Manfred Mann Chapter Three — “Devil Woman”: Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! — September 23, 2024

THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD

1,344) Manfred Mann Chapter Three — “Devil Woman”

This is not your teenyboppers’s Manfred Mann! This is Manfred Mann Chapter III, and Mann, oh Mann, do I love my Manfred Mann Chapter III (see #79, 146, 698). “[T]he brilliant Devil Woman fall[s] in between the exotic and avant-garde with strange percussion, a demented Mike Hugg [singing], sound effects, and soaring female backup vocals.” (Jason, http://therisingstorm.net/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-1/) Chapter III was “excellent and imaginative but came as a considerable shock to any fans who expected anything akin to Manfred Mann.” (Rovi Staff, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mn0001278308) The first album — Manfred Mann Chapter Three — was “groundbreaking . . . in the development of jazz rock. . . . [with m]uch free jazz and big band sound . . . but mixed up with darkest and most disturbing blues phrasings[ — s]low, lurking, gritty and tough stuff to sit through”. (Einsetumadur, http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2425) Tough to sit through? It put me in a trance — I couldn’t have gotten up even if I had wanted to! “This is as much jazz as rock. There’s hardly any guitar, but a swaggering horn section compensates. Imagine a darker, moodier Traffic with Mann manning the organ instead of Steve Winwood.” (Mark Allan, https://www.allmusic.com/album/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mw0000467440) This “was something that Mike Hugg and Mann had wanted to do for sometime but feared the possibility of a commercial failure. Hugg handles most of the lead vocals on a record . . . . The sound is very progressive, peppered with jazzy horns, keyboards/organ, a slow stoned ambience, creative arrangements and Hugg’s quite original although bizarre vocals.” (Jason, http://therisingstorm.net/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-1/)

I thought there were no Chapter Threes in ’60’s rock? Well, Progman says:

Chapter III was formed after the break up of the (Chapter II) line up of Manfred Mann in 1969 which featured singer Mike D’Abo, not forgetting the legendary (Chapter I) line up in the early 60s which featured singer Paul Jones. . . . Chapter III turned their backs on three minute Pop singles and light hearted songs to develop a more Jazz and Progressive sound often had lengthy tracks with solos. . . .

http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=2425

Active Listener explains further:

Ready for a change, Mann and electric pianist/vocalist Mike Hugg dropped the rest of the band and enlisted former East of Eden bass player Steve York, drummer Craig Collinge and most importantly a five piece brass section comprised of some of the hottest young talent in the U.K at the time, and set out to explore their love of jazz. For a band who’s previous release only a year before had been a singalong cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn”, a dark, voodoo jazz-rock LP replete with Albert Ayler inspired free-jazz solos must have come as a shock to long term fans. Clearly this is not your Dad’s Manfred Mann. Along with contemporarys like Ian Carr’s Nucleus and Colosseum, Mann and co. were instrumental in these formative years of the merging of jazz and progressive rock. American bands like Chicago were already working the brass rock formula, but the U.K scene was pushing the envelope a considerable distance further. . . . What raises Chapter Three above other U.K acts of the time is the quality of the songwriting. There’s no doubt that there were plenty of fine players on this fledgeling scene, but few had compositions this strong to launch from. . . . Mike Hugg’s voice may be an acquired taste for some, but fans of the creepy juju stylings of early Dr John [see #177] are in for a treat.

http://active-listener.blogspot.com/2011/11/manfred-mann-chapter-three-volume-one.html

As does Rovi Staff:

Following the demise of Manfred Mann, Mike Hugg and Manfred Mann continued their jazz/rock path by forming Chapter Three, as a sideline to their lucrative career writing successful television jingles. This brave project was originally called Emanon and . . . featured session work from some of the finest contemporary jazz musicians . . . . The group immediately established themselves on the progressive rock circuit, but could not break out of the small club environment. . . . The band was blighted with problems due to Mann and Hugg having to support the venture financially, and because of trying to establish themselves as something other than a pop group. . . . Manfred soon returned to a more commercial path with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three-mn0001278308

Finally, Jazz Music Archives:

The band’s approach centred around the “time, no changes” approach of Miles Davis and John Coltrane applied to slow, funky grooves with voodoo lyrics inspired by Dr John alternating with blaring big-band horn riffs and improvised free-jazz solos reminiscent of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. Although intelligible at a time when artists like Davis himself were crossing over into the rock/funk field and American “jazz-rock” ensembles such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Mothers of Invention espoused brass sections and atonality, the formula was limited and the band expensive to maintain, so it was short-lived and disbanded after two albums. Mann went on to form Manfred Mann’s Earth Band in 1971.

https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/manfred-mann-chapter-three

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