Most of us will have a few albums that we regard as classics or near-classics that almost nobody else has either heard of or has any particular regard for. This thread is an opportunity to make a case for converting the multitude.
Let me kick it off with this little-known gem:
Manfred Mann Chapter Three Volume One
No really stick with me for a while will you? Forget Chapters 1 and 2 (the Paul Jones and Mike DAbo pop versions, excellent though they were) and Earth Band incarnations, this version of the group were very very different.
Both Mann and Mike Hugg (the pop bands drummer) were originally jazz and R&B fans who eventually got bored with doing straight pop and decided to go back to their roots, so what you end up with here is a band with pop sensibilities (and an excellent ear for a tune) coupled with a very British jazz (think Nucleus) fusion.
Except that isnt quite the whole story, because somehow what you end up with is the above combination but as if recorded by Dr John not in the swamps of the bayou, but more like Eel Pie Island. Let me attempt to demonstrate
The band is now Mann on organ, Mike Hugg on electric piano and more importantly those creaky vocals, Steve York (really funky bass guitarist from East Of Eden before going on to Vinegar Joe), Bernie Living on sax and flute, Craig Collinge drums. Theres a host of assorted brass players too. And Hugg writes as many if not more of the tracks as Mann.
Heres the first couple of minutes of the album:
Travelling Lady
You get the drift? By the way, older readers may recognise the music for a cigar advert in there.
Heres a more overtly jazzy bit if youre not a fan of squally sax solos, move on
Konekuf.
That was Manns thoughts on Enoch Powell, for those who can read backwards.
There are a couple of other tracks on the album where the jazz becomes even freer, but mostly this about some great songs with some irresistible air-sax moments:
Time
some great songs with Yorks distinctively funky bass guitar AND irresistible air-sax moments:
One Way Glass
reflective moments:
Mister, Youre A Better Man Than I
(this also has a lovely piano solo). But above all that strange dark swampy jazzy feel:
Devil Woman
It came out in 1969 on Vertigo (so vinyl versions are very hard to come by) and sank without trace, though the CD re-mastering is very good. Ive rarely stopped playing it since and for me it only just falls short of a complete classic because some of the odd (and rare) free jazz moments are a bit too free for me and the productions not the best a little rough, and Huggs piano has a noticeable hiss/hum that creeps through in the quieter moments.
But Im really just quibbling I love the thing.
So, have I convinced you? Your turn
Let me kick it off with this little-known gem:
Manfred Mann Chapter Three Volume One
No really stick with me for a while will you? Forget Chapters 1 and 2 (the Paul Jones and Mike DAbo pop versions, excellent though they were) and Earth Band incarnations, this version of the group were very very different.
Both Mann and Mike Hugg (the pop bands drummer) were originally jazz and R&B fans who eventually got bored with doing straight pop and decided to go back to their roots, so what you end up with here is a band with pop sensibilities (and an excellent ear for a tune) coupled with a very British jazz (think Nucleus) fusion.
Except that isnt quite the whole story, because somehow what you end up with is the above combination but as if recorded by Dr John not in the swamps of the bayou, but more like Eel Pie Island. Let me attempt to demonstrate
The band is now Mann on organ, Mike Hugg on electric piano and more importantly those creaky vocals, Steve York (really funky bass guitarist from East Of Eden before going on to Vinegar Joe), Bernie Living on sax and flute, Craig Collinge drums. Theres a host of assorted brass players too. And Hugg writes as many if not more of the tracks as Mann.
Heres the first couple of minutes of the album:
Travelling Lady
You get the drift? By the way, older readers may recognise the music for a cigar advert in there.
Heres a more overtly jazzy bit if youre not a fan of squally sax solos, move on
Konekuf.
That was Manns thoughts on Enoch Powell, for those who can read backwards.
There are a couple of other tracks on the album where the jazz becomes even freer, but mostly this about some great songs with some irresistible air-sax moments:
Time
some great songs with Yorks distinctively funky bass guitar AND irresistible air-sax moments:
One Way Glass
reflective moments:
Mister, Youre A Better Man Than I
(this also has a lovely piano solo). But above all that strange dark swampy jazzy feel:
Devil Woman
It came out in 1969 on Vertigo (so vinyl versions are very hard to come by) and sank without trace, though the CD re-mastering is very good. Ive rarely stopped playing it since and for me it only just falls short of a complete classic because some of the odd (and rare) free jazz moments are a bit too free for me and the productions not the best a little rough, and Huggs piano has a noticeable hiss/hum that creeps through in the quieter moments.
But Im really just quibbling I love the thing.
So, have I convinced you? Your turn
