Your Cart is empty
Subtotal£0.00
Your order details
One of my early loves when I was starting out on my lifelong adventures into sound was the band Man. I was alone in this by and large. Then again, my mind has always enjoyed settling in for a long jam, so Man were the perfect band.
I was first enamoured with the live Maximum Darkness and used to play 71-71-551 over the school speakers at lunchtime. The thing is, I taped Russell’s copy and because it was a long record, I left Babe I’m Gonna Leave You off, so even now it surprises me.
I loved that opening, fading in and the main melody giving way to settling into the song then off on a jam journey backed by a wah wah playing the chord. Kids didn’t like it but me and Russell, we loved it. God rest his soul and would play it time and again. Even now I know every note. How does that happen? When you’re 15 everything goes in and doesn’t come out. For a time, the album was all I wanted from music. How they played when stoned out their gourds I don’t know but I was to realise it was perfect for getting stoned to. It was a good friend in that respect.
What I didn’t know was that their version of ‘Codine’ was originally a Buffy St, Marie song but they followed the Quicksilver Messenger Service version, only available on the Revolution soundtrack. Of course it also features one of the best celebrations of maijuana, Bananas with it’s jaunty riff and lovely keyboard section, which might have been played by Phil Ryan.
I got Bananas on a live 7” across two sides, shortly after that and saw them on Whistle Test playing Day And Night from Slow Motion, with Deke playing the black and white swirling telecaster. I liked that album, especially Rainbow Eyes but Man were my jam band so next I bought the double Back to the Future with 2 sides live, which were wonderful. Jam It Up Jelly Tight was my idea of heaven being 21-minutes long.
Then when Welsh Connection came out, I bought it new, that’s how much I loved them and fell in love with their songs. God knows how much I played that. Born With A Future really resonated with me.
By then in 1976 and 1977, I started earning a bit more pocket money doing a pools round. Of course it all went on records and I thought I owed it to myself to get al their stuff. Rhino, Wino and Lunatics was easy to get, Be Good To Yourself with its lavish fold out map was a favourite with its live side.
Their earlier music was harder to get. The re-release of what was called Man 1970 ( or just Man on release was everywhere. Christmas at the Patti and Live at Padgett Rooms, Penarth were more great live recordings, the debut Revelation was hard to find, 2 Ozs of Plastic with a Hole in the Middle and Do You Like It Here? likewise. There were some great long jams on all of them like ‘Would the Christians Wait Five Minutes? The Lions Are Having a Draw’
By the time all that was done, they retired for a few years and I got All's Well That Ends Well and that was the 70s over with and Man’s time in the sun too. Although they made other records, the 70s was their home and it never felt quite right again. I got Deke’s two solo albums, Kamikaze and Iceberg, which are quite Man-like. Exploring their family tree led me to Clive John’s You’re Never Alone With A Buzzard, again very mannish and The Neutrons, with Phil Ryan, Black Hole Star, which is more Man with loud guitars. And Help Yourself records which are now quite valuable and more psychedelic.
You get lots of places to go once you start collecting Man and all of them are enjoyable. They’ve long been a cornerstone of my listening world.
