The Cult - The Manor Sessions
Year: 1988
Type: CD
Label: Beggars Banquet
Catalog#: BBP 1 CD
Notes: "Following the success of the "Love" album The Cult recorded 12 tracks at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire during the summer of 1986 for their projected third album. On completion, the group felt the recordings did not reflect the hard edge of their music and wanted a cleaner sound. Consequently, they enlisted producer Rick Rubin and re-recorded the album in America which was released as "Electric". Four songs from the original sessions were issued as "b" sides on singles from "Electric" but until now the others have remained unheard. This CD release presents five more tracks from the Manor Sessions."
Tracklisting:
01 - Love Removal Machine (5:17)
02 - Wildflower (4:10)
03 - Electric Ocean (4:11)
04 - Outlaw (5:07)
05 - Bad Fun (6:24)
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Amazon Reviews
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This is what Electric SHOULD'VE sounded like, October 14, 2000
By Kevin Gamble (Columbia, MO USA)
If you substitute these versions of the songs on "Electric" for those that were actually released, you end up with an album that much more effectively bridges the gap between "Love" and "Sonic Temple". Where "Electric" often sounded like 2nd-rate AC/DC, this EP gives a glimpse into an alternate reality where the Cult followed "Love" with an album of incredible power, speed, and drama. The versions on this CD are not dry and raw like their "Electric" counterparts, but rather lush, fiery, and done on a grand scale--imagine a whole CD of "She Sells Sanctuary" turned up to 11, and you've got "The Manor Sessions". In my opinion, this is the Cult's finest hour, bridging the edgy drama of "Love" with the punch and grandeur of "Sonic Temple"--and surpassing them both.
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The Cult's best, August 29, 2007
By Movie fan from another galaxy
I agree with reviewer Kevin Gamble.
The Manor sessions was the best the Cult ever sounded. This was undoubtedly the high point of their career. In what eventually would become the album "Electric" produced by hotshot producer Rick Rubin, this collection of songs really missed the mark under Rubin's mannered production. Rubin was the producer the Cult viewed as the best way to crack the American market, recently helping the Beastie Boys explode into the rap market. And while commercially successful, Rubin's "Electic" failed in many ways artistically. Especially after hearing how "Electric" could have sounded under the production of Steve Brown.
Brown truly understood the Cult's uniqueness, and Rubin attempted to make them into Led Zeppelin. Steve Brown also produced the Cult's previous ground breaking and genre defying album "Love", and with the manor sessions, had some truly great songs to work with. But the Cult viewed the sessions as a disappointment and tossed everything out in favor of the dry and heavier sound that Rubin pursued.
The Manor sessions versions fit the songs much better and allowed the Cult to sound more like the Cult instead of a cheap imitation of Led Zep.
I am grateful these sessions were released, as I had read at the time, that the Cult were in the studio recording, after "Love" brought them into the limelight. Then after the announcement of Rick Rubin's involvement was announced I was leery of the impending results and my fears were actually surpassed in the subsequent results. "Electric" will always be the most disappointing album of the Cult's catalog of work. It's unfortunate the Cult made the wrong choice at the time.
But now, in retrospect, you can enjoy the Manor sessions produced by Steve Brown and imagine what could have been.
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Good stuff, but..., March 14, 2008
By Craig Vennes "cdvennes" (Atlanta, GA)
First off, The Manor Sessions comes highly recommended to any Cult fan, but I'm amazed at how many people actually think this is a superior version of Electric. Being a fan of the Cult since "Love" was released, I do admit that I'm most fond of the work the band did with Steve Brown at the helm. The Manor Sessions is a good template of what was to come, but the proper album is clearly better. Even Billy Duffy has been quoted (from the liner notes of Rare Cult box set) as saying that the band went into the studio too early following a lengthy tour & that Steve Brown had not grown with the band. What really stands out to me is that he thought the sound was "too washy, too echoing". That's exactly what I thought about the EP when I purchased it back in the late 80's. Once again, don't get me wrong, the Manor Sessions is good in its own right, but like it or not, it's not the direction the band wanted to go in. "Electric" is far more cohesive & stands as one of their best albums to date & this can be attributed to better production from a band with far more focus than heard here.
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From Wikipedia
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The "Manor Sessions"
After the breakthrough success of their second album, Love, the Cult began working on a follow-up to build on their success. In the summer of 1986, they recorded twelve tracks at the Manor Studio in Oxfordshire. These "Manor Sessions" were overseen by Steve Brown, who had produced Love. The twelve tracks were to be the basis of a new album, tentatively entitled Peace. However, on completion of the recording sessions, the band decided that they were unhappy with the sound, and looked for a new producer.
The band went on to re-record the entire third album with producer Rick Rubin, with a slightly different track-list and running order. These new recordings became the album that was released, Electric.
Although all twelve of the "Manor Sessions" tracks were scrapped initially, four of them would turn up as B-sides to singles from Electric. A further five of them appeared on a limited edited compact disc EP. Eventually, with the release of the Rare Cult (boxed set) in 2000, the rest of the unreleased Steve Brown-produced album was made available.
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