From: jhage@wi.leidenuniv.nl 
Subject: Geoff Mann, Robert Fripp, Red Jasper 
Date: 07/04/97; 9:31:30 AM 
 
Geoff Mann with The Bond: Peace Offering (1996/7?; Cyclops CYCL 042) 74m 
(distributed by Bertus in the Benelux) 
(the label has a homepage reachable from my bookmarks) 
 
Summary of history: 
Well, most of you will at least be familiar with the name of Geoff Mann. 
This is an album of the band The Bond that he formed before Eh! Geoff Mann 
Band. In addition to the album Prints of Peace, a number of demo tracks 
have been included (the last four tracks) which are generally called 
the Pullman Demos. They are also present on Won By One in a different 
recording.  Too Modern is a demo track with Andy Mason. 
A number of tracks can also be found on Mannerisms recorded by different 
bands. 
 
The album: 
Also on this album we have that wobbly sound that is so typical for Geoff 
Mann work after Twelfth Night. Contrary to the later Eh!/A Geoff Mann Band 
the music on this album is more relaxed and contains mostly singer/songwriter 
material, although both albums contain rather religious lyrics. 
 
A song like Gateway into Heaven is a rather quiet song with programmed 
percussion (unfortunately) with wobbly guitars and synths and focus on 
melody and a straightforward song format. I do like the next one, Sob 
Stories, 
better, because the synths are more prominent and the melody is better. It 
is garnished with spanish guitar. 
 
The percussive beginning of High Ground sounds a little too cold for me. 
A little later it is accompanied by keyboards and piano. 
Geoff criticizes  society quite a lot in this song and contrasts it 
with the way how Christ lived and was treated. Good thing about 
the song is that vocally, Geoff shows the back of this tongue here. 
 
One of the more appealing tracks on the album is Seriously Siblings with 
an important role for the bass guitar and repetitive keyboards. The song 
also enjoys nice vocal melodies and I especially like the Seriously 
Siblings part. The song is also quite varied with three different vocal 
melodies and in the middle the first real guitar solo and later towards 
the end the beginnings of a keyboard solo (beginnings because the guitar 
involves itself). Again a shame that the drums are programmed. 
 
Don't Wait is a mid-tempo acoustic track with organ accompaniment. It is a 
track with nice percussion and non-standard rhythms. 
 
After the ballad Stranded we come to the melodic, atmospheric ballad 
Looking for Love. 
 
The actual album closes down with the peaceful starting Table Talk. A 
repetitive guitar is combined with spaceous syths. 
 
The first bonus track Too Modern has quite an exciting intro and is the only 
track in the album that has real live drumming. The characteristic guitar 
sound is there, but there's quite a lot of electric guitar as well and 
the song is quite heavy. A powerful track, although the vocal melodies 
of the verses are little standard. The chorus is very nice though, especially 
when a little keyboards is added later on. 
His Love is a rather uneventful ballad, while After the Storm contains a lot 
of bass. It is a sultry bluesy song, with organ and vocal eruptions. 
This same "under the skin" sound is also present on the more subdued 
Certainly. The last song Willy Welsh is rather different. It is a more 
melodic song and celebrates the return of the wobbly guitar. 
The song is rather uplifting, but also very reptitive and can be compared 
to later work on Second Chants, but also contains symphonic echoes of 
Twelfth Night. 
 
Conclusion: 
A singer/songwriter album with unfortunately programmed percussion, but 
nice melodies, quite a lot of keyboards (in case you wondered) and vocally 
intense renditions. The lyrics are religious for the most part, so you should 
be able to stand that. The music is not like Twelfth Night, but it does 
contain 
the trade-marks of Geoff Mann's solo work (as also present later on 
Second Chants, although this album is more experimental). Personally 
I like Sob Stories, Seriously Siblings, Too Modern, After the Storm and 
Certainly best. 
 
Red Jasper: Anagramary (1997; Cymbeline Cymply 5082-2) 56m 
(available through Mascot/Play It Again Sam in the Netherlands) 
(the label has a homepage reachable from my bookmarks) 
 
Summary of history: 
After quite some time, the band Red Jasper have released their 
follow-up to the twin albums Midsummer Night's Dream and 
A Winter's Tale. Interesting point about the Thank You's is the 
mention of Tommy Shaw and Dennis De Young (have they played opener 
for Styx?). Those previous albums were more or less Dodds' albums 
but on this new one a fresh wind is a-blowing. 
 
The album: 
The vocals of Dodds are the most typical ingredients with their folky 
sound being a close second. The folkiness from the music is somewhat 
less on this album than on previous ones and in fact opener 
Perfect Symmetry is quite a heavy track in the neo-progressive style 
with a nice long guitar solo accompanied by lush keyboards in the 
middle. Typical progressive and I must admit it's esy to get 
carried along right here and now. 
 
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