Manoeuvres
	Produced by Greg Lake
	Released on July 1983
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
FV 41392 cover [high resolution photo]

A nother steaming pile of manoeuvres, or so I was prepared to write after the first go-through. But Greg Lake’s voice is still a considerable commodity, and several of these songs got under my skin a little, which is a lot more than his first solo album managed. Nothing on Manoeuvres moves me more than the better songs on Asia’s minor efforts (Alpha, Astra), but to expect more from Lake seems unreasonable. With Gary Moore still in tow (and cowriting some of the material), Lake splits his second album between overwrought studio rock (“Too Young To Love,” “Paralysed”) on side one and mature ballads (“Haunted,” “I Don’t Know Why I Still Love You”) on side two. I have to confess, Moore’s histrionic guitar licks leave me feeling cold on the first half, while the moodier keyboard arrangements on the second prove a better setting for Lake’s rich voice. Not everyone hates that processed ‘80s guitar sound (where the solos rip through the arrangements like rice burners), and even I can’t resist the opening title track. For a handful of songs (“Manoeuvres,” “It’s You, You’ve Gotta Believe,” “I Don’t Know Why I Still Love You”), Greg’s second studio album will attract ELP fans and Asia collectors (whose career often ran parallel to and finally intersected with Lake). Manoeuvres marked the end of the singer’s solo career, at least in the studio, never fulfilling on the promise of previous “solo” recordings like “I Believe In Father Christmas” and “C’est La Vie.” Instead, Greg Lake failed to match even the standards of John Wetton’s solo work, a race that early handicappers would have conceded to him. Taken together, Lake’s two solo albums add nothing to the legacy Lake left behind with ELP and King Crimson. Blame it on the heat of the moment, Manoeuvres got a chilly reception as the old guard found themselves out in the cold, the curtain having come down seemingly for the last time on prog’s old heroes (only to rise again for Yes, but that’s another story). If you’re really interested in what happened to Greg Lake after ELP, reunite with him at Emerson, Lake and Powell, a far more fruitful partnership than the Moore/Lake lessons in mediocrity.

FV 41392 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. MANOEUVRES    (Greg Lake/Gary Moore)    4:03
2. TOO YOUNG TO LOVE    (Greg Lake)    4:05
3. PARALYSED    (Greg Lake)    3:57
4. A WOMAN LIKE YOU    (Gary Moore)    4:33
5. I DON'T WANNA LOSE YOUR LOVE TONIGHT    (Greg Lake/Gary Moore)    3:54
6. IT'S YOU, YOU'VE GOTTA BELIEVE    (Greg Lake)    7:10
7. FAMOUS LAST WORDS    (C. Bradford/A. Scott/D. Most)    3:05
8. SLAVE TO LOVE    (Greg Lake)    3:23
9. HAUNTED    (Greg Lake/Tristram Margetts/Tony Benyon)    4:52
10. I DON'T KNOW WHY I STILL LOVE YOU    (Greg Lake)    5:10

CREDITS

GREG LAKE --
GARY MOORE -- special thanks
Dan Priest -- mixing
Robin Harris -- illustrations
John Pasche -- design

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