An apt companion to Phil Manzanera’s recent and quite remarkable memoir (his father was quite possibly a Cold War spy), 50 Years Of Music is a demonstration of Manzanera’s unending quest to make music ‘Sin Fronteras’, as he puts it, working with collaborators who have included Dave Mattacks, Robert Wyatt and Charles Hayward among others.
This collegiate spirit is particularly evident on his debut Diamond Head (1975), which has a similar drive to Brian Eno’s Here Come The Warm Jets and features Eno himself on vocals. It’s as if this group of artists were searching for a mode of post-prog music in advance of punk. 1977’s Listen Now (801), featuring 10cc’s Kevin Godley was more suave, white funk, 1978’s K-Scope Steely Dan-ish.
