Man - 2 Ozs. Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle (1969) LP

Founded in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK in 1968 - Disbanded in 1976 - Reformed in 1983

MAN formed in the Swansea area of Wales from the ashes of the mid 60s harmony pop outfit, The Bystanders, and another local band The Dream. The two fused together, and became a more progressive outfit, signing to Pye Records. Their debut album, 'Revelation', being a fully fledged concept album. However, this gained little momentum and they shifted to Pye's 'progressive' imprint Dawn for the more experimental '2 Ozs of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle'. This made about the same amount of impact, and they changed labels entirely for their third eponymous album that was released on Liberty. Rather typically by now, this also didn't exactly set the world alight.

It was only when they signed to United Artists, which had re-established itself as a prominent prog label at this time. A run of very popular albums started from 'Do You Like It Here Now? Are You Setlling In' in 1971 through to the live album 'Maximum Darkness' in 1975. However, again their fortunes started to dwindle and after a few less successful albums for MCA they split. However, a short term reunion in 1983, and another in the early 90s which has continued to this day, has kept the band alive, despite the fact that pretty much every album has never featured the same line up twice!! Nowadays the band is led by the bass player Martin Ace, who has been an on/off member since around 1970.

Their best work is represented by '2 0zs Of Plastic With A Hole In The Middle', 'Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day' and 'Rhinos Winos and Lunatics'. The first two represent space rock at its best, and the latter one shows a more structured approach yet some of their finest songwriting is on that album. However, space rock fiends cannot go wrong with their original 1969-1977 run of albums.