Search - Arthur Brown :: Crazy World of Arthur Brown

The Hieronymus Bosch of underground music!

Gavin Wilson | 09/03/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Knowing only the 1968 classic 'Fire', it hadn't occurred to me, before I bought this album, that Arthur Brown was trying to deter people from indulging in naughtiness! He seemed to be having so much fun performing the single on 'Top of the Pops'. But Brown was a former philosophy student from York University -- some books say he had also been a teacher -- and the first five tracks of this album form a conceptual theme. To my knowledge, this is still the most recent pop album which has proposed a literal view of Hell as place of fire and damnation while still selling a bundle.I first tried buying this album in 1973. But the LP had already been deleted. (I still keep the quirky correspondence from Virgin mail order regretting that they could not find the album in their 'dungeons'.) But what lasted for less than five years on LP has survived for ten so far on CD. It was re-released by Polydor in 1991, complete with mono and stereo versions of five of the tracks. In some instances (e.g. 'Time/Confusion'), the mono version sounds better. (In 1968 some listeners had stereo systems, but most of us in the UK had monaural Bush Dansette all-in-one portable record players.)Brown's music was at a formative stage. To my ear there is not quite enough instrumentation -- a guitar might have helped here and there. The 'Austin Powers' movies have not helped the listenability of this Hammond organ-dominated style of music. It is not quite Vincent Crane's finest hour -- that would come with Atomic Rooster's DEATH WALKS BEHIND YOU. Nor is it Brown's. In 1973, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come released the wonderful JOURNEY, which is easily among the top 20 rock albums of the last century. Unfortunately by 1973 he was practically forgotten, and the band was reduced to touring minor venues such as my school, where they gave the best concert I have ever witnessed. (JOURNEY was remastered on CD in the early 1990s for a single production run, which meant that it was deleted almost as soon as it was released.)Brown had the voice of a Gillan/Dickinson/Blasquiz (only better), the weird imagination of Vivian Stanshall, and the manic strutting of Mick Jagger attempting one of John Cleese's silly walks. Was he a prophet or the devil? They say that the devil has all the best tunes. Sadly he doesn't seem to have enough of them, because Brown had to give away most of the royalties from 'Fire' when someone pointed out its similarities to another composer's tune. And I hate to say it, but isn't that the James Bond theme which Vincent Crane's left hand is playing on 'Child of my Kingdom'?"

You're Gonna' Burn With Excitement!

Jon G. Jackson | Santa Rosa, CA | 06/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It took 30 years for this album to come out on CD! Kind of like finding Spooky Tooth's "The Last Puff" (which appeared on CD about the same time), I nearly had a heart attack when I discovered it. My hard-earned dollars have never been spent faster! In the late 60s, Arthur Brown was the height of psychedelia. Yet, even then (aside from the single "Fire," which did get some airplay), he wasn't all that well known. This has always amazed me, because his live show in 1968 was absolutely one of the top five I've ever seen. No kidding! He was a perfomance artist before there was a genre to describe it. The music is fantastic, performed by a minimalist trio/quartet that I can only compare with Hendrix's Experience (replace the guitar with a Hammond organ, for a rough idea). Brown's voice and vocal range are spellbinding. The CD has a lot of "extras," but these merely constitute the monoral versions of most of the stereo songs. No matter. This was a gem of an album! How tremendous to have it now on CD!"

An extraordinarily expressive & versatile singing voice!

Gavin Wilson | 09/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are 3 things that make this album exceptional. The first is AB's singing voice: for those who have heard him it's obvious that he has a gift which few can equal. The second: the theme of the 1st half of the cd: a personal spiritual struggle of great tension. The third: Vincent Crane's fantastic Organ work & Carl Palmer's drumming. No guitar here, yet remarkably moving music that fits both the theme & ABs voice. "Fire" was/is a huge hit single, but the first 6 tunes are all great. Try Fire Poem or Come & Buy. AB is a very creative, ORIGINAL, & different artist. I say "buy"!"