MAN AT WORK (ACOUSTIC VINYL)

Personnel includes: Colin Hay (vocals, guitar); Greg Ham (flute); Mario Gonzales (trumpet); Eric Jorgensen (trombone); Jeff Babko (keyboards); Chad Fischer (drums). While he'll always be best known as the lead singer for early-'80s MTV darlings Men at Work, Colin Hay has been issuing solo releases on a somewhat regular basis, ever since his former band's disintegration. But for his 2003 release, Man at Work, Hay decided to take a step back and rework several Men at Work classics. While it's not uncommon for classic rockers to rework their songs (the "unplugged" craze of the '90s, anyone?), the reasoning as to why Hay would issue such a recording now is a bit puzzling. While such acoustic Men at Work tracks as "Overkill" and "Who Can It Be Now?" are quite charming and worth hearing, the re-recordings of "Be Good Johnny" and "It's a Mistake" (which are almost identical to the originals) don't add much to the originals. Hay's non-Men at Work songs ("Beautiful World," "Waiting for My Real Life to Begin") are worth hearing, but of course, they're not up to the high Business as Usual standards. That said, Hay's voice is still in fine form all these years later, sounding as good as it did during his commercial heyday. ~ Greg Prato