Successful Man

"Anachronism Tango" a new MAN album recorded by Martin and Josh Ace, James Beck (slide guitar, vocals), Rene Robrahn (drums) and Veteran-keyboarder Malcolm Morley. The high and established MAN quality level is also maintained on this album.

Man were one of the most promising rock bands to come out of Wales in the early '70s. Along with Brinsley Schwarz, they helped establish the core of the pub rock sound, but they played louder and also had a progressive component to their work that separated them from many of their rivals…

"Anachronism Tango" a new MAN album recorded by Martin and Josh Ace, James Beck (slide guitar, vocals), Rene Robrahn (drums) and Veteran-keyboarder Malcolm Morley. The high and established MAN quality level is also maintained on this album.

"Anachronism Tango" a new MAN album recorded by Martin and Josh Ace, James Beck (slide guitar, vocals), Rene Robrahn (drums) and Veteran-keyboarder Malcolm Morley. The high and established MAN quality level is also maintained on this album.

Born in Budapest, the drummer and bandleader of German descent László (Leslie) Mandoki belonged to the 1970s' student opposition in communist Hungary. Far beyond the system-conform mainstream, his Jazz-Rock formation "JAM" symbolized the longing for a free world. In 1975, he was forced to leave the country because of governmental repression. Accompanied by his two closest friends, László Bencker and Gábor Csupó, their flight was followed by a long odyssey. On his quest for freedom, he found more than that: a new home - in Germany.

Tan Dun's Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa (1999) is a reworking of one of his most popular works, Ghost Opera, written for and recorded by the Kronos Quartet. In this version, the composer's characteristic polystylism – which here includes Chinese folk song, Copland-esque Big Sky music, quotations from Bach, and vocalizations by the orchestra – comes across as a jumble, without much of a strong vision holding the disparate elements together. Pipa virtuoso Wu Man, who appeared on the Kronos recording, plays the concerto with energy and delicacy. She's ably accompanied by the Moscow Soloists, led by Yuri Bashmet. The concerto is followed by Takemitsu's Nostalghia (1987) for violin and string orchestra. Its compositional assurance, clarity, subtly nuanced orchestration, and emotional directness make it all the more striking in contrast to the Tan Dun. Here Bashmet is the impassioned soloist, with Roman Balashov conducting with great sensitivity. The three brief excerpts from Takemitsu's film scores are a pleasant stylistic diversion – light, strongly differentiated character pieces.

Since the surprisingly successful "Presence" in 2015 (which even spawned a minor underground hit with the single "Black") only one album has left the Twice a man assembly line: the ambient "Cocoon" from 2019, which was released as a digital album, a 59 minute long music video and a limited edition CD.

The Brotherhood of Man ranks among the United Kingdom's most successful pop groups of all time, their long career spreading across two very separate incarnations of the band, together with a string of highly infectious hit singles that carried the group through much of their first decade together, and success at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest…