The Chicago gloomsters shed their ominous edge and become one with The Beatles now, still mixing it up with the Sabbath arrogance and Zeppelin strut, this being the bands last great album and the tragic end of their Def American phase, but wow, what a journey and what a pair of monster recordings, 'Manic...' being more of a dazed, sexed up and psychedelic behemoth that swirls, swaggers and cuts deeper than the sombre swayings of the previous genius.Hard to compare the two records although both are equal powertrips of utter compelling greatness, but 'Manic...' has that '60s tinge, somewhere between the guitar screams and hedonistic lyrics, particularly on the classic 'Memory's Garden', which although would sitell on 'Trouble', has a more uplifting edge, and is rocketed high by the laser precision guitars and dense production.
'Come Touch The Sky' is a Zeppelin classic mixed with the Sabbath weight, beautifully executed, perfectly crafted, seemingly simple but oh so metal and magic, 'Hello Strawberry Skies' immediate proof however that the band are on to a more stoned outing rather than worshipping the blackened skies of doom. 'Breathe' offers that touching, dreamy soundscape, again lighter in mood than quieter, more pensive moments on the previous album, but just like the gargantuan previous record, this also has that feeling of completeness, that wonderful, thick enveloping mist of sheer genius and arrogance, where the band surely must have known that what they'd created was simply class.
Trouble peaked on 'Trouble' and 'Manic...', these albums were their 'Revolver', their 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath', etc, so the fact that they remain just a cult band is simply criminal, because anyone who hasn't heard Trouble hasn't lived.
10/10
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