Biography
In 1976 Automatic Man appeared without warning. Their debut album presented an arresting blue alien gazing outward from the void on its front cover. The rear sleeve's portrait of the quartet, however, disclosed the presence of Michael Shrieve, the widely admired former Santana drummer. The project's guiding intelligence and principal songwriter was nonetheless the keyboardist Bayete, born Todd Cochrane.
An Oxford University graduate, Cochrane had already released two commercially unsuccessful albums on the Fantasy label in the first half of the decade. He joined forces with Shrieve shortly after the drummer withdrew from Steve Winwood and Stomu Yamashta's Go project. The lineup was completed by two additional Bay Area musicians who had likewise performed with Go: guitarist Pat Thrall and bassist Doni Harvey. The resulting record fused space rock, funk, and Jimi Hendrix-inspired guitar textures, textures driven principally by Bayete's atmospheric keyboards and vocals. Although the album suggested considerable promise, Shrieve's subsequent departure—he would later form Novo Combo—left the band directionless. Its second album displayed a pink alien on the front sleeve yet offered greater emphasis on funk and diminished inventive reach. Thrall later entered the Pat Travers Band and contributed to a Narada Michael Walden album, while Bayete and Harvey receded from view.
An Oxford University graduate, Cochrane had already released two commercially unsuccessful albums on the Fantasy label in the first half of the decade. He joined forces with Shrieve shortly after the drummer withdrew from Steve Winwood and Stomu Yamashta's Go project. The lineup was completed by two additional Bay Area musicians who had likewise performed with Go: guitarist Pat Thrall and bassist Doni Harvey. The resulting record fused space rock, funk, and Jimi Hendrix-inspired guitar textures, textures driven principally by Bayete's atmospheric keyboards and vocals. Although the album suggested considerable promise, Shrieve's subsequent departure—he would later form Novo Combo—left the band directionless. Its second album displayed a pink alien on the front sleeve yet offered greater emphasis on funk and diminished inventive reach. Thrall later entered the Pat Travers Band and contributed to a Narada Michael Walden album, while Bayete and Harvey receded from view.