Chapter Three, Vol. 1

Chapter Three, Vol. 2 Digitally remastered from the original master tapes, this is a reissue of the hit English prog/ classic rock group's 1970 album, complete with bonus tracks 'I Ain't Laughing' (mono), 'Happy Being Me' (single version-mono) & 'Virginia'(alternate version). Standard jewel case..	Mighty Garvey! Digipak reissue of this 1968 release featuring both the stereo and mono mixes of the album on one disc. This album was originally released in Europe and features the mega-hit single 'The Mighty Quinn'. Much of this album, plus other odds and ends, were repackaged for the U.S. m...	Pacific Ocean Blue - Legacy Edition Apart from the non-release of Smile, the biggest lament of hardcore Beach Boys fans is that Bruce Johnston aside, none of the non-Brian Wilson solo albums are available on CD. But now, for fans of late drummer Dennis Wilson, there's reason to celebrate as his only-released solo a...	Tell Tale Signs: the Bootleg Series Vol. 8 2 CDs with 27 songs in a brilliant box with a 60 page booklet.	Graham Nash/David Crosby Reissue of the former Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young member's debut outing together as a duo in a digipak. First released in 1972 for Atlantic, 'Crosby & Nash' features guest appearances by Dave Mason, Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel and Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia & Phil Lesh,...
Agemo's Trip to Mother Earth Includes 10 bonus tracks not on the original edition: "I Know", "I Want More", "Mother No Head", "Ever Ever Green", "Zero", "Frozen Mind", "We Love Life", "Have You Ever Heard", Mother No Head (French Version)", "Mother No Head (Instrumental)".	Shazam The Move's second LP expanded to double its original size and featuring the No. 1 smash hit Blackberry Way and 6 previously unreleased tracks. Remastered from original master tapes by Rob Keyloch at Church Walk Studio, Shazam has never sounded better. Stylish wallet-style packagi...	Angel Station Digitally remastered from the original master tapes, this is a reissue of the hit English prog/ classic rock group's 1979 album featuring the smash 'You Angel You', plus the original cover art and two bonus tracks, single versions of 'Don't Kill It Carol' & 'You Angel You'. 11 tr...	Spooky Two Repertoire reissue of the band's 2nd album from 1969. Includes 4 bonus tracks 'That Was Only Yesterday'-monosingle version, 'Oh! Pretty Woman', 'Waiting For The Wind'-mono single version & 'Feelin' Bad'-mono single version. Packaged in a digipak. 2005.	The Turning Point

A desert island disk for sure
While I appreciated Manfred Mann's pop hits on top 40 radio, they were never anything I got excited about. The first time I heard this album I was just in awe. 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...
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.

Post-Rock 30 Years Too Early
Although in many ways dated, this completely atypical manifestation of Manfred Mann does anticipate '90s epiphanal freakouts from the likes of Spiritualized and the Verve. It's let down, I would say, by Mike Hugg's rather duff vocals (no Richard Ashcroft, or even Bobby Gillespie, he), but, like many similar records of the time, it does at least attempt to build bridges between different musics. Primary in the latter is the free jazz feeling of the horn section (arranged by Mike Gibbs), particularly the completely wigged-out alto playing of New Zealander Bernie Living, a regular on the avant-garde Brit jazz scene at the time (with Mike Westbrook and others) but who seems to have vanished completely from the early '70s onwards. Anyone know what happened to him? Reference for youth: "One Way Glass" could have come off the last Primal Scream album.

This is NOT the Earth Band!
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!