The Human Condition, latest offering from Bernie Manning, is the perfect accompaniment to a sofa and a rainy afternoon. The overall feeling is of looking back over a life well lived. The material is divided into sections according to the subject matter; there is a nostalgia section, yet the general feeling throughout this collection is of nostalgia. There's a love section, but again, when you listen to the album as a whole, it's easy to see it as one long, rambling, affectionate love letter from the artist to his wife.
As the album has been presented in sections, I'll preserve that same organisation in my review, dealing with each in turn.
The Human Condition
The title track opens with a foot-tapping jazz sound to introduce a spoken poem. This, a spoken poem with musical and/or special effects accompaniment, is a favourite technique of Manning's. The poem doesn't give a very optimistic view of the human condition.
Love
This, the largest section in the album, has four tracks, and helps to give the work as a whole that character of a complex work addressed to the artist's wife. It opens with Have You Ever Fallen In Love, in which the soft, friendly voice of Bruce Haymes speaks of the early stages of love in a way that was so evocative that I found myself swept back to the far-off days of my own courtship.
The second track in this section, Eyes Across The Room, seems to be about 'love at first sight,' a thing in which I don't believe, but there's a deep authenticity to Manning's lyrics; even when I disagree with him about a thing, there's no mistaking the sincerity of his words. Of course, at the end of the day it really doesn't matter whether love at first sight is a thing or not; if it was a thing for a particular couple, then it was a thing for them. We don't all need to share the same definitions of everything. I couldn't help thinking Colleen is a lucky woman to have inspired such devotion, spanning a lifetime.
I didn't really understand the next track, Love Without Words. It has a lovely sound, and yet the poetic emphasis of Manning's work is such that I tend to seek more comprehension of the lyrics than I would normally worry about with songs. The view of love presented in each stanza seemed so discouraged and dark, and yet the sound of the refrain is so upbeat and cheerful. Perhaps it is that very dichotomy that the song shows us.
In the final track of the section, Love Is, the whistled theme is quietly compelling as it leads into a modern-day counterpart of the famous verses of St Paul. The feeling of nostalgia is retained in this track, leading seamlessly into the next section.
Nostalgia
The single track in this section, Play For Me, is so compelling that as I listened I found myself swept into a review of my own life. Manning is about the same age as I am, and thoughts of Eric Clapton swept me into a veritable orgy of reminiscence. How radical we were, and how respectable we are now, our teeth and claws blunted by the rolling decades. Today, young people look at me and Bernie and see old people in cardigans, yet we too have been tigers in our time; more fierce, perhaps, than today's pampered young can imagine.
Faith
Another single track, Believe is an upbeat, motivational song, opposing itself to the anomie of the uber-cool. After the nostalgia of the preceding track, this one shows that the nothing has been lost - it's all still there, the passion, the fire, the stern will.
Hope
The sole track in this section, Alienation Blues, deals with That Time in a relationship - the time that comes, sooner or later, in every long relationship, when empathy fails, when the ardour of first love has cooled and the long, slow, wonderful merging has not yet taken hold, a time when many lose faith and the rewards are only for those who can hold on through the long night. Manning is one of those who has been able to keep the faith, and this is apparent in the song; its stance throughout is one of 'us' rather than of 'me', a thing which I found telling and important.
Life
Kindness Lane opens with a sound that's oddly reminiscent of Strawberry Fields. It's a surreal poem, and rather dark, yet its theme is one of hope; a note of kindness will see us through, as a beacon when all seems to be lost, we may cling to kindness and in it, find our salvation.
Didn't It Rain was one of my favourite tracks on this album. It has a lovely jazz sound, and the lyrics, although rather repetitive, are like a love note to the artist's wife, supported by a wonderful blues piano.
Death
Goodbye Leonard Cohen, as the title suggests, is a tribute on the death of that great artist, Leonard Cohen. As such, it reflects Cohen's particular style. I have to say this track didn't quite come off for me. Haymes' gentle tenor isn't, in my opinion, the right kind of voice for this material, and I found myself wishing for the rough, gravelly voice of Jeff Burstall, who seems to be no longer part of the team.
Survival
The first song in this final section, Fight, is a boppy, upbeat song that had my feet tapping. It's a cheerful depiction of the struggle implicit in daily life, to hold onto what one has that is of value.
The final song in the album, Before The World Ends, is a complex offering. It opens with a conventional song, with a poignant sense of 'last chance', of the yearning to be the person one dreams of being, while there is yet a little time. It spoke to me like no other track in this album. There is a dizzying sense of the day that is coming for us all, that is even now waiting in the wings of the day, to make its appearance perhaps sooner than we expect. Halfway through the track, the music gives way to a series of spoken poems: Autumn, Winter, Spring (with its note of emerging hope), Summer, with its views of joy and plenty, but with an ominous note sounding, then Day and Night, and finally, The Journey and The Volcanoes of Mars. Manning does this visual imagery thing so well - the poems almost paint themselves on the retina as one listens. The final words of this last poem sum up what I felt was a driving thought behind the whole album: 'before the world ends, I want to live.'
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