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Gathering The Waters

by I Am The Manic Whale

supported by
Igor Huertas
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Igor Huertas Siguiendo la evolución de Michael Whiteman , encontramos temas con desarrollos más largos introduciendo piano , xilófono y flauta . Buscando un estilo más propio digamos . Favorite track: Strandbeest.
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) thumbnail
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) Such good prog needs to be rewarded with another purchase! So I quickly closed the gap between the first and third albums in my collection. In case you want to get a first glance at this band's works, I recommed the third one. It's the most brilliant so far. Favorite track: Stand Up.
steven blomerth
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steven blomerth The music of Manic Whale has elements of Symphonic development and recapitulation of them combined with rock and delivers many strong melodies. The playing and musicianship is equally strong as the composing with good vocals and vocal harmonies...The song ideas and subject matter are wide ranging and range widely form zany science fiction, to social media, to heroic situations and family.
Rob Hill
Rob Hill thumbnail
Rob Hill Another classic album from this very talented band. Awash with great themes from a Dr Who celebration, the obedience to authority and the super heroic Lifeboatmen, to Strandbeests and a call to personally shine a light for love in this dark world.

The Whale are a brilliant band live so don't miss the chance to see them if you can. Favorite track: The Milgram Experiment.
kchaloux
kchaloux thumbnail
kchaloux I stumbled on this album quite at random and it totally blew me away. I've been listening to it constantly for the last several days, and I would struggle to point to a single track I would skip. The songs are long but they never drag on, there's some wonderful reincorporation in the later tracks calling back to earlier ones, and the style of music hits beats similar to other favorites of mine (Big Big Train, Moon Safari, Spock's Beard) while still maintaining a distinct sound and style throughout. A+ stuff here, really! Favorite track: Stand Up.
ChrisEfterklang
ChrisEfterklang thumbnail
ChrisEfterklang This is a strong follow-up to their debut. For a British band they do sound quite American, there is quite a distinct Spocks Beard influence heard in their music. And about the recording quality: it has a very 'live' sound with just enough polish to make it really shine. It certainly doesn't sound bad as someone else mentioned here.
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1.
He’s got a fourteen foot scarf, knows how to ride a giraffe, hear his maniacal laughter. He knows the things which are true, adjusts your angle of view under judicial review. He’s looking above, he’s looking around. My advice to you: keep your head down, And if you can get deep underground. He’s the man with many faces, captain of disguise. He’ll set fire to the traces as he births a nest of lies. He’s not a man you can fool, he went to graduate school, known as the prince of misrule. He knows no fear and no pain, enormous knowledge domain, it takes too long to explain. If you strike him down with all of your hate He comes right back up still looking great. And if you can see him it’s already too late. He’s the man with many faces, commander of disguise. He’ll hit the detonator as he looks into your eye. He travels through space and time, using the power of his mind, defending all humankind. He travels through time and space, frequently changing his face, exterminating our race. He’s the man with many faces, each one has a different hat. He’ll put you in your place ‘cause only he knows where it’s at. The man with many faces, doctor of disguise. Doesn’t seem to care he’s universally despised. All we wanted was a place that we could call our own, But everywhere we go is infested with life. Tried to exterminate the vermin that was here before us. He tried to stop us, but he won’t take us alive. Keep your helmets on, children. You’ve got to keep your helmets on. Keep your helmets on, children. Yes they’ll keep you safe from his eyes. Keep your helmets on, children. No matter what he says, don’t take them off! Keep your helmets on, children.
2.
We will pay fifty dollars for one hour of your time. It’s a scientific study of memory and learning. Are you aged between 21 and 52? Just fill out the form, we’ll send the information through. The men sat down in a room one at a time. They asked the questions and wait for the reply. Just press the button every time the answer’s wrong. Increase the voltage each time you move along. How far will you go if you’re not culpable? How far can you be pushed? You’re not responsible. How far will you go? You’re not accountable. How long will you go on? Will they stop? Will they painfully refuse? Or will they shock? Pressing on against their will. They hear the screams and the banging on the wall. But they are assured no long term harm is caused at all. Their obedience tested to the limit now. And submission to a higher authority. “Just following orders”, the cry is ages old. Are they to blame, simply doing what they’re told? Please continue The experiment requires that you continue It is absolutely essential that you continue You have no other choice. You must go on.
