Manor Sessions

The Cult | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 30, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Beggars UK - Ada
• ASIN: B000006XXA
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,380 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what Electric SHOULD'VE sounded like, October 14, 2000

By 

Kevin Gamble (Columbia, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manor Sessions (Audio CD)

If you substitute these versions of the songs on "Electric" for those that were actually released, you end up with an album that much more effectively bridges the gap between "Love" and "Sonic Temple". Where "Electric" often sounded like 2nd-rate AC/DC, this EP gives a glimpse into an alternate reality where the Cult followed "Love" with an album of incredible power, speed, and drama. The versions on this CD are not dry and raw like their "Electric" counterparts, but rather lush, fiery, and done on a grand scale--imagine a whole CD of "She Sells Sanctuary" turned up to 11, and you've got "The Manor Sessions". In my opinion, this is the Cult's finest hour, bridging the edgy drama of "Love" with the punch and grandeur of "Sonic Temple"--and surpassing them both.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is what Electric was supposed to sound like!, October 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Manor Sessions (Audio CD)

This cd features 5 outtakes from the manor recordings. The recording company found the recordings too 'metal'. The re-recordings is what you can hear on Electric. This cd features a.o. Electric Ocean, Outlaw, Love Removal machine. Too bad that Lil' Devil is not on it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cult's best, August 29, 2007

By 

Movie fan from another galaxy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manor Sessions (Audio CD)

I agree with reviewer Kevin Gamble.

The Manor sessions was the best the Cult ever sounded. This was undoubtedly the high point of their career. In what eventually would become the album "Electric" produced by hotshot producer Rick Rubin, this collection of songs really missed the mark under Rubin's mannered production. Rubin was the producer the Cult viewed as the best way to crack the American market, recently helping the Beastie Boys explode into the rap market. And while commercially successful, Rubin's "Electic" failed in many ways artistically. Especially after hearing how "Electric" could have sounded under the production of Steve Brown.

Brown truly understood the Cult's uniqueness, and Rubin attempted to make them into Led Zeppelin. Steve Brown also produced the Cult's previous ground breaking and genre defying album "Love", and with the manor sessions, had some truly great songs to work with. But the Cult viewed the sessions as a disappointment and tossed everything out in favor of the dry and heavier sound that Rubin pursued.

The Manor sessions versions fit the songs much better and allowed the Cult to sound more like the Cult instead of a cheap imitation of Led Zep.

I am grateful these sessions were released, as I had read at the time, that the Cult were in the studio recording, after "Love" brought them into the limelight. Then after the announcement of Rick Rubin's involvement was announced I was leery of the impending results and my fears were actually surpassed in the subsequent results. "Electric" will always be the most disappointing album of the Cult's catalog of work. It's unfortunate the Cult made the wrong choice at the time.

But now, in retrospect, you can enjoy the Manor sessions produced by Steve Brown and imagine what could have been.