Twang Dynasty [Boxset Edition]

Man's first studio recording in over 15 years, 1992's Twang Dynasty finds Deke Leonard and an only slightly rejiggered group (drummer Terry Williams is absent) largely picking up where their late-'70s albums left off, bridging the gap between rollicking pub rock and twiddly prog with not-always-successful results. Most of the album leans rather toward the latter side of the equation; although songs like the opening guitar workout "A Feather on the Scales of Justice" have memorable riffs and catchy tunes to their credit, they could have stood to be trimmed by a minute or two. Indeed, as was often the case in the early CD age, the whole album could easily have been trimmed by 20 minutes, losing perhaps the overlong three-chord jam "Mad on Her" and the inscrutable blues "Chinese Cut" and trimming songs like the crystalline "Price" by half of its six-minute length to emphasize its clever pop-song gleam. Still, Twang Dynasty is a more credible comeback attempt than many of Man's '70s contemporaries made. ~ Stewart Mason