BBC RADIO ONE LIVE IN CONCERT

This is quite a good cross section of Man music...but I feel it cannot be a definitive historical account without the inclusion of Tweke Lewis. He was one of the few members that actually influenced the direction of the band, a brilliant partner to Micky jones..they certainly reached the parts others could'nt. Manfan

.... man meets iceberg ....

This is not only a live record from the MAN band. You can also recognize ICEBERG opening the show and therefore the correct definition is: we are hearing live songs of two different welsh groups. On the other side there is a big relationship between the bands. Deke Leonard was one of the founding members of MAN in 1969 and then Martin Ace joined in 1970. At this time - September 1973 - they are members of ICEBERG and the songs are not very similar to the MAN performance at this evening.

The four ICEBERG tracks are all written by Deke Leonard. He is responsible for a more Rock & Roll/Hard Rock touch. '7171 551' is an easy but nice song with a remarkable theme and the rest is jamming. The song later on was a standard in all MAN concerts with Leonard in the line-up. 'A hard way to live' is a short rock 'n roller and the following 'In search of Sarah and 26 horses' is a 10-minute-boogie-jam with amazing guitar work. But for me it is too monotonous - the ICEBERG performance lacks of variety a little bit.

So we are lucky to hear afterwards the best MAN line-up ever - nearly the same that produced 'Be good to yourself at least once a day'. And exactly the same which played the outstanding live tracks some months before released on 'Back into the future'. This line-up guarantees psychedelic/space rock - virtuosity without an exception - especially Micky Jones and Tweke Lewis on guitar. 'C'mon' appears in a better way on 'Back into the future' where they included the Gwalia Male Voice Choir. 'Bananas' is the highlight - a wonderful version - never have heard this one in a better way. The last song 'Romain' is a good bonus track from a concert in 1972 with Leonard and Ace. Three and a half star is my rating ...