MAN

Man's third album, and the first of theirs I have bought, is a disappointment for me. I have seen their albums for many years now, but have only heard them from video samples on the Archives. I liked the twin guitar attack on those spots and that is what I expected with this album. Sadly, it is not the case.

With two previous albums that made nary the tiniest splash, the band here seems unsure of what direction they want to go. The first song, Romain, is straight blues rock with a decent instrumental section at the end. Not a bad song, but it reminds me more of Canned Heat than anything else, which is just fine when I want to hear Canned Heat but not when I want to hear some twin guitar space rock. The next song starts with a promising riff, but then goes into country rock with a severe case of twang. If you like The Band, you might like this song. I admire The Band, but they are far from my favorites. This is a song I merely put up with. The next song is split into two tracks on the edition I have, and I have no idea why. It is definitely space rock very much in the line of Pink Floyd. At nearly thirteen minutes, it is long and drawn out, and gets quite boring after a while. It does however, have the capacity to grow on the listener. Maybe because of its hypnotic nature? The title is also rather cruel in my estimation: Would the Christians wait five minutes? The lions are having a draw. Now, I am not Christian, nor should that have anything to do with it; the joke on being thrown to the lions is simply in bad taste. The next track, Daughter of the fireplace, is a smoker (pun intended) and perhaps my favorite on the whole album. Still, it is straight blues rock and no more. The remainder of the album is taken up by the twenty-minute long Alchemist. This is much like the other long spacey piece, but even more tedious, although there is an ominous theme I can get into.

The main problem I have with this album is I am never sure if I am ever listening to Man. Every song reminds me very strongly of other bands. So, while it is not a terrible album overall, it lacks originality and uniqueness. When I want country rock, I can find better elsewhere; when I want straight blues rock, I can find better; when I want space rock, I can still find better. This band still holds promise for me, and I intend to keep an eye out for some of their work, but this is one outfit I will have to be more careful with. While I can get into Man by Man, it is not what I expected, nor is does it rise above those expectations. Two stars.