If you’re new to MAN, you can’t go wrong with any of these new reissues, especially if you love guitar-driven jamming and great song-writing.  Maximum Darkness is very jam-heavy, Slow Motion is a little more concise and poppy, and Back Into The Future with its 3-discs of material gives you plenty of both.  If you are already a MAN fan, you probably already have all three, plus all the albums that Esoteric reissued last year.

Big props must go out to Mark Powell, manager at Esoteric Recordings, who researched and coordinated all the expanded CD reissues and Paschal Byrne at The Audio Archiving Company in London for the brilliant sound on all of the MAN reissues.  And much respect to Esoteric Recordings, a very new division of Cherry Red Records, for reviving so much vital music and proving that music does still matter.  Other artists on their roster include Jack Bruce, Egg, Curved Air, Paladin, Space Ritual (Hawkwind family), and the Keef Hartley Band, to name a few.  And a huge ‘thank you’ to Vicky Powell at Esoteric who I’ve been directly in contact with and who has been tons of help and heaps of cool!  I am a huge fan of MAN now because of Esoteric’s fine work and as a long-time music lover, I am still shocked that it took me so long to be introduced to them.  So, if you haven’t heard them… I’m introducing you now!