Man : The Welsh Connection 1976

 

Man are a rock band from South Wales whose style is a mixture of West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, blues and pub rock. Formed in 1968 as a reincarnation of Welsh rock harmony group ‘’The Bystanders’’, Man are renowned for the extended jams in their live performances.

The Welsh Connection (stylized on the cover as Welsh-Connection) is the eleventh album by the Welsh

psychedelic/progressive rock band Man and was released on the MCA Records label 1976. It was their first MCA release, and the first after a change of line-up that saw John McKenzie take over on bass from Martin Ace, and Phil Ryan rejoin. Ryan had worked with Pete Brown in the interim, and arranged for Brown to play on two tracks.

Man evolved out of The Bystanders, a successful close harmony pop group from Merthyr Tydfil who played numerous club residencies in Wales, often playing several clubs a night. The Bystanders issued eight singles, including "98.6" (#45 in UK Singles Chart, in February 1967) which featured in the 2009 film, The Boat That Rocked (although Keith's version was the bigger hit, reaching No. 24 in the UK) and "When Jesamine Goes", written by their manager Ronnie Scott and Marty Wilde under the pseudonyms of Frere Manston and Jack Gellar, which was later covered by The Casuals as "Jesamine" and got to No. 2 in the UK Chart. They also recorded sessions of cover versions for the BBC as rules restricting needle time required "live" performances between the records during the 1960s; becoming regulars on the ’’Jimmy Young Show’’, "The David Symonds Show" and others.

When formed in 1962 The Bystanders included Owen Money, then known as Gerry Braden, but he was replaced by Vic Oakley, giving the classic line up of Micky Jones (guitar), Ray Williams (bass), Jeff Jones

The band changed label to MCA Records, Ryan rejoined on keyboards, but as no bass players they knew were available, the band had to audition for the first time in their history. Auditions went badly, until the final audition, of John McKenzie of Global Village Trucking Company, who was immediately offered the job.

They then recorded The Welsh Connection which reached No 40 in the UK Album Chart and was toured in March/April 1976 in Britain and June/July in the US. During the US tour differences arose again, and on the subsequent European tour Ryan and McKenzie announced they would be leaving, and the rest of the band agreed to call it a day.

The MCA record deal, however, was for 3 albums, but nobody was willing to contribute new material, and their attempts at covers were poor, so MCA eventually agreed to a live farewell album. All's Well That Ends Well was recorded at the Roundhouse on 11–13 December, although the final gig was in Slough on 16 December 1976. The band agreed that they "would never, ever, be one of those bands who reformed in a futile attempt to recapture past glories ...".

 

When formed in 1962 The Bystanders included Owen Money, then known as Gerry Braden, but he was replaced by Vic Oakley, giving the classic line up of Micky Jones (guitar), Ray Williams (bass), Jeff Jones (drums), Clive John (aka Clint Space) (keyboards) and Vic Oakley (vocals). By 1968 the other members wanted to change musical direction to a more psychedelic/American west-coast guitar sound, so Oakley left, to be replaced by Deke Leonard; and the band changed its name to Man .

The band changed label to MCA Records, Ryan rejoined on keyboards, but as no bass players they knew were available, the band had to audition for the first time in their history. Auditions went badly, until the final audition, of John McKenzie of Global Village Trucking Company, who was immediately offered the job.

They then recorded The Welsh Connection which reached No 40 in the UK Album Chart and was toured in March/April 1976 in Britain and June/July in the US. During the US tour differences arose again, and on the subsequent European tour Ryan and McKenzie announced they would be leaving, and the rest of the band agreed to call it a day.

The MCA record deal, however, was for 3 albums, but nobody was willing to contribute new material, and their attempts at covers were poor, so MCA eventually agreed to a live farewell album. All's Well That Ends Well was recorded at the Roundhouse on 11–13 December, although the final gig was in Slough on 16 December 1976. The band agreed that they "would never, ever, be one of those bands who reformed in a futile attempt to recapture past glories ...".
TRACKS

Side one

1. "The Ride and the View"       Deke Leonard     5:01
2. "Out of Your Head"       Leonard     4:04
3. "Love Can Find a Way"       John McKenzie     5:13
4. "The Welsh Connection"       Phil Ryan, Micky Jones     7:18

Side two  

1. "Something is Happening"       Ryan     6:21
2. "Car Toon"       Leonard, Ryan     6:01
3. "Born With a Future"       Jones, Leonard, Ryan     7:07

    Design [Cover] – Joe Petagno
    Engineer – Doug Bennett
    Mixed By – Andrew Lauder
    Producer – Manband*
    Technician [Tape Operation And Fairweather Taxidermist] – Nigel Brooke-Harte
    Vocals, Bass – John McKenzie
    Vocals, Drums – Terry Williams
    Vocals, Guitar – Deke Leonard, Micky Jones
    Vocals, Keyboards – Phil Ryan





Vinyl rip
Label : MCA Records
Country : England
Year : 1976

MP3 . Size : 92.4 MB
Flac    Size : 241 MB