"I spent the better part of twelve years in that ancient and beautiful landscape known as India...One of the things which I learned in India is that it's not only about the artist. It's about the song. And it's more about the song than the artist...The music of the east has that spiritual quality of being played in abandonment...When the silence between the notes says as much as the notes themselves, like the gap between breaths, it's all good. The way I see it, Blues is like the earth and Indian music is like the heavens. What I do is find the balance between the two. Harry Manx Mantras For Mandmen

This is the second Harry Manx disc that I've reviewed, as well as being the second one that I've listened to with any degree of attention. I'd heard his music in the background on the ubiquitous Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (.C.B.C.) many a time, and had friends spin his discs on occasion, but you know how it goes, it catches your attention for a second than your drift off into, the what's up with your life game chat with your friend or the radio is just so much noise behind everything else. The details of what you're listening too get lost in aural landscape.

West Eats Meet was his first album that I actually sat down with for an extended period. Not for any specific purpose, but because the sounds and quality of the work were so compelling that it forced me to pay attention to it. It was a disservice to the music to use it as background. With Mantras For Madmen, my reason is different, as for the first time I'm listening primarily as a critic, not a fan. Amazing how that changes your perspective.

Take the quote that I started this review with. It's lifted from the liner notes of the disc. Now one can have a variety of reactions to it, ranging from, running screaming from New Age gloop, saying "Oh Wow" that's so cool, or like me asking, well do you accomplish what you've set out to do with the music on this disc? Have you, Harry Manx found the balance between Heaven and Earth, spiritual and mundane, tantric and sexual; whatever you want to call it, on this album?

I mean I have to be grateful to him, it's not very often that an artist will spell out exactly what they are attempting for the ignorant critics so we can have clues on what to look for. Of course there are many layers of meaning when you say the Blues are of the Earth and Indian music is of the Heavens so that's where it gets tricky for the critic; figuring out which permeations this guy is going to follow.