When this live in the studio performance was taped for German television Martin Ace had only been back in the band for just over two weeks. His recall to the ranks of Man was due to the sudden departure of the previous bassist in Man, Ken Whaley who departed just before the end of the American tour.
Whilst being a member of Man during the years 1970 through 1971 Martin had been busying himself with other projects including his own band The Flying Aces. Watching this live in the studio concert however it would seem to the outsider as though it was business as usual such was the quality of the performance. The set was pretty much as it had been for the American tour and included the long time Man staples C mon, Many Are Called But Few Get Up and Romain alongside some newer material such as Hard Way To Die which had appeared on the bands most recent album Slow Motion and the song Someone Is Calling which had surfaced during the sessions for Slow Motion but unfortunately due to the restrictions of vinyl was omitted from the final running order. There were also a couple of songs from Deke Leonard's Iceberg including A Hard Way To Live and the opener 7171-551. As has already been mentioned the band seemed incredibly at ease despite the problems caused by Ken Whaley's departure and the concert ranks amongst the best performances captured on tape of the band. This line up of Man however was only ever considered a temporary solution to the bands problems and following a tour which featured former Quicksilver Messenger Service guitarist John Cippolina and the subsequent live album entitled Maximum Darkness and a few European dates at the end of July Martin Ace headed off once more to pastures new although as history has proved it wasn't to be his last brush with the Man Band.
1 7171-551
2 Hard Way to Die
3 C'mon
4 Someone Is Calling
5 A Hard Way to Live
6 Many Are Called But Few Get Up
Line-up:
Micky Jones: guitar, vocals
Deke Leonard: guitar, keyboards, vocals
Martin Ace: bass, vocals
Terry Williams: drums
Man – Live in Cologne Germany 17th April 1975 [2007, DVD]
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