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THE STORY OF THE BAND

Site Updated on 17th November 2002 by Terry Willson

Man 1970 - Deke, Martin, Clive, Terry and Micky

In late October 1970 the new line up went on the road and the first show with Micky, Deke, Clive, Martin and Terry took place at the Ernst-Merck-Halle in Hamburg. The promoter of this show recorded the band on stage and this recording subsequently became available as a bootleg called "To Live For To Die". The band have now officially released this bootleg through the Point label, and although the quality is not that good, it does give an interesting demonstration of how the band sounded and performed then. It contains some new material that would appear on their next studio album and also the piece that was fast becoming the band's anthem, Spunk Rock. A good insight into the development of the band is through this version of the track and the subsequent recordings of the same track. A slightly different version of this bootleg is also available, though rare, and called "The Honest One"

In the meantime Pye had lost interest in the band and they were now looking for a new recording contract. Enter at this stage an important name in the history of the band - Andrew Lauder. Andrew was the Artists and Repertoire (A&R) man at United Artists and was looking out for new and interesting talent for the label. He had signed such names as Hawkwind, Groundhogs and Man signed for him in 1970. In October 1970 the band recorded their third studio album, called simply Man

Released in March 1971, at the time it was universally derided by the the British Press, mostly as boring and self indulgent, but once again it was a success on the continent, especially Germany. The album consisted of 5 tracks, 2 of which are extended musical compositions. Of the other three tracks, one was to become a Man classic - Romain - relating the story of Martin's altercation with a Belgian policeman of the same name.

The band continued to gig mainly on the continent, and it was at a gig in Germany that they came to the attention of two British journalists, Roy Hollingworth and Barry Wentzel from Melody Maker. After this gig they started to champion the band wherever they could, with articles questioning the logic of why Man were big in Germany, but only worth £30 a night in the UK, appearing in the Melody Maker.

Success Starts To Come

Greasy Truckin' - Deke, Terry, Martin and Micky

This publicity started to pay dividends and in November 1971 they released their fourth album Do You Like It Here Now, Are You Settling In (Alright)?. This time reaction to the album at home was encouraging and the band spent more time on the road in the UK. The album did away with the extended composition and had 6 tracks including the now traditional set closer Many Are Called But Few Get Up. This enabled the band to do their extended jamming live while allowing audiences to recognise the themes they were playing and then developing around - but there was a problem brewing.

Clive was not reallypaying attention to the job in hand, he was spending more time socialising with audiences and with fellow Welsh musicians such as Phil Ryan and Will Youatt. The rest of the band were not happy with this attitude and so Clive decided to leave. Years of gigging had tightened the band's live playing and even though they were without a keyboard player, they decided to carry on as a four piece. Their live performances were being raved about by not only the two Melody Maker journalists but audiences as well.

This line up of the band never recorded a studio album but did feature on two live albums. The first Greasy Truckers Party, was a compilation of a gig held on 13th February 1972 featuring sets from several artists including Brinsley Schwarz, Hawkwind and Byzantium (who unfortunately did not make the album). It is, however Man's performance that is remembered. It showcased a storming twenty minute version of the 2ozs of Plastic song, Spunk Rock, a version that is now considered to be a classic by fans and the band themselves. Compared to the version on To Live For To Die you can see how the band's live work had developed - see Selected Highlights for further details.

The second live album came at the suggestion of their label's main supporter, Andrew Lauder. Live At The Padgett Rooms, Penarth was Man's first live album and had Many Are Called But Few Get Up as it's featured track. Released as a limited edition album it became an instant classic and these two albums together give a fairly good representation of the bands live set at the time. With Padgett Rooms making number one in the mid priced album chart, their first UK Chart entry, the future looked rosy. But once again disruption was at hand.