Manfred Mann Album: “Chapter Three, Vol. 1”

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!

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.

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.