THE SONGS
- Spunk Rock 7:34
- C'mon 7:15
- Talk About a Morning 7:58
- The Ride And The View 4:52
- Asylum 5:43
- Romain 6:02
- Bananas 7:43
- THE BAND
- Deke Leonard--Vocals & Guitar
- Micky Jones--Vocals & Guitar
- Martin Ace--Vocals & Bass
- John Weathers--Vocals & Drums
- Micky Jones--Vocals & Guitar
Recorded 26th August 1983. Produced by Tony Wilson. © BBC 1983
p. 1993 BBC Enterprises Ltd.
© 1993 Raw Fruit Records
Micky's Note To Clive
You will be pleased to know that we have decided to go ahead with the release of the Man Fri Rock Show recordings.We didn't bother showing the contract to a lawyer but we know some very handy boys.
If by chance there are any monies due in the future could you send it to the above address
Cheers
Micky Jones
Michael Heatley's Liner Notes (with a brief word from Deke)
MAN -
READING 1983
For a band that started life in the Sixties and will forever be associated with the early-Seventies progressive rock movement, 1983 was an eventful year for Man. After a seven-year sabbatical, Swansea's greatest gift to the rock 'n' roll firmament had played a brace of secret gigs at London's Hope and Anchor pub in April, been filmed in May for the Marquee Club's anniversary celebrations before working up to 26th August, their first appearance at the Reading Festival since 1972.Man were never known as a studio band, even though as these notes are being written they're adding the finishing touches to their first all-new album since 1976 - sixteen years ago! This release you've invested in takes us back to the year these four fiery Welshmen re-kindled the flame and resumed a career that at last count encompassed 13 different line-ups.
The Reading line-up saw veterans Deke Leonard (guitar), Micky Jones (guitar) and Martin Ace (bass) augmented by a newcomer to the ranks in ex-Gentle Giant drummer John 'Pugwash' Wethers. The music was a deal less complex and arty than that of his former employers, but as a stalwart of Carmarthen's Eyes of Blue circa 1968 he was already well-versed in the Welsh shuffle. The opening track of this set 'Spunk Rock', dates from the late-Sixties progressive period too, being one of the standouts of 1969's wonderfully-named '2 Ozs. Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle'.
'C'mon' is probably one of Man's most recorded songs, written by Micky Jones and one-time bassist Will Youatt. This blisteringly fast version more than ever shows the propulsive effect of Wethers, supplanting predecessor Terry Williams who had, by 1983, graduated to laying down a rather less frenetic beat for Dire Straits.
'Talk About A Morning' came from the pen of cult American singer-songwriter Buzzy Linhart, whose stay in Swansea to record an album with the Eyes of Blue backing him in 1969 was recounted to the festival faithful by bassist Martin Ace, Man's usual between-song master of ceremonies. Like 'Asylum', it was brought to the Manband repertoire by Micky Jones, whose three-piece Police-influenced Manipulator were one of the solo outfits to bridge the gap 'twixt Man line-ups past and present.
Jones, Leonard (Iceberg) and Ace (the Flying Aces) were all capable frontment in their own right, something that gave 1983's Man a formidable vocal-instrumental capability. All three sing lead on 'Romain', the tale of when Ace was locked up in Belgium after trying to save a fan from the unwelcome attentions of a plain clothes gendarme of that name.
'The Ride And The View' was then (as now) Leonard's slide guitar showpiece, involving a change of axe and much on-stage banter: by their own admission, slickness has never been the Manband's strongest suit... By current standards, Reading saw a remarkably short instrumental introduction: nine years on, the rest of the band could be seen exiting en masse for a sly smoke as Llanelli's finest cranked out a five-minute flurry of notes with almost frightening fervour.
'Bananas' ends the set almost inevitably: despite being a song Micky Jones has more than once disowned, audiences throughout Man's history have bayed for it constantly. And as Deke Leonard puts it "If people pay money to see us and they want "Bananas" they can have "Bananas"...it's not something I mind at all." Nor do the audience, from the sound of it...
Man quit the stage at Reading with a return to recording in prospect, courtesy of a long-time German fan who bankrolled the making of a new album. it never came out due to contractual disputes: hence this is the first time 'Asylum' has been available in legal, audio form. Only the first four numbers here have ever been broadcast by Radio 1 on their Friday Rock Show, so this release will supplant many a muffled audience tape for Man fans throughout the nation.
Once upon a time, a Man set of 55 minutes would comprise two, maybe three numbers. 'Reading 1983' gives you seven, a fact in itself indicative of their attempt to change with the times. It's their seventh authorized live effort, too.
No Man album - official or bootleg - has ever been anything less than interesting. Of the latter, 1970's 'Live For To Die' (later retitled 'The Honest One' on CD reissue) caught the classic Man line-up of Jones/Leonard/Ace/John/Williams on their first gig together and well before they hit the recording studio. it has since been acclaimed as something of a classic. Perhaps history will repeat itself...
-- Michael Heatley, 1992
As this recording shows, we played the Reading Festival in 1983. I have to confess I can't remember a damn thing about it. But, then, these days I have trouble remembering where I live.
-- Deke Leonard
