ENDANGERED SPECIES

The last studio album from the band to feature Guitarists/Vovalists Micky Jones who sadly was forced to retire due to ill health and Deke Leonard who went solo once again. Unfortunately it's a rather lack lustre affair and is pretty much a straight ahead commercial sounding Rock record though unlikely to win the band any new fans.

Although in a live setting the band still played some of the long Psychedelic workouts they are known for, in the studio since their early eighties reformation, they have gone for a more streamlined song approach. Having said that, they do hit the seven minute mark on a few tracks and even nine on Face to Face, which bears the strongest resemblance to the Man of old. It's not that this is a totally bad album but the songs in general are fairly uninspiring. Stuck Behind the Popemobile is not as bad as the title suggests and has quite a nice arpeggio guitar line and on the afore mentioned Face to Face the band stretch out a bit on the instrumental section. Victim of Love is pretty solid with a decent riff and album closer Love Isn't Love is the best track on offer, sung by Leonard and is a mid tempo rocker with some nice guitar work.

Man have made some great albums throughout their history and anyone looking to investigate the band would be advised to start with their seventies releases and leave this one for hardcore fans.