Manna/Mirage

'Manna/Mirage was the Muffins' first album and remained their best work. It is a fantastic blend of Canterbury prog and Henry Cow-ish intricacy, with a soupton of improvisation. Completely instrumental, the music can also be linked to Happy the Man for its melodic side. Monkey With the Golden Eyes is a nice introductory track seguing into the fantastic Hobart Got Burned, which starts with a calm atonal improvisation and builds up to a bombastic main theme. Then comes Amelia Earhart (16 minutes), a track superior to anything that came out of Canterbury. You must hear it to believe it. Canterbury-type prog never got that good. Finally, The Adventures of Captain Boomerang (23 minutes) is a long complex suite, with a humorous touch not unlike some of National Health's material. Manna/Mirage would have become a classic prog album, if only it had come out of Canterbury instead of late-'70s U.S.A. Since Cuneiform Records reissued the album in 1991, the album has enjoyed quite a bit of fame in progressive rock circles and now is available digitally!' ~ Frantois Couture, All Music Guide