I opined on Manifesto a few years ago, or more specifically one of it's members, Michael Hampton who had been in a number of Washington D.C. era punk and hardcore bands, including SOA with Henry Rollins, and one-album emo wonders Embrace alongside Ian MacKaye. By the end of the '80s he parlayed his guitar slinging abilities in an outfit (this one) that might as well have been a full 180 from the straight-edge circuit. Manifesto sounded quite ordinary by comparison, almost generic in fact. Generic in the "modern rock" strata anyway. Mid tempo with a mild commercial bent yet wielding something of a thinking-man undercurrent. Problem is, they sounded too damn ordinary for their own good, and by the time they unleashed an album in 1992, the twin headed hydra of grunge and Britpop rendered Manifesto's shtick all but invisible. There are at least a few keepers here, especially the downright catchy "It's a Long Time," which in a different set of hands could have been reconfigured into a power pop classic.
This cassette originates from 1990 and is packaged informally as if it were a demo or advance tape, however Manifest's album didn't surface for another two years. Many songs overlap, but since I don't have the full length handy I cannot confirm if the versions presented here are unique. Will try to verify at some point, but comparing track lists, some songs are exclusive to this tape.
01. See Them Move
02. Different Day
03. Meaning of You
04. Worlds Fall Apart
05. Just a Matter of Time
06. It's a Long Time
07. Down the Line
08. Feel it Coming
09. Sugar
10. Walking Backwads
11. instrumental
No comments:
Post a Comment