Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

Mojo MARCH 2011 - by David Buckley

PHIL MANZANERA: DIAMOND HEAD

Roxy guitarist's 1975 solo outing reissued alongside Mainstream by his band Quiet Sun.

Phil Manzanera was an unlikely glam hero. Possessed of none of the stage presence and disruptive power exhibited by many of his contemporaries, Manzanera looked - and sounded - a bit tame. Drawing on a love of Latino and prog, he forged, instead, a quietly impressive body of work which all started here with his first solo album, recorded in 1975 when Ferry decided to discard Roxy for a solo career. At its best, such as on the haunting title track, the Robert Wyatt-larynxed Frontera, and the Eno-sung Miss Shapiro, this is as good as anything mid-period Roxy were imagining. But elsewhere, it sounds old - poor singing, noodling musodom, and the sort of long-haired complications Roxy were supposed to have done away with back in their glam heyday. Still, if you are looking for a snapshot of British art-rock of the time, this is it.