Dean Manning returned from his extended travels with a head full of images and set about painting those visions with notes, arpeggios and chords. As a previous winner of APRA's 'Songwriter Of The Year' (1998, Leonardo's Bride, Even When I'm Sleeping) Manning certainly has the skills to paint a perfect aural picture and Diplomatic - his first solo album - presents the artist as a hopeful, highly creative and sometimes eccentric character who thinks in metaphors and respects his own fantasies. Musically the album is light, exposing amusing observations delivered through clever lyrics and expressed with a friendly and approachable vocal style. Manning's skills as a musician make this record a diverse and rich-sounding LP because, although the production is minimal, the variety of instruments keeps the listener guessing throughout the 12 songs on offer. It's good to have Dean Manning back on radio; especially the creatively free incarnation that appears on Diplomatic.

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Tracklisting

Full listing of DEAN MANNING releases