Man

The history of Man (aka The Man Band or The Welsh Wizards) goes back to 1968 and they became a stalwart of the BBC live rock shows during the 70’s and 80’s.
These 4 CDs contain tracks from 9 different shows covering 1972 to 1983 with a bewildering range of line-ups, as they seemed to change members as often as their socks. There is also a DVD of OGWT material and another of their first ‘farewell’ concert in 1976. So, value for money, definitely.

It's also damn good fun. Long, extended jams of the type for which they are famous, lots of extraneous whoops and unexpected solos and no shortage of duff notes as the material is, literally, built on the spot.

No strangers to psychedelics they were often called the ‘Welsh Grateful Dead’ due to their experimenting with tracks live and developing them into long jams, and this collection definitely has a few of their favourites in numbers such as ‘Spunk Rock’, ‘Romain’, ‘Many Are Called But Few Get Up’, ‘C’Mon’ with multiple versions of a few and all very different.
The many different line-ups mean that the sound of the band varies between the raw 4 piece of the earlier numbers featuring Micky Jones (guitar), Deke Leonard (guitar), Martin Ace (bass) & Terry Williams (drums) to the more intricate arrangements when Phil Ryan or Malcolm Morley were on keyboards. The only constant on these recordings is Micky Jones but he was always at his best with Deke Leonard as his sparring partner.

Man were always at their best live and unquestionably had their own sound. Their relationship with the BBC is well presented here and all round it is a fine collection for any Man fan.