The hippie generation may have lost many of its ideals, Stephen Stills - an important figurehead of the 1960s as the singer of Buffalo Springfield and CSN & Y - is still asking the same question in 2005. 'Why not feed the people and let the peace begin?' He sings in Feed The People. At the gigs that Stills gave in the Netherlands together with David Crosby and Graham Nash, in the month prior to
… the release of this record, his voice was particularly bad. It did dread the worst for this album but Man Alive! is an inspired piece, starring Stephen's biting lead guitar. Except for the Otis Redding cover Ole Man Trouble, Stills signed for all the compositions himself, with sporadic assistance from Neil Young (Drivin 'Thunder) and Graham Nash (Wounded World). Halfway through he slows down a bit in some acoustic songs, but as a whole Man Alive! a nice solid rock album that lives up to its title. The most special song is the Mediterranean closing track Spanish Suite, an ambitious piece of more than eleven minutes in which even jazz great Herbie Hancock makes a brief appearance. (MS)more