Phil Manzanera – Diamond Head
On his debut solo album Diamond Head, Phil Manzanera teams up with an all-star crew of Cambridge/British art rock heroes including his Roxy Music mates Brian Eno, Andy Mackay, Paul Thompson, and Eddie Jobson (Bryan Ferry is notably absent) along with Soft Machine’s Robert Wyatt and This Heat’s Charles Hayward. Opener “Frontera” is a particularly uplifting cosmic prog-rock jam that kicks off with a cascading guitar line that fits perfectly with the album cover imagery of a train speeding through a mountain scene. Even better, Robert Wyatt sings in Spanish somewhat convincingly with obscure lyrics written by the Anglo-Colombian Manzanera. A quick Google translate shows that the song is loosely about crossing a border…
Recommended – Full Listen
A1 Frontera
A2 Diamond Head
A3 Big Day
A4 The Flex
A5 Same Time Next Week
B1 Miss Shapiro
B2 East Of Echo
B3 Lagrima
B4 Alma
Bagpipes – Iain MacDonald
Bass – Brian Turrington
Bass, Vocals – Bill MacCormick
Bass, Vocals, Mellotron – John Wetton
Congas, Percussion, Bongos, Gong [Big], Maracas – Sonny Akpan
Drums – Paul Thompson (2)
Electric Guitar [6 & 12 String], Tiple, Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer, Bass, Synthesizer [String], Organ, Piano, Vocals – Phil Manzanera
Engineer – Rhett Davies
Engineer [Assistant] – Robert Ash
Keyboards – Dave Jarrett
Percussion – Charles Hayward, Chyke Madu, Danny Heibs
Photography By – Jon Prew
Saxophone [Saxes], Oboe – Andy Mackay
Strings, Clavinet, Synthesizer – Eddie Jobson
Vocals – Doreen Chanter
Vocals, Effects [Treatments], Rhythm Guitar – Eno*
Vocals, Timbales, Cabasa – Robert Wyatt