The Vault: Barbara Manning Is Still Pretty Wonderful

It’s harder now, thanks to the endlessly networked/press-release-papered world we live in, but man, do we love being surprised by from-the-depths reissues of records that we thought were lost to time. Which is why one of your Idolators was pretty thrilled to hear that a box set of Barbara Manning’s first two solo albums and rarities will be released shortly, although the profile that couched the news was somewhat depressing. (Blogstars of now, take note.) Manning’s plain-sung indie rock has been in perpetually heavy rotation since our college days, and we’re actually somewhat shocked that we haven’t posted about her yet. Anyway, the SF Gate piece has a few truncated samples of the set’s offerings, including a gorgeous cover of “Walkin’ After Midnight,” so we figured we’d complement that with two pieces of her early-’90s output, including the somber “Still?” and a cover of Lora Logic’s “Martian Man”:

San Francisco Seals – Still? [MP3, link expired; from Nowhere (1994)] Barbara Manning – Martian Man [MP3, link expired; from Sings With The Original Artists (1993)] Once a darling on the indie music scene, Barbara Manning makes a rare SF appearance [SF Gate, via Largehearted Boy] Barbara Manning [Official site]