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THE STORY OF THE BAND

Site Updated on 17th November 2002 by Terry Willson

Deke Gets His P45

By the time the Live At The Padget Rooms album was released in September 1972 the band line up had already changed. Martin had announced shortly after the recording that he would be leaving to start a new project with his wife George, initially to be called "Vidoeville" but it would eventually become "The Flying Aces".

Micky and Terry had kept in touch with Clive, who had become involved with Phil Ryan and Will Youatt and who were attempting to form a band called Iorwerth Pritchard and The Neutrons. Micky, who was looking for a change of direction for Man, found Martin's departure an ideal opportunity to install an almost completely new line up. Micky Jones - Guitar/Vocals, Clive John - Guitar/Vocals, Phil Ryan - Keyboards/Vocals, Will Youatt - Bass/Vocals and Terry Williams - Drums - No Deke Leonard. According to the Padget Rooms cover, Deke had left the band to write and pursue a more straight ahead form of Rock'n'Roll but this could not have been further from the truth. Not fitting in with Micky's new plans, Deke had effectively been sacked and Terry had to be the one to tell him. "I should have seen it coming" said Deke , after Terry had accidentally dropped the news in the van on the way home after a gig. He was now stuck without the one thing that had given him security for the past four years. Fortunately for Deke, Andrew Lauder came to the rescue, but that's another story.

Be Good To Yourself And Each Other

Man 1973 - Micky, Terry, Tweke, Will and Phil

Once the line up had settled, the band headed back to Germany to try out the new line up and importantly, the new lighter sound. One UK concert, from August 1972, which had previously been available on Bootleg, called Live at the Rainbow 1972 has now been released officially and features an early performance by the band. Getting a positive reaction to the new material, they entered the studio in August 1972 to record the fifth Man studio album. Released in November 1972 and called Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day it contained 4 Tracks which have all been described as classics, with the opening track, C'Mon, still a feature of the live set. Also featuring the song that has become the bands anthem, Bananas, the album is generally regarded amongst fans as still their best and it continues to top fan's surveys. Once again the relentless touring continued and despite these line up changes the band's reputation as live performers continued to grow.

At Xmas 1972 the band appeared at an all star party at the Patti Pavilion, Swansea along with "The Flying Aces", Help Yourself, Deke Leonard and various other bands and musicians from South Wales. This "bash" was recorded and released as a 10" double album called Xmas at the Patti. Man's contribution was a version of the Be Good To Yourself track Life On The Road. After this, and once again, Clive decided to leave - for the last time.

The band again carried on for three months as a four piece, but Will,"who was very lonely on his side of the stage", pushed for a second guitarist to be added and Alan"Tweke(y)"Lewis joined during the recording of their next album. A long standing Man fan, Tweke had been in the Rock Band "Wild Turkey" along with former Man drummer Jeff Jones, so his chance to join the band was heaven sent as far as he was concerned.

Back Into The Future Gave Chart Success

Released in September 1973, the album Back Into The Future was the first Man album I bought. It was also the first Man Album to chart in the mainstream album chart (Padgett Rooms made a brief excursion to the top of the Mid Price Album Chart) when it entered the chart on the 20th October 1973, stayed for three weeks and reached No 23. A double album consisting of separate studio and live records, Tweke cut some guitar overdubs on the track Ain't Their Fight, and then it was straight back on the road. The second live side was recorded on 24th June 1973 at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse it features a live version of C'Mon that has been unsurpassed - see Selected Highlights for more details of this recording.

Once again more touring followed and once again the internal combustion engine was about to explode. Micky had already privately confessed to Deke Leonard that "he was fed up being the guitarist in the Phil Ryan Band" and just before Christmas 1973 a meeting was held to sort out the growing tensions in the band. Will Youatt recalls that he was hopping for a break to recharge batteries and start again but Phil had different ideas. At the meeting, and without ceremony, Phil announced to everybody that he and Will were leaving to form The Neutrons and that was it.

Will was shocked having not even discussed the issue with Phil, but the die was cast. Micky, Terry and Tweke were left with the name, a recording contract and no band. It was time to try again - Micky and Terry discarded Tweke and now needed to put it all back together.