Man Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day (1972)

From therockasteria.blogspot.com

This is generally considered by Man fans to be one of the band’s best works. Produced during one of Deke Leonard’s periods of absence, it saw Phil Ryan and Will Youatt welcomed into the fold. There had been a huge amount of touring going on around this time, much of it on the continent, and this is the period they really established a solid reputation as a live band, and evidence to back this up was clear in the form of the many live albums (and bootlegs!) that came out of this era.

There are just four tracks, which probably reflects the serious jamming that was going on while performing live, allowing space for individual soloing. Also, it made it easier to fit in the quieter passages, such as in C’mon, where there is some especially effective organ and electric piano form Phil. Keep on Crinting further explores this laid back groove, which at times takes on an almost pastoral feel. Mellow picked guitar, steady, simple drumming, and cool synth sets this mood, before giving way to more aggressive wah wah.

Bananas became an immediate favourite and remains one to this day. The studio version is pretty much an organ driven piece and though the guitars make their presence felt later on, the organ does give this original version a sound not really reflected in the way the song developed in later years when performed live.

Life On The Road I see as the weakest song on the album. If you like shuffles, fine, but to me it’s pretty nondescript. It was part of the live set for a while, but I can’t work out how this studio version could have been thought to have advanced Man’s cause as being a major act.

The playing throughout is excellent. As already hinted, it’s very keyboard driven, and not having Leonard on board meant there was not as much of a contrast in guitar styles as in other band versions. Terry Williams… simply does not know how to play badly. The easy, relaxed style of this album never seems to stretch him though, which is a bit of a shame.

Time to own up : this actually isn’t one of my favourite Man albums. It sounds like the band had got carried away with their live successes, and came out of the studio with an album which might just as well have been recorded on stage. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the cover photo is a live shot (unusual in itself for a studio album). There’s not much wrong with the songs, but nothing really stands out as having been crafted, and no effort seems to have been made to take advantage of the sophistication of the recording facilities. Of course, when they came to Rhinos, I think someone had noticed this tendancy, and they perhaps over compensated. Whatever. Anyway, for me this is a bit of an underachievement – the material is there, but more effort could have been put into the presentation.

Man – Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day (1972)

From progarchives.com

Review by Nightfly

Be Good To Yourself At Least Once A Day is a bit of classic in the Man catalogue, not least because it contains the classics C’mon and Bananas which have been live favourites since this release in 1972. The album only contains four tracks so there’s ample opportunity for the band to stretch out on the Psychedelic west coast influenced jams much like they do live.

This original version of C’mon sets a fine standard for the rest of the album to live up too. Less frantic than it usually is live it starts with a wonderful Micky Jones guitar riff familiar to all Man fans before settling into an easy groove courtesy of inventive drummer Terry Williams. Things are taken down a notch for the instrumental Organ dominated mid section before some of the bands trademark harmonies bring us back in to where we started. As testimony to the greatness of this track is it must have made more appearances on Man live albums than any other song by the band some of which are even better versions than this one here.

Keep On Crinting keeps the standard high with some lovely guitar picking and a great Williams shuffle on the drums. It’s an instrumental with Phil Ryan’s Keyboards (not always an instrument present in the band line up) given equal rein to the guitars of Jones and Clive John. (Yes, no Deke Leonard here who must have kicked himself for missing out on this one).

Bananas opens side 2 of the original vinyl version and as already mentioned was to become another Man classic with it’s jagged rhythmic structure, though a more steady groove prevails, at least in part for the excellent instrumental interplay of the mid section which builds up to a frantic pace before things calm down again to fade out with some spacey guitar work.

Life On The Road closes and is a bluesy shuffle propelled by Williams and bassist Phil Youatt. Once again between the vocal sections there’s space for instrumental workouts and although it’s probably the weakest of the four tracks it’s still an enjoyable listen not least for the guitar interplay between Jones and John.

This comes close to being the very best of Man studio albums but is just beaten by the brilliant Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics but due to the inclusion of the essential C’mon and Bananas makes it the perfect place to start your Man collection from. 4 ½ stars.

Review by Rivertree

The Man band had reached the peak in 1972/1973 and this album belongs to the best of what they ever worked out. ‘Be good to yourself at least once a day’ – an ambiguous title by the way – was one of my mostly played LP’s in the 70s. Nearly every day when I was acting as a barkeeper and DJ in personal union at our youth center FLA-FLA I took the chance to put on this album during the evening/night and never noticed anybody misliking it. But sadly once a burglery stopped that and my vinyl exemplar provided with this special Wales map disappeared for ever end ever – how sad, at least for that moment.

What I’m writing about is the new release by Esoteric Recordings from 2007 which contains two bonus tracks. It probably might be only a matter for completionists to explore an earlier version of ‘Bananas’. But it was new for me that this song is a product of the former Jones/Leonard/Ace/Williams line-up as a matter of fact. It’s interesting anyhow to search for the stylistical differences. And the short Rockfield Jam is from the same recording session – something really new for me, laid back – and yes – sounding like a leftover from the recent ‘Do You Like It Here Now …’ production.

