Ah, The Mighty Man band. Without them the history of Welsh rock music would be a lot poorer if only for the sheer number of albums that the various band members through the ages have been involved in. It would also be a difficult task to draw a timeline for the group as the frequent comings and goings and offshoots would leave the brain spinning, much as the music of the group in their heyday was wont to do. And it is with the band at the peak of their powers of creativity that these first three re-releases are concerned with. The beginning of the 1970s saw Man living in Germany where their first two albums, released by Pye Records, had sold well compared with the poor sales in the UK. In Germany the band attracted regular audience of around 2,000 paying punters, compared with a handful of curious people in their home nation. So financially it made good sense for the bad to up sticks, particularly as their royalty rate for what albums they did sell was practically non-existent.
In early 1972 a lot had changed in the Man camp. Firstly they had played a concert in Berlin bottom of the bill to Soft Machine, Yes and Family and managed to upstage the cream of the high profile British acts. This was duly reported in the music press giving the band some much needed exposure in their homelands. Then keyboard player Clive John left the band meaning the band had to rely more on the twin guitar approach and finally they were included in the line-up for The Greasy Truckers Party along with fellow United Artists acts Brinsley Schwartz and Hawkwind. The resulting live album sold out of its initial run almost immediately and increased the profile of the band immeasurably. The success of The Greasy Truckers album prompted the band's label to suggest that Man recorded their own live album and came up with the idea that is should be limited to 8000 copies and released at mid price.
Recorded on their home soil in Penarth, the resulting album hit number one in the mid price chart and prompted speculation that Man were the 'next big thing'. Originally the album was three tracks, Many Are Called... and Daughter Of The Fireplace on side one and the H Samuel jam on side two. The latter two tracks are rather obscure in live format as Daughter Of The Fireplace was not kept in the set for long and the Jam is quite a chaotic and loose amalgam of odd bits and pieces including fragments of Alchemy and Would The Christians Wait Five Minutes? The Lions Are Having A Draw. Although the three track album is not the best representation of Man live, the reissued album, featuring the whole set, makes up for the limitations of the original album with an extra 52 minutes of first rate live Man. Spunk Rock and Angel Easy are both storming versions and probably better performance wise than on The Greasy Truckers album (hence the reason they were left off the original vinyl release). Romain also rocks solidly being altogether more focused on the guitar interplay now that there were no keyboards included.
by Mark Hughes
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Spunk Rock (Clive John, Micky Jones) - 24:49
2. Many Are Called, But Few Get Up (Clive John, Deke Leonard, Martin Ace, Michael Jones, Terry Williams) - 10:42
3. Angel Easy (Martin Ace, Clive John, Michael Jones, Deke Leonard, Terry Williams) - 5:16
Disc 2
1. H. Samuel (Jam) (Deke Leonard, Martin Ace, Michael Jones, Terry Williams) - 19:27
2. Romain (Martin Ace, Clive John, Michael Jones, Deke Leonard, Terry Williams) - 20:36
3. Daughter Of The Fireplace (Deke Leonard) - 7:57
Recorded Live at the Padget Rooms, Penarth on 8th April 1972.
Man
*Martin Ace - Bass, Vocals
*Michael Jones - Guitar, Vocals
*Roger "Deke" Leonard - Guitar, Vocals
*Terry Williams - Drums
1969 Man - 2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle (2009 remaster)
Related Acts
No comments:
Post a Comment