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Man – Winos, Rhinos and Lunatics
Taking the Easy Way Out Again
The Thunder And Lightning Kid
Four Day Louise
Intro
Kerosene
Scotch Corner
Exit
Described by Rolling Stone as “a Welsh band with its heart in San Francisco – specifically, in the elongated and textured music of Quicksilver and the early Dead”, Man released their debut album, Revelation, in 1969.
One track, Erotica, which featured a simulated orgasm, ensured brief notoriety, and Man attempted to capitalise by naming their follow-up Spunk Rock, but label United Artists flatly refused, so it was given the title Two Ounces Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle.
As various band members came and went, Man released two albums in 1971, followed by Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day (the one with the fold-out map of Wales) in 1972 and Back Into The Future the following year, before one of the leavers (frontman Roger ‘Deke’ Leonard) returned for Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics in 1974, produced by Queen man Roy Thomas Baker.
“Roy was a canny bastard,” Leonard told Classic Rock. “We were all against using him, but the label held firm. And it was odd; we rubbished just about all of his suggestions, but ended up agreeing to them because they were right.”
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in February 1974
- What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits – The Doobie Brothers
- Here Come the Warm Jets – Brian Eno
- The Silent Corner and the Empty Stage – Peter Hammill
- Valentine – Roy Harper
- Burn – Deep Purple
- Old New Borrowed and Blue – Slade
- Kiss – Kiss
- Phaedra – Tangerine Dream
- Pretzel Logic – Steely Dan
- Badfinger – Badfinger
- A New Life – Marshall Tucker Band
- Radio City – Big Star
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal – Lou Reed
- Saints & Sinners – Johnny Winter
- Slaughter on 10th Avenue – Mick Ronson
- Thunderbox – Humble Pie
- Todd – Todd Rundgren
- Twin Peaks – Mountain
- Unborn Child – Seals and Crofts
What they said…
“The second half may be the band’s artistic high point – bookended by the pomp-wah instrumentals, Intro and Exit, it contains the unusually sultry Kerosene and the epic Scotch Corner, which builds up from rattling snare and picked guitar verses to beautiful choruses of harmonised vocals.” (AllMusic)
“Compounding once and future Iceberg Deke Leonard with two Help Yourselfers and the minimum quota of Williamses and Joneses, this is the best record to come out of San Francisco in quite a while, pretty impressive for a band that never saw the Golden Gate till after the thing was released.” (Robert Chyristgau)
“[The band] seems more interested in making good records than in jamming into the dawn. Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics has more tracks – six – than most Man albums, and each has been carefully structured. The California-style hazy openness is still evident, but it’s been built into songs rather than appearing as the end product of improvisation.” (Rolling Stone)
What you said…
John Davidson: A Welsh Allman Brothers? Who knew? If anyone had told me this was from an American band, I’d have had no reason to doubt them.
Rhino is a languid, slightly bluesy, guitar rock album enhanced with piano and keyboard. I gather from reading online that they reined in the rambling jam band trappings to deliver shorter songs on this album, but it still has that vibe, particularly on side two, which features the six-minute Kerosene and an even longer jam in the nine-minute Scotch Corner.
I like the guitars, but I’m not loving the vocals or the song style. It’s good but not something I would generally choose to put on.
Robby Jackson: It felt like Yes trying to jam like the Allman Brothers. I liked it. Nice pick for the week.
Chris Elliott: Think I hear a long Welsh winter and a lot of smoking more than the Allman Brothers. The album cover and title rather support my theory.
Mike Canoe: As of right now, Rhinos, Winos & Lunatics is more likely to be one of those albums I’m glad I’ve heard than one I’m going to keep coming back to.
Half of the songs, like opener Taking the Easy Way Out Again, Kerosene or Four Day Louise, sound as dated as the album cover looks, while Scotch Control, California Silks and Satins, and The Thunder and Lightning Kid have a more timeless quality. It’s interesting to hear Roy Thomas Baker’s production on something as rootsy and bluesy as this album when I’m most familiar with his work with The Cars and previous club picks like Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack and the “new waving” of Alice Cooper on Flush the Fashion.
My quick research suggests that Man is only the third Welsh band the club has reviewed and the first that doesn’t start with the letter B, like previous picks Budgie and Badfinger. Welcome aboard, Man.
Graham Tarry: I love all the Man albums, especially the one sided ‘suite’ on this one.
Kari Hautakoski: Excellent band, a great album. By the way Welsh Connection from 1976 is even better.
Philip Qvist: Man, another group that I had heard of without hearing any of their songs, and a band that had future Dire Straits drummer Terry Williams in their ranks for a few albums. Judging by the constant changes it also looks like Man never heard of the phrase “a stable lineup”, or if they did they never took it seriously.
So onto Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics, and it looks like this Welsh outfit was definitely influenced by the likes of the Allman Brothers Band, with the record featuring one nine minute epic (Scotch Corner), and two six minute plus songs (Kerosene and Four Day Louise). It’s little wonder that most songs were credited to the whole band.
That said it is the relatively brief four plus minute opener, Taking The Easy Way Out Again, that caught my ear. With three guitarists, with one doubling up as a keyboard player, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by the nature of the songs on offer here. It’s not bad but it definitely isn’t an At Fillmore East either. A 6 or a 7 from me.
Brian Carr: Weedly jam band music has a very faithful following, but I personally am not a fan. A cursory perusal revealed nothing that drew me in.
Keith Jenkin: My introduction to Man was around the time of release; a record I now know was less in the jam band/exploratory vein of their earlier releases and is quite song-focused by comparison. Only Side Two’s Scotch Corner stretches towards the ten-minute mark.
I also found an uncanny resemblance here with some of the early music by Wishbone Ash. Roy Thomas Baker produced the album, and I expect his skills help give the record its more direct feel.
Side one is near perfect in my opinion, and the wonderful California, Silks and Satin would be a tune you would swear was by Crosby, Stills and Nash or perhaps America if listening to it blind. One of the albums from the seventies that has gone the distance for me, it’s also – against some decent competition – my most played title from the Man catalogue.
Greg Schwepe: This week’s selection of Rhinos, Winos, & Lunatics by Man evidently gets us back to the Off The Beaten Path Series with, once again… a band I’d never heard of. But then again, I’m pretty sure Man was not high on the Programme Director playlists on FM rock stations here in the US… at all.
This review is based on just the tracks that would’ve appeared on the original release, not the Expanded Edition that appears on streaming platforms. And for once, my review is going to be fairly brief.
Listening to Rhinos, Winos, & Lunatics, I found nothing jarring, dissonant, or annoying to drive me away. That said, I found nothing intriguing, interesting, or inviting to make me listen to this album (or the band, for that matter) ever again. Kerosene was probably my favourite track, and I’m on the fence about that.
6 out of 10 on this one for me. Nothing that made me hit the Save To Library button, but nothing to cause me to hit the I’ve Had Enough button either.
Final score: 6.50 (30 votes cast, total score 195)
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