Anyway there's some nice end of relationship songs for you on this album too, although they may not be the kind you're used to. No going to drown your sorrows with a quick twenty four, just regrets about not being able to provide what's needed to make a relations ship work in "It Takes A Tear". In the same category Harry covers, beautifully, The Band's old hit "It Makes No Difference", his sweet rough voice ideally suited to the regret and sorrow expressed so eloquently by Robbie Robertson's lyrics.
But it's when Harry picks up his mohan veena (a what? to find out about this amazing guitar check out Harry's site) that he starts to reach up to connect heaven and earth. Yeah his lap slide work is great, as is his banjo and regular guitar, but when those sweeping sitar like notes start washing through the music, the blues start to bathe your spirit like the river Ganges must wash the devout Hindu clean.
This is what separates Harry Manx from the pack of folk /blues musicians out there. Not just because of the uniqueness or the novelty of the sound, because novelty wears off quickly, but what he accomplishes with it. There has always been a heavy spiritual connection to the blues, it being the secular version of the gospel music of black southern Americans. With the influences that he has been exposed to while learning the mohan veena he brings the spiritual quality back to where it belongs.
You burnt down a mountain, with just a single spark/Words became the candle that rid you of the dark/Laughed until you cried, nothing like the blues/Laughed until you cried, could've sworn the sky was blue/Could've sworn the sky was blue. Harry Manx. "A Single Spark" Mantras For Madmen Dog My Cat records 2005
But instead of the guilt ridden, sin induced blues of the past; Harry gives us an oxymoronic blues of hope. He's not preaching about heaven and earth; how everything we do is subject to judgement and punishment. These are songs about what it takes to find our way clear of the messes we make. Through our tears will come the release we need to continue with what we started when we were born.
Article comments
1 - Oran Kelley
Just wanted to write to back you up on Harry Manx being something special. Not just because of the mix of sounds, not just because of the spirituality, but also because of the tough-mindedness and genuineness of his spirituality.
There are also plenty of artists out there peddling dime-store spirituality,a nd Manx isn't one of them. Unlike the run-of-the-mill, "spiritually uplifting" artist, Manx has obviously tried very hard to be honest with himself. And that honesty comes through powerfully in his music, and it often comes through as something deeply disquieting. As it should be.
Haven't heard this disc yet, but I have all his earlier releases and I'm dying to get my hands on this one.
OPK