THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER — Extensions (review)

THE MANHATTAN TRANSFER — Extensions album cover Album · 1979 · Vocal Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
AtomicCrimsonRush
I remember buying this in the 70s because it featured the quintessential Manhattan Transfer monster hit 'Twilight Zone/ Twilight Tone' and for this song alone it was worth the purchase. The song was legendary in the 70s and the film clip that accompanied it was wonderful retro computer grafix and the band looking spacey in sexy catsuits and futuristic hairstyles was irrisistible. The tune cleverly used the Twilght theme and inserted a number of very infectious melodies and a fantastic instrumental section with synthesizer pulses. The lyrics are using twilight Zone TV themes but revolve them around musical ideas; "when I hear that melody the strange illusion takes over me, through a tunnel of the mind perhaps a vision of future time, suddenly I hear the sound the melody that keeps spinning round, a signpost up ahead is calling from this mystic unknown tone."

Of course this was a one off and a commercial cash in getting a lot of radio play, but the rest of the album is pure jazz and quite inaccessible for the pop radio market. Twilight Zone is really a fish out of water amongst all that jazz. I remember as a teen listening to this album on vinyl and being frustrated as each song apart from Twilight Zone was plain jazz, and I concluded that the style was definitley not for me, after all I was into glam rock such as Kiss and The Sweet and none of the Manhatten Transfer's songs jived with me at all. Birdland, Coo Coo U and Trickle Trickle are full on jazz harmonies, similar to the pardon me boys Andrews Sisters style. Nothing on this is rock apart from the one track so it is a bit of a false advertisement for those who thought the songs would be similar to Twilight Zone.

Nevertheless this was a grand little album that perhaps was my first excursion into a genre I grew to like in my older years. As an intro to jazz it is not all that bad.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Chateau Post-Fusion Contemporary
LUIZ AVELLAR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Gratitude Pop/Art Song/Folk
LUIZ AVELLAR
Buy this album from MMA partners
Possession Nu Jazz
SHABAKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Trio Plays Standards Post Bop
PABLO HELD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unity Post-Fusion Contemporary
PABLO HELD
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

Shabaka - Timepieces (Visualizer) ft. Billy Woods
SHABAKA
snobb· 1 day ago
Raw Blues 2 Promo
DOUG MACLEOD
js· 1 day ago
All I Had Was The Blues
DOUG MACLEOD
js· 1 day ago
El Ausente - Classico Latino live in Colombia
CLASSICO LATINO
js· 1 day ago
Barbara Blue - Sweet, Strong & Tight
BARBARA BLUE
js· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed