1976 Leong Lau “Dragon Man” on Sunscape Records

One of two releases from The Man, the second following a year later, and both are pretty hard to describe beyond greasy, downlow Aussie soul-jazz bluesy meanders. Lau handles tenor, vocals, alto, flute, harmonica, cornet, percussion, and guitar. It’s poetic in a Kerouac sort of way, hip like Morphine, talk-sung like Jim Carroll, with horns that sound like Lounge Lizard John Lurie recorded in a misty seaside cave. In other words, awesome. It’s that Rongang Sound! It’s psych-funk, but not! It’s Malaysian/Outback by way of China soul! It’s raw and electric and awesome and transcendent and simplistic and affecting and I find myself humming some of the melodies often without even realizing I’m doing it, sort of like with Syd Barrett. This private press action is virtually impossible to find and never really distributed, you have to fly out to Brisbane and start asking around, spend some time with the OG hipster/drug/surf crowd and even then you’ll probably end up buying a dime of oregano. Awesome groove action. Autographed by The Man. Oh yea.