Manfred Mann Chapter Three

The music on this album is predominantly ‘song-based’: most of the compositions are built on the principle of verse/chorus and then move into instrumental excursions that are more intellectual than epathetic. The tone is set by the bluesy opening track Travelling Lady, and throughout the album it almost never wanes. Among the compositions of this kind are Snakeskin Garter (which features some excellent electric piano and bass solos) and the sardonic, psychedelic You're A Better Man Than I (which was written by Mann and Hagg but popularised by The Yardbirds). There are also more concise, albeit psychedelic compositions such as Sometimes, One Way Glass and Ain't It Sad, which give the album variety and balance.
The real innovation can be found in Konekuff, a more detached progressive jazz instrumental that switches nicely between brass motifs and some seriously distorted fuzz organ moments, Devil Woman, a sinister monster that foreshadows the kind of jazz that King Crimson would visit on Lizard, and the playful free-jazz work A Study In Inaccuracy. 
Nevertheless, it's a fine album that could be called unique were it not for the fact that Chapter Three themselves released a similar album a year later! Despite the fact that the album looks even more dated than most other proto-prog or early fusion recordings, it is safe to say that it is a pleasure to listen to.