Six

　After Mansun's first album, drenched in synthesizers and covered in the sheen of heavy production, many would have expected them to do the same but even bigger: bigger orchestra, cleaner, more 'pop'. However the market had caught up since 'Attack Of the Grey Lantern', and an album of such would not be considered as particuarly innovative or classy as the first was - still as their style became more mainstream at least it would be more commercially viable. However the band took the important and clever decision to change direction with their second attempt, replacing studio gloss for a full CD of live mayhem mixed out of control.

　　Six takes its title from two references: a book by AA Milne and a character in TV series 'The Prisoner'. Both favourites of the band, the influences are indictive of the subject matter - personal issues replace the imaginery characters of their first album. Songs about tramps sleeping in doorways and having an AIDS test lie alongside songs about eastern philosophy and western religion. Musically though, influences are fairly absent - Paul's idols Bowie and De Voto do seem to have helped tailor the sound, but really 'Six' is pretty unique - there is no sound like it. This is because although there is only 13 tracks on the album there are hundreds of tunes, and only a few choruses. The structures are revolutionary, and that is not the only originality. The band, fed up with the music industry supporting more britpop rock have made guitars sound un-like guitars, with the use of many effects pedals and under-used mixing techniques. And yet the album was still based on Mansun playing live, so even though the album would be impossible to play live as it is, there is a feeling of natural aggresion and ad-libbing fuelled creativity.

如果Little Kix是第一张专辑，Kleptomania是第二张，Attack是第三张，Six是第四张，Mansun的境遇就应该完全不一样了，甚至具备封神的资格，可惜时光不能扭转。好在Paul沉寂十余年终于复出了，Mansun粉又有了些期许。

反对Mansun是一片乐队的说法，这是一张水平绝不亚于灰灯笼的专辑，尽管没有灰灯笼那么容易入耳，但是更严肃诡异耐听，编曲常蕴含惊喜。开始我也觉得除了six之外都好无趣啊，后来却认为six，cancer，tv，blown it都担得起神作准神作的称号，多听几次，你会同意我的说法。

每一首歌都像是各不相同的好几首歌，而整张专辑又像是一首完整的歌。复杂的编曲，丰富的音效，Paul妖魅的嗓音，永远也听不腻。颓废，脆弱，厌世，神经质，反基督，华丽，唯美，酣畅，偏执的爱，完美主义……所有要素构成了像专封一样的神秘世界，不真实中蕴含着真实。

这不就是Radiohead的轨迹吗？