Man
2 Ozs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle
This is an official re-release on vinyl under licensed courtesy of BMG Rights Management, UK, remastered from an original master copy out of the vaults of BMG. The album was originally released in 1969 on Pye records. Man are a rock band from Wales whose style is a mixture of American West Coast psychedelia, progressive rock, and blues. As most of you know Man have an enormous back catalogue with a big list of albums that proved that they are one of the greatest bands to emerge from Wales and the UK. Still active today after countless line-up changes they are still part of the psychedelic, progressive jam rock scene. Let's go back to September 1969 when '2 Ozs Of Plastic...' was released on Pye Records (home of The Kinks). The band's second album is a vast improvement from their debut album 'Revelation'. Still heavily influenced by their west coast psych peers, the performances have tightened and great experimental ideas were flowing. The LP starts with the magnificent 'Prelude/The Storm', which lasts for over 12 minutes. A really unusual piece to kick off an album with, but it works. It's so full of atmosphere from all musicians. Crashing cymbals, a wall of noise from the Hammond and unusual sounds from Deke Leonard on guitar, making convincing seagull noises. The whole track emulates a storm perfectly as the title would suggest. Things continue to build towards a seemingly limitless crescendo before easing off to an altogether more relaxing, almost ambient phase. As we move into 'It Is As It Must Be' (originally to be titled 'Shit On The World' till the record company took fright), we begin to uncover what would become the essence of the band. Here we have a heavy, bluesy guitar driven riff laden number with the first vocals of the album. Apart from that brief vocal excursion, the track is primarily an elongated jam featuring lead guitar and harmonica. Other highlights include 'Spunk Box' (known as 'Spunk Rock' to the band and fans). A killer riff opens the first track on side two followed by some dirty sounding vocals to follow. This has remained in their live set and has been jammed to a jaw dropping length of 30+ minutes! With Man you get a real sense of West Coast US meets Methyr Tydfil (Wales) with an undercurrent of hard rocking trying to break out through the dreamy sounds of the Pacific surf, sort of. 'Spunk Box' is the standout track on this album. It really started to define the Man sound and still deserves great appreciation as one of their best titles ever. It remains though one of Man's signature numbers. 'My Name Is Jesus Smith' is the most commercial track on the album, reverting to the Bystanders light psychedelic pop rock style with pleasant harmonies. Midway through, the song bizarrely transforms into a hoe-down style country piece. 'Parchment And Candles' was reputedly performed on a harpsichord belonging to producer/song writer Tony Hatch, who took exception to the band using it without his permission. The piece itself is a brief reflective instrumental, quite unlike what we have come to expect from Man. The album closes with 'Brother Arnold's Red And White Striped Tent'. Not a particularly memorable track by any means, but fine all the same. 'Two Ozs Of Plastic...' is the album which sees Man starting to find a clear direction, while still experimenting with a few disparate styles. A high enjoyable trip. The album comes with 4 sided cover-sized insert with different German cover, stories and photos. Don't miss this classic item!