Bambi Is A Man Man Fan, Man! Dept.

A recent Grateful Dead feature story, got me thinking [muses bambi - Ed.] about the wonderful Welsh band Man. Man began in 1968 and are still going now. They were formed from members of The Bystanders a successful singles band of the 60’s, however Man were much more psychedelic, their first album is mainly short songs but later albums had longer jam numbers, and their concerts would regularly feature a couple of 20 minute plus tracks. They were particularly popular in Germany, but rarely kept the same line-up for each album or tour. By the end of 1976 they broke up.

I’m too young and good looking [sic - Ed.] to have seen the band at their peak 1971-1976, however at the end of the 70’s you could pick up their wonderful albums cheaply in the secondhand shops, and every one I bought was ‘a cracker’. They were notable for releasing many live albums, and this is why I think of them and The Dead. Also the attached link has wonderful Rick Griffin cover art, based on the Slow Motion album art, you’ll know Rick Griffin for work he did for Quicksilver Messengers, Big Brother and The Grateful Dead. [Farq recreates original art, pre-restraining order from Mad Magazine, above - Ed.]

In 1983 Man reformed, and I was lucky enough to see them at my first ever festival, The 1983 Reading Festival. The line-up was wonderful, including Thin Lizzy, Ten Years After, Little Steven, Black Sabbath (with Ian Gillan on vocals), The Enid and Man. Also on the bill was a special guest from the USA, who none of my friends had heard of, his name Stevie Ray Vaughan. Fortunately I was able to persuade a few of my friends to leave the pub (The Moderation), and we witnessed his first gig in the UK, and it was magnificent.

Man played mid Friday afternoon, and we all enjoyed their energetic set. Over the years I’ve seen Man on may occasions, and amassed most of their great albums.One of their most famous live albums from 1975 is called Maximum Darkness and features John Cipollina, but some of Cipollina’s erratic playing was erased on one track and replaced by a Mickie Jones solo.

However from the same year, the attached linkage is a great (but not complete) live set from Berkeley in 1975 plus a few other live tracks I tagged on. This is, I think one of their best concerts, both sonically pro recording and also great performance, and the other tracks make for a great Man sampler - John Cipollina is not on this recording. Superb quality, even if you’re a fan of the band you may not have these tracks, Berkeley 1976 was officially released but that was a different line-up, and I don’t think that’s as good as this, mwynhau.

Readers will know Bambi better as porn star Studly Von Stagge in straight-to-video hits such as Air Hostess Hostel, Air Hostess Hospital,  Air Hostess Hospice, Erotic Amputees, and the popular Soup Kitchen franchise. He is currently "between projects".