The first Man long-player without Micky Jones is a rock 'n' roll feast.
Point: 5 February 2007
Last updated: 21 November 2008
If there's a Welsh band with a greater sense of 'never lie down for long if you can possibly help it', it's Man. Despite longtime-frontman Micky Jones' lengthy lay-off from the band due to illness, his son George now steps up to the mic for this return.
Tracklisting
- Diamonds And Coal
- All Alone
- Freedom Fries
- Twistin' The Knife
- Man Of Misery
- Welsh Girl
- Thank God It's Not Miss Cathy
- Teddy Boys Picnic
- When You've Got Someone To Hold
Diamonds And Coal is a rock 'n' roll album full of goodtime joie de vivre. The overtly proggy, labyrinthine moments have been shelved for the time being - in their place there's a warm, jangly, but still musically-dextrous tone and tempo.
Like many other other bands of a similar vintage, Man have a sound informed by a 1960s blues-rock sound, as demonstrated on the title track, but they can't ignore their pedigree: the guitar skills of Jones and Ace on the atmospheric All Alone are Roger Waters-precise and clean.
There's a great degree of musical skill and experience on display on Diamonds And Coal which means there's not really a moment at which the quality drops. It's tight and punchy when it needs to be and mixes the guitar wig-outs with the gentle summer breezy moments like Freedom Fries.
The epic closer, When You've Got Someone To Hold, is a emotional lyrical journey accompanied by music which ebbs and flows. It builds to a climax before drawing to a quiet close. A fitting way to end the first chapter of the new volume in the life of this Welsh institution.
Words: James McLaren
