The Dawn of Man (1997)

(2cd)  Recall SMD CD 124

THE SONGS

    from  CD 1 -- REVELATION (+ 3 bonus Cuts)
     
    1. 98.6    3:21
    2. When Jasamine Goes  3:17
    3. Cave of Clear Light  3:44
    4. And In the Beginning 4:51 (R. Leonard)
    5. Sudden Life 4:23 (R. Leonard/C. John)
    6. Empty Room 3:33 (C. John/R. Williams)
    7. Puella! Puella! (Woman! Woman!) 3:34 (M. Jones)
    8. Love 2:52 (R. Leonard)
    9. Erotica 4:09 (R. Leonard/C. John/M. Jones/J. Jones/R. Williams)
    10. Blind Man 4:17 (R. Leonard)
    11. And Castles Rise in Children's Eyes 3:21 (M. Jones)
    12. Don't Just Stand There (Come in Out of the Rain) 4:25 (M. Jones)
    13. The Missing Pieces 1:45 (R. Leonard/C. John/M. Ace/C. Reynolds)
    14. The Future Hides Its Face 5:30 (R. Leonard)

    CD 2 -- TWO OUNCES OF PLASTIC WITH A HOLE IN THE MIDDLE

    1. Prelude/The Storm   12:25   (Leonard/Jones)
    2. It is As it Must Be   8:30   (John/Williams)
    3. Spunk Box  5:53   (Jones/John)
    4. My Name Is Jesus Smith   3:09   (Leonard/Jones)
    5. Parchment and Candles   2:53   (Leonard)
    6. Brother Arnold's Red and White Striped Tent  5:07   (Leonard/Jones)
     
    THE BAND
    Roger Leonard--Guitar, Harp, Piano, Percussion, Vocals
    Clive John--Organ, Piano, Guitar, Vocals
    Mike Jones--Lead Guitar, Vocals
    Jeff Jones--Drums, Percussion
    Ray Williams--Bass (Not listed in credits or liner notes)

    Engineers -- Alan Florence, Brian Humphries, Howard Barrow
    Sound Effects -- Malcolm Eade
    Recorded at the Langland hotel (Swansea) and at Pye Studios (London)
    All songs published by Carlin Music

    Liner Notes by Deke Leonard:

    When I joined Man in November 1968 they were called the Bystanders, and were the most successful band in Wales.  They had left the Motherland, they had a recording contract and they had bucketfuls of work.  The Dream, the band I was in, were doing well but we had failed, with a few notable exceptions, to break out of the Welsh gig circuit.  And we didn't have a recording contract.  Without a recording contract, life is not worth living.  The offer was too good to turn down.

    There was little ice-breaking to be done.  We were old friends: we'd played the same Welsh gig-circuit for the last five years and shared many a curry.  No auditions had been necessary, they knew what they were getting.  They were Ray Williams, the bass player, Jeff Jones, the drummer, Clive John on keyboards, and Micky Jones, guitar player.  And they all sang like angels.

    I was Vic Oakley's replacement.  Six months earlier, by mutual consent, Vic, their singer, had left the band.  The Bystanders, like the Dream, had embraced psychedelia with glee but Vic, a singer in the classical sense -- like Ray Charles is a singer -- found that there wasn't much room for what he excelled in.

    Ray, acting spokesman, sadi that they were fed up doing covers.  From now on they were only going to do original material, they had played their last nightclub gig and they were never going to do another single.  They were going to make an album.  Pye, their record company, had agreed to it.

    John Schroeder, their producer, had signed the Bystanders to the label and produced a series of singles.  Some got close.  A cover version of an American hit called '98.6' got heavy airplay but was pipped when the Americans had the temerity to release the original recording.  Another, 'When Jasamine Goes', later became a hit for the Casuals, who stole the Bystanders' arrangement note for bloody note.

    We were going to play two nights at the Langland Bay Hotel in Swansea, to be recorded by the Pye Mobile and used as the foundations of the album.  We would then take the tapes to Pye Studios in London for overdubs and mixing.  it had been John Schroeders idea.  His rationale was inpeccable.  As it was our first album, he thought we would feel more comfortable playing the new songs in front of a hometown audience rather than in a cold, impersonal studio.

