RHINOS, WINOS AND LUNATICS

This is one of the most underrated "progbands" ever, and Rhinos Winos and Lunatics is the best in a splendid catalouge. It has always puzzles me why Man stays outside the prog radar. Maybe because they are very down to earth( in musical terms anyway) and they never fall into introspective nodling.

On RWL the Man Band skipped the long improvisations from the latter albums. The reason is I belive the return of Deke Leonard and his ability to write a simple (hmmm) tune. But do not get me wrong. The album is packed with fantastic interplaying and Micky Jones, the mainstay, is bending the strings as clever as ever. The album kicks off with the single Taking the easy way out and is followed by California Silk and Satin, the only weak tune (sort of) on the album. If the rest of side one is great, side two is were it all gels perfectly.

Do not miss this album. Is one of these classic albums from the mid 70´s. And the reissue on Esoteric is beautifully remastered with an extra disc with live material.