Kingdom Come, Brooklyn-bred Sir Lord Baltimore's debut album from 1970, was one of the first heavy 70's obscurities that I found (and a sweet vinyl copy in an awesome gatefold at that) when I was first embarking on this quest for ancient riffage a number of years back, and it is a beast. It is a relic from the early freewheeling days of heavy rock, before the formula had been defined, refined and distilled. Home brewed white lightning. This record is a crazed, hungry, foaming-at-the-mouth Hell Hound, not satisfied with Robert Johnson's long ago ingested soul, but looking for new, fresh, unguarded souls to devour. So keep your hands inside the vehicle, lest you lose them. I take no responsibility for injuries incurred from listening to this album.
It's heavy alright, but not in a Black Sabbath or Bedemon way. Kingdom Come is a chaotic, cyclonic, neanderthal-driven ride through a twisted amphetamine-fueled, post-blues, proto-punk, jungle of riffs. Even though SLB is often called the first American Heavy Metal band, musically, they lean more toward a very loose version Cactus with a dash of Hendrix and The Stooges thrown in than the monolithic, controlled heaviness of Sabbath and the metal that was yet to come. Interestingly, Randy Palmer of Bedemon/Pentagram said his favorite bands were Black Sabbath and Sir Lord Baltimore and in fact originally met Geoff O'Keefe (Bedemon/Pentagram) because Geoff bought the copy of Sir Lord Baltimore's record that the record store was holding for Randy. I assume that it must have been the 2nd self titled SLB album.
Sir Lord Baltimore was John Garner-vox and drums, Louis Dambra - guitar, and Gary Justin - bass.
The frantic, frenzied pummeling begins with a Lemmy-esque distorted bass that introduces us to "Master Heartache", which was masterfully covered by Church of Misery on their Houses of the Unholy album. This song sets the status quo for the entire album: a freight train of blues infused riffs melting into unhinged guitar fills and solos over delirious, unpredictable Mitch Mitchell-ish drumming with Garner's Ronnie James Dio a la Adam Sandler caterwauling vocals leading the charge through a seemingly random maze of a mix where guitars pan back and forth, materialize and disappear, and tempos ebb and flow like the tides. This lurching, swaying, runaway train is held on the tracks, just barely, by the gravity of the heavily distorted bass that chugs along underneath. "Master Heartache" has a classic loping riff for the verse that leads to a mean, mean breakdown part. "Hard Rain Fallin'" is a driving Led Zep machine with a cool twin lead guitar section. "Lady of Fire" starts with a sick proto stoner rock riff. The verse groove is a little weak, but the rest of the tune still rocks hard. I think Deep Purple lifted part of this tune for "Woman From Tokyo." You'll know exactly what I mean when you hear it.
The only time the pace drops below berserk is the 4th song, "Lake Isle of Innersfree," which is coincidentally(or not) the only song not penned by Dambra, but instead foisted upon them by producers Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos in there misguided attempt to reach a wider audience.(?) It is a rather weak harpsichord driven Renaissance Fair song that should be immediately skipped and promptly forgotten.
Then it's pedal to the metal again with "Pumped Up." More howling vocals and angry blues riffing that lead to a nasty dual guitar lick and a crazed guitar solo. The brakes are applied for the proto metal title track, "Kingdom Come." This song is the most restrained (aside from the ridiculous Renny fair "Innisfree"), or maybe I should say controlled, and at the same time, maybe the most metal(ish) song on the album, looking to the future, with Garner sounding more Ian Gillan/Dio-like (and less like a possessed Adam Sandler)with a big late 70's metal vibrato and medieval tinged lyrics. The water has cooled slightly to a simmer here, but, fret not, it will soon be back to a rolling boil.
"I Got a Woman" is a backwards looking, 60's London Blues Explosion kind of tune, with tinges of 60's psych. A bit dated, but still cool. We're back on track (or is it off the rails) with "Hell Hound": savage guitar soloing/riffing over Garner's undulating drumming. Enter "Helium Head" (what a cool title); wicked flowing riffage and an awesome vamp at the end that should have gone on much longer -Fist smacks hand- "Damn that Mike Appel and his radio single aesthetic!" The album ends with more of the same on the uptempo "Ain't Got Hung on You."
This album, really, is somewhat unapproachable. It's almost like you need sunglasses to tone down the glare so you can really see what's going on through all of the chaos and tumult. The playing is pretty loose and the tempos fluctuate, but look deeper into the pandemonium and you'll see the wickedly cool riffs and the wheels off, hair-on-fire greatness of this album. When it's all said and done, you feel windblown and worn. Like you drove 100 miles in a convertible with the top down. Garner, Dambra and Justin are just going for it, full on; the only way they know how: over the top and with reckless abandon, the imperfections actually adding to the overall devastating effect of this record. There's loads of punk rock attitude coupled with primo pentatonic riffs and songs with lots of different sections and motif changes. Nine out of ten songs unapologetically bringing the Rock. Not many other albums from 1970 can say that.
I have to also say that I dig the spooky Flying Dutchman front cover, the groovy font used for Sir Lord Baltimore, and the cool modernist painting on the inside cover (see the picture above).
My rating is:
Riff Density 8
Riff Caliber 9
Post Blues Factor 8
Groove Factor 10
Dig It 8 (used to be lower, but I continue to appreciate it more and more)
2 comments:
One of the first obscure 70's hard rocks I bought, too (first was Trapeze and Bloodrock, which my Dad steered me towards).
"Helium Head" is one of my favorites, and the first one I ever heard from the album before I bought it. That "vamp" at the end is just wild; the bass is teetering on the edge of insanity and the drumming is furious!
"Ronnie James Dio a la Adam Sandler." Well put, but I'm gonna be listening for that too much on the next go.
Good choice for a post, I need to dig this one out and give it another listen.
I like Lake Isle of Innisfree just fine, thank you. The song is a nice reflective contrast from the heaviness of the rest of the album. The harpsichord playing reminds me of a tormented 18th century duke in ruffled sleeve attire pouring his heart out. It's awesome.
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