Automatic ManAutomatic Man

I still have my vinyl copy and wanted the cd for the car.the remastering has not enhanced the music, but still great to listen to hence the 4stars

Great album from the mid 1970's, I still have the vinyl, just need a decent record player to play it on one of these days.Ironically my original vinyl was given to me by a friend who did not like it, what a discovery it was for meJust slightly disappointed that one of the tracks on the CD has a slight flaw where the ending repeats twice but overall a real blast of great 1970's prog rock.

All the tracks sound good (again), I no longer have to put up with the clicks and hiss on my original vinyl LP!However, it's a shame that in the process of transferring the audio to CD they hashed the end of one of the tracks which repeats itself for about 30 seconds.Apart from that a good buy.

Yes it arrived bang on time and packed to perfection albeit may of been a bit too much !!! but certainly well protected

The comments made about this band and Island not investing or promoting the Automatic Man band are totally erroneous.The band crashed and burned due to very bad management/manager.(they could have had Herbie Herbert at one point who made Journey such a huge success(featuring Gregg And Neal ex-Santana). The manager and one key ego- riven memberconspired to upset the balance with Michael Shrieve (ex-Santana drummer)leaving and then it was effectively game over.I must be one of the few people in the UK certainly that saw them live at The Marqueein 1976, and I loved their sound and I totally GOT what they were trying to do.I have got the only existing live CD tapes from Doni Harvey (RIP) who played bass on the first record and on the GO TOO tour in the USA.Doni told me the story of this potentially killer band just shortly before he passed.Island sunk a lot of money into the band and invested in them heavily.Extra touches to the album artwork, and the embossed sleeve plus including pull out sheets of lyrics etc.Island also moved the band to record in London where they did a showcasefor Island Records at Hammersmith in mid 1976.Chris Blackwell; particularly loving the song My Pearl.They did not gig enough as a unit, although they rehearsed their backsides off.Shrieve heavily bankrolled the early band , ploughing his own money, gear,rehearsals,home space into providing a platform for this nascent musical adventure.I think it still rankles that he got edged out of his own band.Glenn Symmonds the SF based drummer that came in on after Michael remembered on an interview I did thatthey moved to LA and recorded a further (more poppy AOR funky) effordswhich was not all bad- it has some moments.But the dark, brilliance of the first album with Shrieve'saggressive and madly propulsive percussion fire is gone.I was unable to get a interview Pat Thrall or Bayete (Todd Cochran)and I also spoke to Jerome Rimson in Ireland (the bass player who came in after Doni had to leave due to health reasons)and ex-Detroit alumni of Motown and the James Jamerson school of funky bass.One day; the amazing and sad and short-lived story of the mightyAutomatic Man ought to be told.(probably by me- if I get time).

For anyone who owns a vinyl copy of this album I guess I'll be preaching to the converted, but for anyone who might be intrigued or maybe heard about it in hushed tones, I'll continue.Released in '76 it was the brainchild of keyboard player and singer Bayete, who teamed up with Mike Shrieve, recently departed from Santana,to produce an album full of songs that proved to be a unique mixture ofinfluences, making it perhaps near impossible to categorise but at the same time providing a fusion of soul and funk and jazz-rock in the truest sense.Firstly the tunes are so infectious, Bayete's vocal and lyrics soaring like a bird over some absolutely dazzling playing from all concerned. Next, hats off to Doni Harvey on bass for knowing what to leave out as well as what to lay down ( if you catch my drift )and Mike Shrieve, who seems to be given the opportunity here to play in a slightly more aggresive style than he could with Santana, and as for Pat Thrall's guitar playing ... it'll have you pinned to the wall.Mention must also be made of the absolutely unique SOUND this album has -the drum sound is fantastically crisp and Thrall's guitar is suitably inyourface when the occasion arises. Basically it's one of those albums that sounds fantastic played LOUD !The musical climate took a bit of a sea change, for better or worse not long after this came out, so I guess that this, and it's refusal to be pigeonholed anywhere meant that it maybe got a little lost.You have hundreds of albums you love, but a couple of dozen from any time period you REALLY love - this is one of mine.I think I've made a suitable recommendation here - go try it !

I bought this album in the 70s when it first came out and I played it to death it still sounds great today it is a sort of rock funk . How this album did not have more success at the time is mind boggling. Absolute gem get it now.

Flamboyant San Francisco band Automatic Man were definitely a product of the mid 70s with their fusion of progressive rock and soul. In some ways this album could be seen as the missing link between Jimi Hendrix and Prince. But that's not to say that it isn't a great album in it's own right. Highlights are the jaunty single 'My Pearl', the cosmic romance of 'One and One' and the brooding Hendrixy 'There's a Way'.