MAN – LIVE AT ROCKPALAST 1975 (CD + DVD)

On April 17, 1975, Welsh band Man recorded a live set lasting just under an hour for the German TV show Rockpalast, now reissued by Made In Germany (MIG) in the usual audio-video CD+DVD combo. That day, a quartet took to the stage at Studio L in Cologne, comprising founding members Micky Jones (vocals and guitar), Deke Leonard (guitar, vocals, keyboards and harmonica) and Terry Williams (drums and vocals, later with Rockpile and Dire Straits) as well as bassist and singer Martin Ace, who had been with the band since 1970. In a set of just six songs, the group still had the opportunity to show off its musical chops, offering a personal cocktail of rock, blues, country and folk, enlivened by a strong dose of West Coast sound and psychedelia, a direct offshoot of the Grateful Dead and especially Quicksilver Messenger Service, whose guitarist John Cipollina appeared as a special guest at the concert the following month, which resulted in the album “Maximum Darkness”. It was the opening track from that album, “7171 – 551”, that also opened this show.