Vice Magazine Worst cover of the month December 2006
Vice Magazine Review ------------------------------------------------------------ ------------- MANOR BOYS
Chelmsford's Most Wanted
Barry's Bootlegs
Retarded chav odyssey centred around the tragic existence of a ninny named Rich that's worryingly touching, weird and funny. People will inevitably compare this to The Streets, but make no mistake, this is a lot, lot worse. "Like a candle I'll make you melt" is just one of many priceless lines.
LIL' MINTY ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------
MIXMAG - December ReviewManor Boys
Chelmsford's Most Wanted
Barry's Bootlegs
Brilliantly infantile brainwrong bedroom rapping
Like labelmates Cassetteboy, the Manor Boys, aka MCs Rich and Philie-T, are working styles so sick and wrong they're beyond musical good and evil. Titles like 'Rich Is Gay' and 'I Am The Ninja' tell you exactly how childish this is, and the cheap Casio beats aren't big or clever. But there's a psychotic, psychedelic sincerity to these two Essex geezers' ranting that makes this brain-warpingly intense and undies-wettingly funny. You may love or hate this – most likely both.
Boomkat Review
With a cover sticker that proudly displays Luke Vibert's assessment of the album ("I couldn't really get into it...") alongside splenetic endorsements from Ceephax and Cassetteboy, the Manor Boys are a couple of Essex chaps - here laying down an LP of white-bread rapping, sliced and diced madness, showtime singing and 8-bit symphonies. Having been doing the rounds in CD-R for yonks now, Barry's Bootlegs have brought the photocopy ethic out into the open for an audience raised on the welcome f*ckwittery of Cassette Boy et al. Opening through the appropriately titled 'Intro', the Manor Boys immediately assert their aesthetic through some spliced vocals, grand piano and military pomp - all of which collapses into the "oi oi!" Casio romp of 'We Are The Manor Boys'. Changing styles with flippant ease, 'Chelmsford Scientists' arrives next with a darker hue as the boys get chatty over some distorted beats for a nice hip-hop rip off, before 'The Girl That Didn't Want To Know Me' nicks a familiar sample and weaves a tale of love lost... Elsewhere, 'Rich Is Gay' rocks some more well-known cuts for some homoerotic styles, 'The Return Of The Ninja' is a collage of sounds that shares much with The Mighty Boosh, whilst 'Lost And Found' is like a British Chilly Gonzales in full tracksuit mood. To the manor born!
http://www.failme.net/ This is terrible; badly recorded, shoddily put together with some real cringeworthy moments. But despite all the above, I can't stop playing it. Casiotone rhythms, stolen hip-hop riffs and two well-heeled white kids who seemed to have forgotten that they were being recorded.
Comedy does have value in modern contemporary music and its in my humble opinion that there's isn't enough of it. Needless to say, if you only buy one Essex-based comedy album this year. Make sure it's this one.
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