their own. The three other originals, "Roach Daddy", "Pity The Mother" and "Genesis", were then written within days. In a 1980 interview, bassist Jim Lea recalled: "This was our first major crack at making a record, so it was all important not to let it slip. So we did "Roach Daddy", "Mad Dog Cole" and "Genesis" out of total fear. "Pity The Mother" was another one of the songs that Bavistock "forced" us to write." At a time when the band were not yet fully writing their own material, the album contained eight covers of songs the band regularly played as part of their live-set. Of the covers, Lea said: "They were all numbers that we were doing live on stage at the time. We had started to move away from the Flower Power thing then, but we were still doing unusual numbers. You can see by all the writers of the songs, they are all big names now, but at the time they were unheard of. Frank Zappa – he was totally unknown, he had only recorded one album, but we recorded his "Ain't Got No Heart"." Contrary to Lea's statement, Zappa had actually released six studio albums before Ambrose Slade released their debut. During the recording of the album, Ambrose Slade would be introduced to Chas Chandler, who visited the band in the studio with his business partner Gunnel. Impressed by what he heard in the studio, Chandler decided to watch the band perform live at Rasputin's club the following night. By the end of the show, he decided that wanted to manage the group and soon became the band's manager. In May 1969, Beginnings was released, along with the single "Genesis", however both failed to chart. This was despite a promotional video being shot at London's Euston Station to promote the album. Following the lack of commercial success, the band and Chandler began considering their next career move. Having not been pleased with the debut album, Chandler thought the band would benefit from writing their own material and a change of image. The band would record two further singles for Fontana until Chandler moved the band to Polydor, where they would later achieve a commercial breakthrough in 1971. Speaking of the album's release and lack of commercial success, Lea said: "It dropped drastically. But that wasn't the point, you see it got us the footing in London,