Much more interesting though is that the original album contains two of their most famous songs and they played them nearly on every live show until today – no matter what line-up was present ever. If you’re searching through the MAN discography I’m sure you will get the most hits for them because of the huge amount of live recordings and compilations which were offered.

The album starts off with one of this very special pieces simply named C’mon. First there is Micky Jones’ wellknown riff initiating a straighforward rocking part soon showing a band’s trademark – the dual guitar work, matching flawlessly. The rhythm instruments are played very simple here just for backing the interaction of guitars and keyboards. The keys – they have never been a main component of the sound and even developed to a minor point after starting the first reunion in 1983. But this time, with the presence of Phil Ryan, the organ appears somewhat emancipated. Clive John, formerly responsible for the keys predominantly, substitutes Deke Leonard for to have a second guitar present. However – the important dual guitar appearance is less contrasty as with Leonard. The whole group fits together though regarding ‘Be Good To Yourself …’ as the debut for this line-up.

After a while the song changes into a breathtaking spacey section. Very melancholic – organ and guitars are circling and floating around – fantastic! This is only surpassed by the live version from the ‘Back into the Future’ album including the Gwalia Male Choir. The song later turns back into the former propulsive drive again with haunting guitars and then it all suddenly stops. The following relaxed grooving Keep On Crinting with a high psychedelia quotient is proving that they were heavy on the road at that time bouncing from one gig to the other playing the songs coupled with extended jamming. Excellent synth, organ and twin guitar interaction. Will Youatt and drummer Terry Williams are showing their real skills.

Bananas is heading the vinyl’s B-side and the second featured MAN classic. A happy flavoured mood is leading this song provided with challenging lyrics – expressing they liked bananas and marihuana :-). This one is also provided with a more relaxed floating part where Phil Ryan proves that he’s a benefit for the sound with his versatile organ work. And finally the song gets very psychedelic at the end. Life on the road is reflecting their intensive touring experiences I’m sure. This is presented as a boogie/shuffle song with nice piano contributions. A song with US westcoast influences which is more refering to the sound with Deke Leonard in the line-up.

The aforementioned ‘Back into the Future’ album has been already priced by me with five stars because of the stunning live recordings. So this album which also obsesses me for more than 30 years will ‘only’ get 4.5 stars. Recommended by all means if you want to explore MAN’s highly developed psychedelic and spacey period.

Review by Aussie-Byrd-Brother

Heavy Welsh jam band Man have always been difficult to categorise, playing a mix of country rock and blues with psychedelic and adventurous rock passages, with slight spacerock and even Krautrock flavours worked in as well. By the time of this LP, “Be Good to Yourself At Least Once A Day”, their fifth studio album in 1972, the band were really starting to fire on all cylinders. Honing their skills over their numerous live shows and four previous albums saw them find a better balance of all the above mentioned different styles here, and it’s one of their most consistent releases from their vintage Seventies recordings.

“C’Mon” is a punchy call-to-arms opener, with plenty of positive and sunny vibes throughout. The relentless rocker is bookended with slippery bass, warm harmonies and singing slide guitar, but the real highlight is the a slow-build, impossibly beautiful shimmering low-key spacey rumination in the middle. Glistening Hammond organ ripples and electric piano float in space, chiming guitars and wavering electronics drift over sighing wordless harmonies in the manner of Nektar, before ending on a light driving guitar jam and a brief punchy symphonic prog burst. `Keep on Criting’ is a sprightly upbeat and instantly likeable instrumental. Drowsy and toasty warm bubbling Moog, electric piano fingertips and whirring Hammond remind of the upbeat Greenslade instrumentals, with a fuzz organ solo in the middle instantly calling to mind Caravan. The guitar is gentle country licks to begin, then thick and snarling in the middle, and heavy psychedelic twin guitars duel on either side of the speakers trying to snake their way to the heavens in the finale.

The flipside holds the colourful and playful groover “Bananas.” A total psychedelic rocker, at first it’s warped with nonsense lyrics such as “I like to eats bananas, ‘cos they have no bones, I like marijuana, ‘cos it gets me stoned”, which certainly raises a smile! The piece quickly diverts into dreamy levitating preciousness, as chiming guitars dazzle, whizzing spacy Hammond glides all around and an optimistic dreamy vocal wafts by. The electric guitar soloing that races through the final minutes is constantly joyous, lifted into the air by electric piano and fluid bass to end on positive vibes. Closer `Life on the Road’ is an Americana-infused shuffling boogie, driven by nimble piano and slow-burn electric guitar fire. It may be more straight-forward than the rest of the disc, but it’s easy to wind down to, exceptionally well-played and ample proof of the skills of the band.

Some Man albums can be a bit hit and miss, but `Be Good..’ is one of their strongest works from their initial run of Seventies albums. There’s no shortage of varied rock elements and psychedelic touches delivered here, and they’ve also offered plenty of blues/country elements as well, so many types of listeners should find something to appeal to them. Well played with high-quality material, “Be Good to Yourself At Least Once A Day” is one of Man’s defining releases, and it makes for the ideal introduction for newcomers to the band to explore.