Customer Reviews

Volume 1

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although in many ways dated, this completely atypical manifestation of Manfred Mann does anticipate '90s epiphanal freakouts from the likes of Spiritualized and the Verve. It's let down, I would say, by Mike Hugg's rather duff vocals (no Richard Ashcroft, or even Bobby Gillespie, he), but, like many similar records of the time, it does at least attempt to build bridges between different musics. Primary in the latter is the free jazz feeling of the horn section (arranged by Mike Gibbs), particularly the completely wigged-out alto playing of New Zealander Bernie Living, a regular on the avant-garde Brit jazz scene at the time (with Mike Westbrook and others) but who seems to have vanished completely from the early '70s onwards. Anyone know what happened to him? Reference for youth: "One Way Glass" could have come off the last Primal Scream album.

Out of left field in 1969 came Manfred Mann Chapter III. Totally unrelated to the pop years, this was a marriage of jazz and rock. Of course, 1969 was the time when the cross-pollination of these styles held great promise. Many artists dipped into the waters in the next few years. There was some exciting music. Eventually the bandwagon got full and collapsed under the weight of record companies forcing everyone to "fuse" and bland out.

MM Ch III lived at the "rock with brass" end of the jazz-rock spectrum. They made some fairly serious but inspired music here. Most of it is riffy and some is heavy, yet it has energy and class. Mike Hugg's vocals sound a little like Dr John when he's spooky. The version of '..Better Man..' is terrific. There was a second, slightly inferior volume that appeared on the 'prog rock' label Vertigo the next year. This may be why the Editorial Review above describes them as 'prog/classic'. I assure you, they weren't!

This is a great album but the band was commercially doomed. They were meant to come to Australia as part of a package tour with Deep Purple and Free. We went along full of anticipation but by the time they got here Mann had disbanded them and brought out the Earth Band. Oh well!

Manfred Mann made these Chapter Three albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) before going commercial and popular again with Earth Band. The style is jazz-rock, but well written and heavy with bluesy sensitivity. No mindles free-for-all here. The quality of Lp sound is well preserved here on these CDs, I know I heard both.

With this recording, in one giant leap, Manfred Mann left their soft pop swimming pool and dove headlong into unknown dark waters. No more "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," no more "Mighty Quinn." What you will hear here is virtually unclassifiable. It surely isn't psychedelic, but it was clearly influenced by Dr. John the Night Tripper at his early ("least accessible"?) period. In places it's pure Coltrane. Heck, we don't need no accessibility. On vocals and piano here, we have none other than the diminutive former drummer Mike Hugg, last seen pecking at his drumkit in his unique downward-pointing-stick style. Now he is raspily whispering his way through some obscure but brilliantly chosen material. I struggle for parallels, perhaps King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man"? That's close, I suppose. But this stands distinctly out on its own.

While I appreciated Manfred Mann's pop hits on top 40 radio, they were never anything I got excited about. The first time I heard this album I was just in awe. This is by far one of the most amazing enjoyable collections of music I have ever listened to. And I have listened to it a lot. Right up there with Dr. Johns first album, "The Night Tripper", Van Dyke Parks first album, "Song Cycle" and Tom Waites first album, "Closing Time". This is not a pop album. Closer to jazz, but not that either. More moody. The arrangements are slow, complex and deep. I have a copy on vinyl that is almost worn out. Too bad this CD re-release has those useless "bonus" tracks that prevent you from enjoying the project by forcing you to get up to stop it before the nonsense starts. (Why do record companies think we want that junk?) This album is dark, mysterious and inviting in a very David Lynch sort of way, but without being depressing and moody. Volume two sounded like a second attempt to do what they had already accomplished in Volume one, only not as well. Definitely one of those disks I would choose if I had to take only, say, ten to a desert island. As he says in the liner notes: "This is the album I always wanted to make." I'm glad he did.

It's apparent by 1969 Manfred Mann was wanting to move beyond hit singles and into the album format. In America, the hitmaking band was pretty unknown here, aside from "Doo Wah Ditty" and Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn". Apparently they were more known for their singles than their albums despite the amount of LPs released.

In 1969 Mann and Mike Hugg broke up the old band, brought in ex-East of Eden bassist Steve York, drummer Craig Collinge, and flautist Bernie Living and comes Chapter Three, a drastic change away from the hit singles into big band jazz rock. Hugg had switched from drums to vocals and electric piano. Craig Collinge was in an Australian band called Procession, which also featured future Manfred Mann's Earth Band guitarist and vocalist Mick Rogers. I can't seem to find much background on Bernie Living, though. Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears was already experiencing big success in this format, and Mann quickly got in the game, and did it without even trying to copy their sound or approach! The album was released in November 1969 on Vertigo, and, along with Colosseum's Valentyne Suite, and the self-entitled debut from Juicy Lucy, was the earliest Vertigo release (in fact they were all released simultaneously, also helped the advertisers save some money by advertising three releases at once). It was also released in the States on Polydor with a completely different cover. The cover features crude sketches of the band members (the remaining three on the back). In the gatefold are photos of the band. When I see Steve York, I keep imagining I'd see him in that ridiculous Egyptian garb like he did on the back cover of East of Eden's Mercator Projected (as was the rest of East of Eden).

OK, I can understand why this album was a commercial flop. Many listeners probably had a hard time with Mike Hugg's vocals, and some probably had a hard time with the horns. Not to mention being removed from the pop Mann did previously. "Snakeskin Garter" features a great organ solo from Mann that could have easily fit on Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The instrumental "Konekuf" includes some fuzzed organ from Mann, in fact, one could almost imagine him ripping it like Jon Lord, as the organ is in that same fuzzed style, but he don't, then I like the way the band gets into a Soft Machine-like jam with electric piano. "Sometimes" and "One Way Glass" shows more of a pop-oriented side, the latter was redone by the Earth Band on Glorified Magnified (1972). The Earth Band version was slower, a Mick Rogers guitar solo in place of the horns. This one is more upbeat. "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" is a fantastic piece, with electric piano. Although written by Mike Hugg and his brother Brian Hugg, it was originally recorded by The Yardbirds. The Chapter Three version is a rather slow paced, atmospheric number with nice use of electric piano. I have also noticed that I recognized Steve York's bass guitar playing right away, because on several songs, he uses that fuzzed bass he did on East of Eden (check out that bass solo on "Centaur Woman" off Mercator Projected).

This brand of proggy jazz rock won't appeal to everyone, and the production of the album isn't the best, but I like this album. It's not like The Earth Band, and not like the hitmaking pop group, but I like the approach Mann, Hugg and Co. went here, and if you don't mind Mike Hugg's singing, or the horn-dominated jazzy approach, I can recommend it to you.

Manfard Mann must have been quick studies, becuase over night, they changed from being one of the best pop units to a progressive rock band, fresh for the newborn progressive labal, Vertigo Records.

And did it work. These are song structures, and reletively straight too, but the jazz horns, "out" solos, and the brillance of making the fat fuzz bass the cornerstone here just work wonders.

This is early prog that is bluesy, jazzy, and self contained. This take on standard rock is incredibly fresh. If music now had any brains, this would sound brand new, and the only reason it does not is mainstreem rock's onset of mentel retardation and homogonization.

Among Black Sabbath, Juciy Lucy and Colluseum, Mannfard Man Chapter Three stood as tall as their peers, when they broke the champaign bottle on the great Vertigo Mothership.

I cannot get the chorus from "one way glass" out of my head, dear god its like crack... This album was ahead of its time.