Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best "Indie" album of the 90's, 21 Jun 2005
Before The Killer's, The Libertines, The Bravery et al, there wasn't much!
Throughout the 90's Oasis we're preaching the same boring nonsense, Supergrass made pop records and the Stereophonics bored the living day light out of me(and anybody else with a bit of common sense).
BUT, in 1997 there was one or two exeptional bands around (if you looked hard enough)-and one of those was the brilliant outcasts-Mansun.
They never really did fit in with the rest of the Brit-Pop garbage back then, but who cares?
"Attack Of The Grey Lantern" is simply one of the best and most accomplished albums i've ever heard.
As a 16 year old Guitarist in 1997-hearing this album was for me, a LIFE changer.
I'd never heard an album so daringly insperational, unique, diverse, honest and modest, and original.
"The Chad Who Loved Me", "Wide Open Space", "Mansun's Only Love Song" and "Taxloss" are my personal favorites.Paul Draper had one of the best voices i've ever heard...(Chris who?)
Forget what the fickle music press press had to say about this band.
Just listen to the album and tell me it isn't good!
A truely unforgetable listen
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure Genius !, 10 April 2005
I hadn't even had the album for a week, but it almost instantly nestled itself into the position of being one of my all time favourite albums. I was familiar with the song Wide Open Space, and on its strength decided to buy the album. And not a moment too soon! Upon listening to the rest of the album I promptly forget about Wide Open Space and became absorbed in the other intriguing songs. Of course it's still brilliant, but with The Chad Who Loved Me as the opening track with its sumptuous strings and powerful chorus, it is quite understandable to do so.
And Stripper Vicar, has indeed, got to be one of the best crafted, 'soundtrack to the 90's' pop/rock song. It is dark, yet so bizarre and humorous. It's totally fascinating and enthralling; in fact, the whole album is. I entirely agree that there isn't a weak track present.
Some more of the album's highlights are the songs Taxloss, She Makes My Nose Bleed and Egg shaped Fred. They're all such strong songs with tunes/lyrics that are just impossible to dislodge ("We think you are stupid, we give you money because our assets are fluid"). The only difference is that, unlike many other catchy rock/pop songs, you actually WANT them to be stuck in your mind. Some of the tracks vaguely remind me of Blur, but far, far, better. Unlike Blur, they are deeper, more profound and generally more intelligent.
Combine catchy pop song tunes and choruses to strong guitar chords, then add a twist of bizarre wit, humour and irony, and you are getting close to having an idea of what this amazing album is like.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 90s Classic, 8 Oct 2004
By A Customer
Amazing that this magnificent debut album should be so underrated as to be undiscovered country for so many people. It's a classic for so many reasons - as has been said, there isn't a weak track on the album. Most people remember Wide Open Space as a 90s anthem, as well as the other singles Taxloss and She Makes My Nose Bleed, but all the songs share the same quality, wit and bizarre sense of humour. Mansun's achievement is in making an album so full of catchy tunes and singalong choruses which is at the same time so eccentric, dark, hypnotic and surreal. Paul Draper has a superb voice, one moment singing angelically like a choirboy and the next belting out the loud and electrifying anthems elsewhere. The album is bursting with ideas and innovation, it flows through your head like a dream and you're guaranteed to find yourself singing different bits of it to yourself when you least expect to!Attack of the Grey Lantern loosely tells the story of 'Mavis' and her father, a vicar who combines his respectable day-job with a kinky alter-ego as a stripper and drag queen, and who dies presumably as a result of his activities. The story carries it's own fascination from one fantastic song to the next - Stripper Vicar is quite simply one of the greatest songs of the 90s and tells the tale with hilarious lyrics ("I think he got suspended in his stockings and suspenders, and he's making wine from water while he dresses like his daughter, and we know that he's a rip off cos we've seen him with his kit off!") while elsewhere we hear poignant and beautiful songs such as Dark Mavis with it's soaring string section and sombre description of the funeral arrangements. The anthemic outro is done with great passion and feeling, before rejoining the majestic Bond-style piece of orchestral classical music that opened the first song. As it finishes you sit in awe, contemplating the brilliance of the album and the strange story it told...until the excellent, poppy hidden track kicks in and Draper reveals that "the lyrics aren't supposed to mean that much, they're just a vehicle for a lovely voice!" Brilliant. If you've missed out on this unique gem of an album, put it right straightaway!
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