from Sounds November 1986

Bill Drummond - The Man
5 stars          [!!??!!!??!!]

HE USED to be a deep sea trawlerman, used to manage the Bunnymen and
the Teardrops and had the dubious honour of playing with Holly
Johnson in seminal Liverpool compbo, Big In Japan. And now as he
turns 33 and a third, he releases his testimony, 'The Man', a long
playing record.
 	When managing the Bunnymen, Drummond had a
fascination with ley lines that led him to send the band on a tour
that began in the Scottish Isles and ended in Iceland. Perhaps it's
this familiarity with the supernatural that allows him to release
his album to coincide with the resurgence of Julian Cope and thus
attract much publicity with the track 'Julian Cope Is Dead'. This
composition combines Drummond's plea for Copey to commit suicide as
a publicity stunt with the Bagpuss theme, and is every bit as funny
as it sounds.
 	Not that 'The Man' should be regarded as some adjunct
to the career of everybody's favourite Tamworth sex god. This album,
which crosses the eccentricities of Ivor Cutler with the rock 'n'
roll fascinations of Kim Fowley, is a touching if idiosyncratic
biographical statement.
 	Recorded with The Triffids and Voice Of The
Beehive in a village hall in his native Galloway, 'The Man' veers
between Scottish jigs and Phil Spectorisms. 'I Want That Girl' is a
breathless tale of love forgotten, 'I'm The King Of Joy' a
ridiculously optimistic account of his lust for life: "I've a heart
like a Viking, and faith like a child/ Have you ever heard the song
'Born To Be Wild'?" And the lynchpin, 'I Believe In Rock & Roll', is
an eloquent exposition on Bill's primary fascination.
 	'The Man' is a work of humble genius: the best kind. 
ROY WILKINSON