Customer Reviews

Live at the Glenn Gould Studio

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I like Harry Manx's blend of American blues-folk and Indian ragas, with consistently soulful lyrics, vocals and instrumentation (much of it played unaccompanied on the acoustic slide, the exotic 20 string resonator lap guitar mohan veena, the 6 string banjo, and harmonica), although my preference is for his earliest recordings, when he first came onto the North American scene in 2000 - with Dog My Cat, then Wise and Otherwise in 2001, and the surprisingly good 2003 collaboration with electric guitarist Kevin Breit, Jubilee. His next two studio recordings (West Eats Meet and Mantras for Madmen) were also good with a few really great songs, but since then I have found myself becoming increasingly let down by his recordings, perhaps not disappointed in the quality as much as bored by the predictability of it all, and had about given up on him.

This lively recording (with great sound quality, btw) from March 10, 2007 revives my interest by being not only a wide selection of some great early songs, but a gathering of skilled backing musicians, who play with an obvious empathy and sense of fun. It is great to hear Kevin Breit again, Steve Marriner's harp playing is on fire and so tasty, and the addition of Samidha Joglekar on vocals is quite nice. In fact her song ("Samidha's Tune") is, surprisingly, one of my favorites here, a gentle traditional sounding yet accessible Indian composition. I don't always dig the Indian "dig-a-dhak" scat singing, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

Overall this is a 4+ star production, and easy to recommend for Manx's fans.