| Man @ Work | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 22 July 2003 | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop rock, acoustic rock | |||
| Length | 38:01 | |||
| Label | Compass | |||
| Producer | Colin Hay | |||
| Colin Hay chronology | ||||
| ||||
Man @ Work is the eighth studio album by Scottish Australian singer Colin Hay, released by Compass Records in July 2003. [1]
The album is a career-retrospective for Hay: he is best known as the lead singer for the 1980s Australian pop band Men at Work, and roughly half of the songs on this album are Hay's solo studio renderings of works from the Men at Work catalog, while several others are remixes or re-recordings of material from his solo albums. Some songs are almost identical to the original recordings (e.g. "Be Good Johnny") while others are complete reinterpretations (e.g. acoustic versions of "Down Under" and "Who Can It Be Now?").
The album concludes with a version of "Down Under" recorded with the group Wild Clams.
The album was re-released on vinyl in 2014 with different tracklisting replacing several tracks with new ones.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [2] |
AllMusic gave a mostly negative review of the album, saying of the Men at Work covers that "While such acoustic Men at Work tracks as "Overkill" and "Who Can It Be Now?" are quite charming and worth hearing, the pointless re-recordings of "Be Good Johnny" and "It's a Mistake" (which are almost identical to the originals) are pretty darn pointless." They summarized his solo reworkings as "worth hearing, but of course, they're not up to the high Business as Usual standards." They concluded that the album "will only be of interest to the hardest of hardcore Colin Hay fan." [2]
The Associated Press wrote that, "In the best possible sense, Man @ Work is like Colin Hay's cover version of his own greatest hits album."[ citation needed ]
All tracks written by Colin Hay, except where noted. [3]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Beautiful World" (alternate mix) | Company of Strangers | 3:39 | |
| 2. | "Down Under" (acoustic version) | Hay, Ron Strykert | Men at Work's Business as Usual | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Overkill" (acoustic version) | Men at Work's Cargo | 3:47 | |
| 4. | "Storm in My Heart" (new recording) | Wayfaring Sons | 3:09 | |
| 5. | "Looking for Jack" (new recording) | Hay, Jeremy Alsop | Looking for Jack | 4:07 |
| 6. | "Don't Be Afraid" | Previously unreleased | 2:56 | |
| 7. | "It's a Mistake" (new recording) | Cargo | 4:46 | |
| 8. | "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" (re-release) | Hay, Thom Mooney | Going Somewhere | 5:45 |
| 9. | "To Have and to Hold" | Previously unreleased | 3:29 | |
| 10. | "Who Can It Be Now?" (acoustic version) | Business as Usual | 3:24 | |
| 11. | "Be Good Johnny" (new recording) | Hay, Greg Ham | Business as Usual | 3:35 |
| 12. | "Love is Innocent" | Previously unreleased | 4:43 | |
| 13. | "Down Under" (new recording, featuring Cecilia Noël & the Wild Clams) | Hay, Strykert | Business as Usual | 4:48 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Beautiful World" (alternate mix) | Company of Strangers | 3:39 | |
| 2. | "Down Under" (acoustic version) | Hay, Strykert | Business as Usual | 3:33 |
| 3. | "Love is Innocent" (re-release) | Previously unreleased | 4:43 | |
| 4. | "It's a Mistake" (acoustic version / new recording) | Cargo | 4:46 | |
| 5. | "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin" (re-release) | Hay, Mooney | Going Somewhere | 5:45 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6. | "Who Can It Be Now?" (acoustic version) | Business as Usual | 3:24 | |
| 7. | "Overkill" (acoustic version) | Cargo | 3:47 | |
| 8. | "I Can See It in Your Eyes" (acoustic version / new recording) | Business as Usual | 4:30 | |
| 9. | "I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You" (radio edit) | Transcendental Highway | 4:24 | |
| 10. | "Down by the Sea" (acoustic version) | Hay, Strykert, Ham, Jerry Speiser | Business as Usual | 3:35 |
Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1978 and best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", and "It's a Mistake". Its founding member and frontman is Colin Hay, who performs on lead vocals and guitar. After playing as an acoustic duo with Ron Strykert during 1978–1979, Hay formed the group with Strykert playing bass guitar and Jerry Speiser on drums. They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, saxophone, and keyboards and John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching back to lead guitar. The group was managed by Russell Depeller, a friend of Hay, whom he met at La Trobe University. This line-up achieved national and international success during the early to mid-1980s.
Colin James Hay is a Scottish-Australian musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and the sole continuous member of the band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Hay's music has been used frequently by actor and director Zach Braff in his work, which helped a career rebirth in the mid-2000s. Hay has also been a member of Ringo Starr's Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.
Two Hearts is the third and final studio album by Australian rock group Men at Work, released on 23 April 1985. Drummer Jerry Speiser and bassist John Rees had left the band prior to the album's production, while guitarist Ron Strykert left the band during recording sessions. Touring behind the album saw sole remaining members Colin Hay and Greg Ham joined by guest musicians. It peaked at No. 16 in Australia, and No. 50 on the US chart.
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Ronald Graham Strykert is an Australian musician. He is best known for playing lead guitar, co-founding and composing songs with the 1980s band Men at Work.
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Gregory Raymond Quill was an Australian-born musician, singer-songwriter and journalist. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and was an entertainment columnist at the Toronto Star newspaper from the mid-1980s until his death in May 2013. In Australia he came to popular fame as a singer-songwriter for the country rock band Country Radio (1970–73). Their biggest hit, "Gypsy Queen", co-written by Quill with bandmate Kerryn Tolhurst, was released in August 1972 and peaked at No. 12 on the Go-Set National Top 40. After getting an arts grant, Quill travelled to Toronto in 1974 and by the mid-1980s had become a journalist with the Toronto Star. By 1983 he was married to Ellen Davidson, a public relations executive. Greg Quill died on 5 May 2013, at the age of 66, from "complications due to pneumonia".
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