Manhattan Transfer

Rip It Up, Issue 5, 1 October 1977, Page 8

Manhattan Transfer

Well, the Manhattan Transfer have been and gone and left many many people with full and happy hearts. Aching ears perhaps, but happy, happy hearts. It was a pleasant and enjoyable concert, but marred by a few things.

Mainly there was the sound itself,! which was a preview of Hell for us sinners who are interested in a quick repentance. I’m sure many a delicate blow-wave collapsed under the surging waves of decibels. A pity, for here we had what is basically a slick, cabaret group performing in rockconcert conditions. It’s just bloody ridiculous performing all this trickydicky scat stuff with 120 words to the minute if you are competing with a loud rock band.

However the group were very professional, and gave Manhattan Transfer a sensitive background when they weren’t surging into prominence (final chords of songs were particularly painful to the old ears).

What about Manhattan Transfer's music? Well, the show had terrific lighting from the eerie, looming

shadows during “Don’t Let Go” to the ripely kitsch mirror-ball effect in “Blue Champagne”. And in the more subdued numbers such as “Java Jive”, or “Scotch and Soda” you were able to really relax and sink into the group’s superb professionalism. The fifties rock songs, complete with the final ripping of Alan Paul’s singlet must have got a few girls and boys in the hall into a state. One was lucky and got a kiss (a girl of course). The group’s only big hit here, “Chanson d’Amour” made me feel a little sorry for the reeds man whose job was obviously to just play the solo off the original recording note for note. I think this sums up the group. Are Manhattan Transfer really extending themselves enough musically? God knows, they obviously have capabilities and possibilities. But are they quite happy performing a wellrehearsed hour-long cabaret act? Let’s face it, most of the material in the concert was off their two albums, and their last release is over eighteen months old. And like a lot of other nostalgia groups/artists, they sometimes pale beside original artists. Let’s face it, when did you last hear Lambert, Hendricks and Ross?

William Dart