    The album had a loose concept -- the word still makes me shudder -- that modestly entailed covering all the aspects of existence, from primordial soup to the conquest of space.  Along the way, we would cover the nature of time; the structures of societies; the innocence of childhood; the rites, and wrongs, of passage; the pursuit of the dream and the corroding effects of reality; the death of idealism and the rebirth of hope; if it didn't fit, we crowbared it in.

    We had recorded a jam at the Langland Bay.  It was good and we wanted to use it, but we didn't know where it fitted in.  We decided to eroticise it.  Why don't we get a girl to make orgasmic noises over it? The result was 'Erotica', a big hit single in France though it wasn't released here.

    As we approached the end of recording, we decided we needed a little magnifoquence.  We called for the company boffin and doused the whole album in sound effects.  I particularly enjoy the Apollo Space Programme ending, where a voice says 'I can see the lights of Rockingham below.' I like to think that it's Alan Shepard but i've got a feeling it's probably poxy John Glenn.

    Somewhere along the way we decided, without a trace of irony, to call the album 'Revelation'.  The album cover -- my idea, I'm afraid -- was to have us standing naked in a desert landscape on the front, and dressed in a city streat on the back.  The photos went off to Pye but, by the time my idea had been filtered through the art department, the front cover, which was all dry-ice and no desert, looked like an album of rugby songs.  This little niggle apart, we were delighted with the album.  At least, I had made it onto the musical map.

    By New year's Day 1969, we were back in our South London flat writing te next album.  We were monomaniacal.  We'd play all day and drop acid at night.  We were listening to Zappa, Beefheart, Steve Miller, Hendrix and the occasional Quicksilver.

    The highlight of the next album, for me, came during the mixing of 'Spunk Rock'.  We were listening to a playback.  I had my head down on my forearms, leaning against the end of the console.  A rustling noise made me look up and there, standing at the other end, was Sid James.  My first thought was, 'Wow, this is good acid' -- but there was no denying it, it really was the great man, here to interview us for a radio show.

    We decided to call the album 'Two Ounces of Plastic (With A Hole In The Middle)' by default.  Nobody really liked it, but we couldn't think of anything better.  We sent the label copy to Pye and all hell broke loose.  The wouldn't accetp 'Spunk Rock'.  They didn't mind 'Rock' but 'Spunk' was an absolute no-no.  Neither would they accept 'Shit On The World' -- one of Clive's finest moments, a magnificent assault on the principle of authority.  He phoned them up and shouted at them, but to no avail.  They were adamant.  No 'Spunk Rock'. 'Call it what you like,' said Clive, exasperated, but offered no alternative.  'What about "Shit On The World"?' They asked.  'It is as it must be,' he said, and slammed the phone down.  When we finally saw the cover, we read the tracklisting with interest.  'Spunk Rock' was now called 'Spunk Box' -- the prats had changed the wrong bit -- and 'Shit On The World' was called 'It Is As It Must Be'.  Our days with Pye were numbered.  Half way through the mixing of 'Two Ounces of Plastic' I handed in my notice.  I'm sorry, I said, but circumstances demanded it.  Family troubles.  It was agreed that I would do an upcoming Marquee gig, then leave.  I really didn't want to go.  With my usual impeccable timing I had left just as the band's fortunes were on the up.
     

                      -- Deke Leonard
               
    Footnote:  Deke, of course, rejoined the Manband remained with them until 1976 and continued to play when they returned in 1983.  He's written 'Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics', an autobiography of his life in the band from which this sleeve note had been adapted by permission.  For details of how to order it, send SAE to Dept. 5, PO Box 49, Bordon, Hants, GU35 OAF.

    Commentary

    This compilation has all of the first two albums plus three bonus cuts from the period.  Thanks to Brian Hathaway for providing the scans and other information about this release.  The run times of several of the songs are very different from those listed on the original albums (printed run times--especially on budget releases are often unreliable so this may not mean anything). The three bonus cuts are early singles (Check Dinnes Cruickshank's liner notes for the CD release on the Revelation page).  Hope to get the liner notes and other information (either by breaking down and buying a copy, it's a budget release with a $15.99 U.S list price) or once Brian takes off the shrink wrap on Christmas.
     

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