3.
Fisherman for life, working the coast with pots and ropes. Fishing for crabs, hiring out deckchairs to holiday makers. But when the call comes, even in the gloom of the night, like a real-life adventure hero. Into oilskins and sou'westers, rubber boots pulled up high, down to the shoreline. Dragging the launch across the sand. Into the dark, the strength of the oarsmen against the pull of wind and tide. Hold the lantern high. They brave waves higher than houses to save lives, higher than houses. Volunteers ready to face anything that the sea can throw at them. Determination judgement, sweating mariners stretched to the limit As they pull, heave into the sea. Pull together. Pull together. Come on boys. Pull together. Pull together. Not for glory, not for fame, not for remuneration. True noblemen, self sacrificing, risking their lives, time upon time. October 1941, English Trader’s run aground on Hammond Knoll, 1.30 AM. Can you hear the grinding, crunching, shaking? Wind approaching gale force. Forty foot waves crash across the deck. Lifeboat H.F. Bailey sets out from Cromer, repelled by wind and tide. They try again and again and again and again. The lifeboat men worked their way to the craft. Worked for hours through the dawn to bring survivors to land. Forty men and a dog owe their lives to this crew. Survivors pulled through. Fisherman for life, working the coast with pots and ropes. Fishing for crabs, hiring out deckchairs to holidaymakers.
4.
Strandbeest 13:32
-Part I: The creation of Strandbeest -Part II: The life of Strandbeest Occupied in creating new forms of life from plastic tubing (all mechanical). Blurring the boundaries in our minds between art and engineering (biological). They’re born, they grow, they age, they die. Through time evolve, weathered and changed. Captivating, mesmerising, walking on the wind. Skeletons creeping on the sand, inexorably self-propelling (scatological). Storing air in their reservoirs, pressure pumping piston muscles (respirational). Stomachs and wings and legs and brains. Rotating spine, they move in herds. Animaris adulare Animaris daubus caudis Animaris percipere Animaris rhinoceros lignatus Striving to equip his creatures with artificial understanding (intellectual). They adapt to environments, responding well to their surroundings (habitational). Live their own lives, they self-preserve. Surviving storms, they anchor down. -Part III: The death of Strandbeest
5.
6.
Stand Up 18:30
(i) STAND UP (PART 1) So why do you wait until the darkness comes up to your door For it to bother you? And when do you learn the world is dark and those who bear the light Will pay for being true? They're telling you be a big tall boy, go and make some noise Don't you wish sometimes we were less like gentle men Knew how to give the world a hand There must be a way to stand up! The young and the old. Lives got cut off all the time while life For you it was too good to understand It was under your nose, through the years while you were having fun Thinking about your favourite bands Tell me what were you supposed to either say or do? Don't you wish sometimes God would stop being a gentleman Step in, give us all a hand, and show us a way to stand up! Is there a way to stand up? (ii) RAIN Now you say we need to look out for our own Your patrons must have been enthralled And you can print whatever justifies (Your pocket) You don't abuse that freedom much at all So we all went along with this They were criminal chance scoundrels spoiling for a war I must admit I was afraid, watching daily every hour But we failed to read the truth and it's only getting sourer Still I guess that we can live in a world of so much pain As long as we are in the warm, as long as we can stay protected from the rain We never want for anything if want is something we'd have to cross the ocean for To kick our kids above the waterline, witness all their potential washed ashore We walked by on the other side No we just couldn't wait to get our heads back in the sand But we've progressed to 'refugee' from the previous 'migrant swarm' Now that innocence is lost and enough tears shed for a tropic storm I guess that we can live in a world of so much pain As long as we can still be dry, as long as we're allowed to stay out of the rain God forgive us every one for all we haven't done There's just no way that I can turn it into poetry or song It's too tragic and I won't even try, I have to say it to myself as well as you 'Cause to look in the mirror these days is frankly all that I can do - - - - - So why do you wait until the darkness comes up to the door For it to bother you? And when do we learn the world is dark and those who bear the light Pay for being true? (iii) CALM YOURSELVES CHILDREN Gonna take the world back, are we, or at least you’ll get them on their guard You're gonna coexist with nobody, ‘cause who wants to work that hard? Calm yourselves now you children - we'd be children to rise to your bait We're so sorry you got here just a couple millennia too late So now you case for all the entrances with a devastating plan And a mind fixed on a higher law, too shaky to understand Still the human race can go so far, we’ll