6. Phil ManzaneraDiamond Head

I don’t remember how long ago it was that I first heard this record or even how I discovered it. I feel like it might have been a random purchase where a CD had a sticker on it that said, you know, he played in Roxy Music with Brian Eno and I just listened to it through association. Even now though, when I listen to this record, I feel like there’s nothing else that really sounds like it. From a production standpoint, all the instruments that he uses and the way he uses them is so interesting. There’s this aspect of me feeling like it sounds like an optimistic record, and I think it’s interesting when musicians can make music that isn’t all doom and gloom and can be sincere and meaningful, but not weigh you down listening to it.

It’s a weird record and I can’t even imagine the people featured on it, like Brian Eno and Robert Wyatt, making an album like this otherwise. Thinking about Eno, it’s maybe an unpopular opinion but I’ve always preferred the early rock albums of his to the ambient records that came after. Those first four records, I always preferred to the ambient stuff.