Audio CD review:
Manfred Mann - Chapter Three V.1

Manfred Mann - Chapter Three V.1

Band: Manfred Mann Title: Chapter Three V.1 Rating: Release Date: 14 February, 1994 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Travelling Lady 2: Snakeskin Garter 3: Konekuf 4: Sometimes 5: Devil Woman 6: Time 7: One Way Glass 8: Mister You're A Batter Man Than I 9: Ai't It Sad 10: A Study In Inaccuracy 11: Where Am I Going 12: Sometimes (Mono) 13: Mother (Aka Travelling Lady Mono) 14: Devil Woman (Single) 15: A Study In Inaccuracy (Alternative Version)

Customer Reviews A desert island disk for sure The first time I heard this album I was just in awe. While I appreciated Manfred Mann's pop hits on top 40 radio, they were never anything I got excited about. 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. Good prog rock and horns 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. An acquired, but required, taste... No more "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," no more "Mighty Quinn. With this recording, in one giant leap, Manfred Mann left their soft pop swimming pool and dove headlong into unknown dark waters. " 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. . . You can see a complete list of all Manfred Mann discography, or go back to the Manfred Mann tabs