Barbara Manning Albums (4)
'You Should Know by Now'
Release Date 5/22/2001
Tracks 10
Label Innerstate
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
With this release, Barbara Manning made her debut recording with the Go-Luckys!, one of several groups she's fronted or been a part of since beginning her career. It was superior punk-poppish indie rock, with a harder rocking edge than some of her folkier recordings have employed. Her songs (often co-written with others, or, in the case of the instrumental "Boston Song," wholly written by Go-Luckys! Fabrizio and Flavio Steinbach) were wary negotiations of romance and the trials of coping with loneliness and pressure. They differed from many other indie rockers combing the same territory in that they remained open to better times and better situations, rather than reveling in or retreating into alienated postures. She was actually most effective when she got more specific and direct about her frustrations, as on "Never Made Love" and "Incapable," which had the best tunes of any of the songs on the record as well. Jeff Palmer's musical saw added occasionally goofy ambience that was rather at odds with the mostly somber outlook of the album. ~ Jimmy James, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
True to her collaborative form, this "solo" effort from Barbara Manning is more like a transpacific one-off supergroup of indie rock without the goofy moniker -- not that any of the much-respected but commercially overlooked artists from New Zealand (the Clean, the 3-D's, the Verlaines) and the States (Calexico) could add hunks of prestige to the record via a stronger association with its creative genesis. To all but a few music geeks these artists speak in obscure musical tongues, so In New Zealand's truth in packaging ultimately matters little. Just call it a Manning solo effort for simplicity's sake and be thankful for the effort. Those interested will find many tender and sometimes bleak and bitter moments on this 1999 Communion release. The metaphorical meat of "Your Pies" (penned by Manning and New Zealand alpha-rocker Chris Knox) is perhaps the toughest of the set, while sweet and sour cuts like "Whatever I Do Is Right/Wrong" and "Everything Happens By Itself" make up the blunt, poetic main course of this minimalist feast. When fans of Manning begin digesting the simple truthfulness of In New Zealand, a familiar, sated feeling will result, and the name listed above the title will seem appropriate. ~ Vincent Jeffries, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For all of her past recorded output, Barbara Manning has never been the most prolific of composers, her many albums relying instead on her gifts as an interpreter of other writers' songs; the achievement of 1212 isn't simply that it's made up largely of Manning originals, but that chief among them is her most ambitious creation to date, a stunning four-part mini-rock opera known collectively as "The Arsonist Story." The chilling tale of a young firestarter told from a series of narrative angles, it's a major triumph both lyrically and musically, expanding upon the folk-pop basics of Manning's previous records to conjure a truly haunting and complex story of abuse and destruction. The other originals are excellent as well, and the covers are particularly well-chosen, especially a rendition of Richard Thompson's "End of the Rainbow" which makes for a fittingly bleak coda to "The Arsonist Story." ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
'Barbara Manning Sings With the Original Artists'
Release Date 1/1/1995
Tracks 11
Label Feel Good All Over/Bar/None/Koch
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Barbara Manning Sings With the Original Artists is a somewhat slight but wholly enjoyable release from a short-lived "supergroup" consisting of vocalist Barbara Manning and members of Young Marble Giants (Stuart Moxham), the Mekons (Jon Langford), and others. The music has more of a retro/lounge feel than the folk-tinged pop with which Manning is usually associated. Further, she is only credited with one song ("Optimism Is Its Own Reward"), while Moxham and Langford penned the rest of the originals. "Cry Me a River" is a faithful, non-ironic cover of the Julie London classic (much like Grenadine's "I Only Have Eyes for You"), while "Martian Man" is a lovely Lora Logic (X-Ray Spex, Essential Logic) cover embellished with brass and sitar. As a whole, the recording evokes the same sort of insouciant ambience fellow lounge lizards Grenadine, Combustible Edison, and Friends of Dean Martinez were making around the same time (the mid-'90s). Similarly, the approach is more sincere than campy. Moxham's garage-y "Daddy Bully" breaks the mold -- but not the mood -- to some extent by taking as its inspiration Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs' '60s nugget "Wooly Bully." ~ Kathleen C. Fennessy, All Music Guide
