Man At The Roundhouse 1976 (Voiceprint/Music Video Distributors DVD)
Picture: C Sound: C+ Extras: D Main Program: C+
I had
barely heard of the South Wales/Welch band simply known as Man and for a very
long time, but as the world of DVD continues to unearth interesting gems here
and there, Man At The Roundhouse 1976
is a fine (if short) half-hourish program that shows the group behind the
scenes talking, touring and playing. By
this time, they had moved to then-MCA Records (now Universal Music) after
establishing themselves at the Pye and United Artists labels and we’re on the
verge of breaking up.
This, in
effect, was from the farewell tour for the Welsh
Connection album and captures a band that had much talent to the point that
two of the members (John McKenzie & Phil Ryan) wanted to go onto other
projects. With their combination of
Blues, Country-Rock and even Psychedelic and Progressive Rock elements in their
work, including the following:
1)
Let The Good Times Roll
2)
7171-551
3)
Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You
4)
C’mon
5)
Born With A Future
6)
Bananas
The best
thing about this program is that it makes you want to hear more of their work,
especially before they reunited in 1983.
Their run began in 1968 and they are yet another great act of the time
that is in deeply overdue need of rediscovery.
The 1.33
X 1 image is from material shot on film (like 16mm) but is a videotaped copy
(analog PAL format?) and is a bit dull throughout. Hope a print can be dug up for Blu-ray
sometime. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is
a bit better, but can sometimes be rough.
There are no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
