Automatic Man
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Album Summary
Automatic Man was a Bay Area supergroup that brought together some serious heavy hitters — including Bayete (Patrick Gleeson's keyboardist) and the firebreathing guitar work of Doni Harvey, anchored by the powerhouse drumming of Denny Baldwin and the bass of Michael Sembello. Their self-titled debut dropped in 1976 on Island Records, produced with a raw, kinetic energy that captured the band's live ferocity. The record was laid down with the kind of ambition that only comes from musicians who'd already been around the block — players who knew exactly what they wanted to say and had the chops to say it loud.
Reception
- The album was met with enthusiasm from critics who recognized its bold fusion of hard rock, funk, and jazz elements as something genuinely forward-thinking for its time.
- Though it did not produce mainstream chart breakthroughs, the record earned deep respect in FM rock and jazz-fusion circles, where DJs embraced its adventurous side-long sequencing and instrumental firepower.
Significance
- Automatic Man stood at a rare crossroads where heavy rock guitar, jazz improvisation, and funk rhythm sections collided head-on — making it one of the more daring fusion statements of the mid-1970s.
- Tracks like 'Comin' Through' and the conceptual Atlantis Rising suite demonstrated that this band was thinking in albums, not singles — crafting a cohesive sonic journey that rewarded listeners who let the whole record breathe.
- The album's spiritual and cosmic lyrical themes, anchored by the Atlantis Rising framework that opens and closes the record, placed it firmly within the mystical, expansive consciousness that defined so much of the most adventurous music coming out of the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-seventies.
Tracklist
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A1 Atlantis Rising Fanfare 132
1:37
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A2 Comin' Through 160
3:35
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A3 My Pearl 80
3:41
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A4 One And One 105
6:01
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A5 Newspapers 134
3:59
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A6 Geni-Geni 160
5:33
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B1 Right Back Down 97
5:56
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B2 There's A Way 128
5:15
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B3 I.T.D. Interstellar Tracking Devices —
5:14
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B4 Automatic Man 118
3:54
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B5 Atlantis Rising Theme —
3:17
Artist Details
Automatic Man was a slick and funky rock outfit that came together in San Francisco around 1975, blending hard rock muscle with R&B grooves in a way that made heads turn and hips move all at once — featuring the powerhouse vocals of Bayete and the fiery guitar work of Priester, these cats were ahead of their time in fusing rock and soul before the world had a proper name for it. They released their self-titled debut in 1976 on Island Records, followed by Visitors in 1977, and while they never quite broke through to the mainstream the way their talent deserved, their sound was a bold and beautiful statement about where rock music could go when it stopped being afraid of the funk.