have to turn the years right back Calm yourselves now you children - we'd be children to rise to your bait We're so sorry you got here just a couple millennia too late Calm yourselves now you children - we'd be children to rise to your bait (iv) YOUR HOLY WAR Look at you faithful, you great re enslaved Fighting for freedom from the so-called depraved They are not human no Though they may cry and bleed the way you do Just do what you’re told to do while the leaders empowered minds and hearts Press on, continue to tear lives apart What evil you advocate Building some world where everyone’s the same While the planet reels in pain Here’s hoping for a light to expose all you thought was right Turn once again I pray, wash the blood on your hands away How can you be so sure what on earth it was all done for Like there will ever be a greater lie out of hell than your holy war How far will you go? (if you’re not culpable) How far can you be pushed? (you’re not responsible) How far will you go? (you’re not accountable) How long will you go on? Look at us soldiers, directionless ones Stopping at nothing to be those who’ve won What evil we tolerate What armageddon we’ll expect thanks for When we’re at the Maker’s door Here’s hoping for a light to expose all we thought was right The lives paid in service due to a God that we never knew While every angel cries, shaking, shielding each other’s eyes How can we be so sure what an earth is was all done for How can there ever be a greater lie out of hell than this holy war (v) STAND UP (PART 2) 'If the people you follow are teaching you to hate and fear, to exclude people for any reason, then they are not sent by Me, even if they say they are.' 'Holiness turns the other cheek knowing God has it all on account.' Do I get out of the rain? Do I stay out of danger's way? No way, Padre! Stand up like big tall boys, but it won't be with guns that we make our noise Stand up like we all must do, but it won't be a sword that pushes us through There's a sacrifice to make and songs that must be sung We'll build a world for everyone if we stand up Stand up, do it with your prayer Set your fears aside, cast away your care (The world is crying for you) Stand up with the love that you've found Let compassion reign strong, spread that good stuff around (The world is crying for you) There's a planet out there where goodwill is crumbling down You know our only option now is to stand up There's a truth that must be told - the one true war was won We'll build a world for everyone if we stand up And our only option now is to stand up stand up stand up stand up!!!
7.
Moving hard against this tide, no time left to divide the waters. All this noise and night. Move into a full immersion. Can’t stop searching for the light. No air to breathe. No one in sight. Cast adrift. So this is it. Till I wake up soaking in the glory of the sun. Another day appears to have begun. Thought I wouldn’t see another one. One. Awakening from my least favourite dream, images burned into my memory. Darkness just beginning to recede. Praying nothing that I saw was real. There’s a man who wouldn’t die. A giant beast crawling on the sand. An evil worship of authority as brave men bring me back to land. Move in straight lines taking time. Seek simplicity for my life. Shut out extraneous noise and light. Surround yourself with perfect love. Why not take off your tin-foil helmet? You don’t need to shut out community. Will you stand with us in unity? Fall into this perfect love. Come oppose the separatists for we are one. Oppose the isolationists for we are one. And even if we’re standing in the dark right now, We’re looking for the light, we’re living for the light. Clinging to the light. We are bringing you the light. Of perfect love. Choose joy, choose love, choose life in all its fullness. We have hope nothing’s impossible. We have hope this love’s unstoppable We have hope nothing’s impossible. Immerse yourself in perfect love. We are salt, we are light, you are love. We have hope.

about

The second album by Reading/London based progressive rock band I Am The Manic Whale. We hope that you like it well.

credits

released October 30, 2017

I Am The Manic Whale are:

Ben Hartley: drums, percussion, strandbeest xylophone, backing vocals
Jon Murphy: keyboards, murphatron, backing vocals, 2nd lead vocal on track 1
David Addis: electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Michael Whiteman: bass guitar, bass pedals, 12 string electric and acoustic guitars, lead and backing vocals, percussion, strombelief

Also featuring
Ella Lloyd: flute on tracks 3, 4, 5.
Matthew Talks: ‘cello on track 5.

Recorded and produced by Michael Whiteman at White Noise Music, Reading.
Mixed by Rob Aubrey at Aubitt Studios, Southampton
Graphic Design by Sarah Joy at Random Panda randompanda.me

Special thanks to
Steven Wilson for the use of his 12 string guitar
Theo Jansen for allowing us to use photographs of Strandbeests
Mitch Whitehead for giving me the idea for the song Strandbeest
For more information about Strandbeests visit www.strandbeest.com

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I Am The Manic Whale Reading, UK

We are a progressive rock band from Reading & London, UK. 3rd album out now.

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