Al Stewart's third album wasn't much different from the territory he had claimed, with reasonable success, on his prior effort, Love Chronicles.
Narrative tales of romance and experience, sometimes third-person and sometimes autobiographical, set the mood, complemented by mild folk-rock arrangements and Stewart's warm yet bemused voice.
A few placid folk guitar instrumentals break up the involved, lengthy vocal tracks.
The best cut is "Electric Los Angeles Sunset," which puts Stewart's eye for locale-based storytelling to more forceful use than it had ever been previously heard, detailing the grim side of the city rather than its glamorous one.
"Manuscript" was also an important work in its focus upon past history and its effects on various characters, an approach that would within a few years become prevalent in Stewart's work.
Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway of Fotheringay were among the backup players.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Enemies Have Sweet VoicesAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 05:12 | 11 MB | 28 MB |
| 2 | Gethsemane, AgainAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 05:25 | 12 MB | 32 MB |
| 3 | BurblingAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 03:20 | 7 MB | 17 MB |
| 4 | Electric Los Angeles SunsetAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 23 MB |
| 5 | ManuscriptAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 04:45 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 6 | Black HillAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 01:20 | 3 MB | 6 MB |
| 7 | AnnaAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 01:47 | 4 MB | 9 MB |
| 8 | Room of RootsAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 03:52 | 8 MB | 20 MB |
| 9 | Zero She FliesAl Stewart | Al Stewart | Play | 05:31 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 10 | A Small Fruit Song | Al Stewart | Play | 02:00 | 4 MB | 11 MB |
| 11 | Stormy Night | Al Stewart | Play | 03:28 | 7 MB | 20 MB |
| 12 | News from Spain | Al Stewart | Play | 06:02 | 13 MB | 36 MB |
| 46 mins | 106 MB | |||||
| 46 mins | 268 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louis Cennamo | Bass |
| 2 | Gerry Conway | Drums |
| 3 | Pete Gavin | Drums |
| 4 | Steve Gray | Guitar |
| 5 | Tim Hinkley | Keyboards |
| 6 | Trevor Lucas | Guitar |
| 7 | Al Stewart | Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Primary Artist, Vocals |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |