MAN

I know that Man was frequently of a divided personality, and I can generally lay blame on the band members who appear to have conflicting tastes, it's little wonder it's a miracle if they keep the same lineup for more than one album, kinda like Hawkwind (who also happened to share the same label, and even billing with them at one time). At least Hawkwind has been pretty consistent in what they done, you know what to expect. With Man, it's obvious that they're divided by blues, country, and '50s favored rock and rollers, and extended proggy and psychedelic piece, on the same album, no less, so it does make for a jarring experience, and nothing shows that more than their third album, a self-entitled album from 1971 on Liberty. This album was the first to bring in drummer Terry Williams, who, in the 1980s, found his fame and fortune in Dire Straits (he joined in 1982 just right after Love Over Gold came out). The album starts with "Romain", which apparently death with police treatment in Belgium, it's a blues-oriented rocker. This doesn't sound too encouraging. Worst is the next song, "Country Girl". Here they go all country on us, complete with pedal steel guitar, from Deke Leonard. What were they trying to do here? Get on the Grand Ole Opry? But then they take a drastic turn in direction, to my relief, for the next song, "Would the Christians Wait Five Minutes? The Lions are Having a Draw", much more in the psychedelic vein. How was this done by the same band? "Daughter of the Fireplace" is by far the best rocker on this album, I especially like that use of "liberty bell" in the middle. "Alchemist" clocks in at 20 minutes, and it's a really strange piece, it's as if Man was going all Krautrock on us. There's some nice use of glissando guitar (I'm sure was Deke Leonard using his pedal steel guitar in a similar manner that Daevid Allen did with his standard guitar). Pretty strange and ominous, might not be to everyone's liking. It's really obvious just how uneven this album is, it wouldn't be the first choice for the uninitiated (try Be Good To Yourself At Least Once a Day first), so it's one of those approach with caution albums.