Manfred Mann Chapter Three is the debut album released in 1969

1969 in music

-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event...

 by Manfred Mann Chapter Three

Manfred Mann Chapter Three

Manfred Mann Chapter Three was a British experimental jazz rock band founded by South African keyboard player Manfred Mann and long-time partner Mike Hugg...

. It was on of the three first albums released on the Vertigo

Vertigo Records

Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...

 record label. The principal members of the group were Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann (musician)

Manfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...

 and Mike Hugg

Mike Hugg

Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...

. Mann played the organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 and acted as the group's musical arranger, whilst Hugg handled vocals, played piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and was the chief song writer. The group was augmented by a five-piece brass section and several distinguished jazz soloists.

The core songs "Travelling Lady", "Snakeskin Garter", "Devil Woman" and "Time" define the album's sound: long, slow, doomy one chord

Chord progression

A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...

 riff

RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....

s beneath sections of breathy vocals, powerful brass and free-form improvised solos. "Konekuf" is the same without the vocals, while "A Study in Inaccuracy" is simply freeform. "Sometimes", "One Way Glass", "Ain't It Sad" and "Where Am I Going" are shorter and more melodic, wistful songs centering around Hugg's electric piano, on which he turns in an able solo on "Mister, You're a Better Man Than I".

Track listing

Side one

1. "Travelling Lady" (Manfred Mann
   Manfred Mann (musician)
   Manfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...
   
   , Mike Hugg
   Mike Hugg
   Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
   
   ) – 5:48
2. "Snakeskin Garter" (Hugg) – 5:48
3. "Konekuf" (Mann) – 5:47
4. "Sometimes" (Hugg) – 2:37
5. "Devil Woman" (Hugg) – 5:24

Side two

6. "Time" (Hugg) – 7:25
7. "One Way Glass" (Mann, Pete Thomas
   Pete Thomas (saxophonist)
   Pete Thomas is a leading British music producer, TV and film composer, recording musician, and saxophonist. He was born in London and is now based in Southampton, England. He is also an expert in Jazz music and theory.-Biography:...
   
   ) – 3:33
8. "Mister, You're a Better Man Than I" (Mann, Hugg) – 5:10
9. "Ain't It Sad" (Hugg) – 1:57
10. "A Study in Inaccuracy" (Mann) – 4:05
11. "Where Am I Going" (Hugg) – 2:36

Additional tracks (1999 re-issue)

12. "Sometimes" (single mono version) (Hugg) – 2:22
13. "Travelling Lady" (single mono version) (Mann, Hugg) – 5:20
14. "Devil Woman" (single version) (Hugg) – 5:23
15. "A Study in Inaccuracy" (alternative version) (Mann) – 5:10

Personnel

• Mike Hugg
  Mike Hugg
  Mike Hugg is a professional musician and a founding member of the 1960s group Manfred Mann.-Biography:...
  
   – keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  
• Manfred Mann
  Manfred Mann (musician)
  Manfred Mann is a keyboard player best known as a founding member and namesake of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.-Career:...
  
   – keyboards
• Bernie Living – saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  
• Steve York – bass
• Craig Collinge – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....