Son Of Man were put together by George Jones, vocalist, guitarist and later day member of Welsh progressive rock band Man alongside their drummer from 1997, Bob Richards. George’s father and founder member of Man, Micky hadn’t appeared on Man’s 2006 album Diamonds And Coal due to health issues so his son stepped into his father’s shoes. By the time of its follow up, 2009’s Kingdom Of Noise both Joneses were absent from the line-up. Micky passed away in 2010 but not before literally passing the Man baton to his progeny who formed Son Of Man alongside Richards to continue to perform Man tunes live as a tribute to his late father. Joined by Ray Jones (who returns on bass after a 6 year hiatus for Gaslight), Ritchie Galloni on vocals, Glenn Quinn of Tigertailz on guitar and Marco James on keyboards the band finally recorded new material which appeared on the 2016’s self titled debt. Quinn has moved on for Gaslight leaving Jones to handle all of the guitar parts but it continues the hard rock path previously trodden by 2020’s second album State Of Dystopia and poses the question, “are Son Of Man still continuing the legacy of Man, or is it fairer to view them as a band now creating their own history?”.

Gaslight presents a group leaving behind much of their progressive past and planting a flag firmly in the classic rock camp. The opening notes will trick you into thinking you are listening to a new Pink Floyd release but ‘Down’ quickly ramps up with the power of a later day Deep Purple track. Galloni’s vocals even take on the tone of Gillan at points during this strong opener. Jones, like his father before him has always been a total master of the riff and the AC/DC lick which dominates ‘Stuck’ is further proof of this fact. Don’t be misled by these comments which may lead you to think that Son Of Man have no signature sounds of their own as this is far from the truth. ‘The Road’, the title track (‘Gaslight’) and closer ‘Hold Me Down’ prove that they have all the required attribute needed to write and perform high quality hooky rock music. Despite ‘Far from Home’ having a very 80’s feel plus the obvious Gilmour inspired moments on ‘Tomorrow’, overall the rock on evidence here is very contemporary and with the clever use of repeated reference points and themes (American frontier land ‘There Will Come a Day’, native Americans ‘The Road’) this makes for a very listenable album, if a little US centric. Elsewhere power ballad ‘Can’t Stop Loving You’, the boogie piano blues of ‘Hiding’ and the moped inspired ‘103’ supply a contrast to the overall AOR bluster. Sure George’s playing does have a similar vibe to his father’s on tracks like ‘The Road’ which moves the sound closer to the original band, as does ‘Thanks For The Ride’ but surely on this evidence the answer to the question I posed at the start of this review is that it certainly is time for the “Son Of Man” to step out of the shadows of their ancestors. The evolution of Man continues.

To confuse the Man story even more, a version of Man featuring Martin Ace, Malcolm Morley, Josh Ace, James Beck, Shane Dixon are still out there and although nothing new has been released since 2019’s Anachronism Tango they are still occasionally performing live. Man were always an ever-moving musical object, from their psychedelic/progressive beginnings, moving on through pub rock and Americana so maybe it isn’t surprising that Son Of… have taken things in a more 21st century rock direction. Maybe it was a mistake to continue with the moniker once Micky was no longer involved but hopefully next time you see a review for Son Of Man, “Man” won’t even need to be mentioned.

• Reviewed By Peter Brockwell.
• Gaslight is released via Cherry Red Records/Esoteric  on 26th April 2024.
• Official Website | Facebook | Instagram

Track List:

1. Down
2. Stuck
3. Can’t Stop Loving You
4. Far from Home
5. Gaslight
6. 103
7. There Will Come a Day
8. Tomorrow
9. Hiding
10. The Road
11. Thanks for the Ride