quite match up to its equivalent off Six, 'Legacy'.

'Stripper Vicar' is quite Blur-ish in its very English pop melody and lyrical comic cheekiness. It also seems influenced by Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, however there's a rockier twist here on both bands. Its opposite number on Six would probably be 'Being A Girl', and again its not quite as good, but nevertheless a cool single. 'Disgusting' begins with a gothic, chilling soundscape and moves into an echoing synth-driven number which still has a quite dark feel. 'She Makes My Nose Bleed' despite its awful title is very well constructed with its keyboard-and-guitar combination and another dark feel.

'Naked Twister' has a really epic, memorable chorus and is an album highlight. However its followed by the awful 'Egg-Shaped Fred' which sounds like a parody of Britpop performed by a metal band. 'Dark Mavis', too, is a beautiful closer, building and yearning, with good lyrics, and ends with the same orchestral theme that 'The Chad Who Loved Me' has, adding to the feel of concept and unity for the album.

You need to be in the right mood for Mansun: if you're in a bad mood, they'll irritate you more and just sound overblown and annoying. When you're in the right mood, this is great to listen to, and this is clearly an accomplished album, but it really doesn't come close to Six, which is a 5 star album by all accounts. This album started out disappointing me heavily, but its grown from a 2-star rating to 3 1/2-stars with repeated listens. Just make sure you skip 'Taxloss' and 'Egg-Shaped Fred'.