ARTHUR BROWN'S KINGDOM COME

But "Journey" is in most ways a departure from the sound of the first two Kingdom Come albums. They took a completely different approach to songwriiting (apart from dropping acid...which of course they still did) as they centered the other instruments and vocals around the drum machine patterns which Brown had programmed. Gone are the 60s influenced blues- and hard rock riffs and rhythms (there are still some guitar riffs on the album but they are sparse and generally more chugging and heavy), the whimsical theatrical sections, and the jazz/rock and progressive rock influences of the first albums, and instead Kingdom Come introduce an avantgardish, futuristic, and doom laden electronic laced space rock style which is quite progressive on its own terms considering that this was released in 1973. I´d describe this as the bastard child of Hawkwind, David Bowie, and Kraftwerk (mixed with some late 70s horror soundtrack Goblin and you´re just about there). Brown´s distinct Tom Jones type voice and vocal delivery are used in other (almost desperate) ways (maybe except for on "Come Alive", where he sounds more like his old self), but he still sounds great here. He actually quite often lets the music speak and there are many instrumental parts during the album´s playing time.

"Journey" features a layered, detailed, and intriguing sound production, which in many ways sound like something out of the early 80s and definitely not something released in 1973. This is an album way ahead of its time...

While the first two Kingdom Come albums arguably are great releases in their own rights, I don´t hesitate to call "Journey" their masterpiece. It´s a very unique album, but it´s not just weird or experimental for the sake of it. No... this album features memorable songwriting and it has the ability to provide emotional impact on the listener. A high quality release in all departments, which deserves a lot more attention. Sadly this would be their last album release in their original run as they disbanded in 1974. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Stylistically the material on "Kingdom Come" continues the eclectic and progressive inclined rock sound of "Galactic Zoo Dossier", which means a combination of 60s blues- and hard rock, theatrical sections, jazz/rock influences, and a generally unconventional approach to songwriting. Lead vocalist Arthur Brown has a strong and versatile voice and although his delivery is often paatos filled and theatrical in style, his voice is somewhat similar to the voice of Tom Jones. The atmosphere of the album spans from melancholic and dark to uplifting, humorous and whimsical. It´s slightly less dark than it´s direct predecessor, but still serious enough when that is called for.

"Kingdom Come" features a professional and well sounding production job, and although I find the songwriting a bit patchy at times, this is still a good quality release from Kingdom Come. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

Indeed, there's a BBC session from about a month or so before the album released where they didn't actually play any material from it, instead playing early versions of songs from Journey, which rather suggests that the band had already creatively moved on from the material here before they actually released it.

There's some interest to it, mind - the overall concept is to play an allegorical song cycle with watery themes as a sort of counterpart to The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which brought you... well, fire. At the same time, it's the volcanic, firey side of Brown which is so charismatic, so listening to him trying to embody the yielding, accommodating force of water doesn't quite hit the mark. It's still enjoyable, but it's very much Kingdom Come feeling the way from Galactic Zoo Dossier towards Journey without quite hitting on the brilliantly sparse and spacey sound of Journey yet.

Still, if you are into some mostly-improvised psychedelic freakout music, this ain't half bad - a British space rock equivalent of the sort of thing which the early Krautrock groups were up to at around the same time, with eerie vocals from Arthur adding additional spice. This sort of thing is an acquired taste, and if you dislike improvisational psychedelic/space rock in general you will likely not enjoy this - but if you dig a bit of improvisational psych now and again, this is a pretty good example of the format.

At times the music reminds me of Brainticket on more acid. The screams during "Conception" into the twisted pop of "Spirit of Joy" into "Come Alive" is a real treasure and showcases Brown's true talents. Great beginning, solid middle, flawless closing stretch. The full five, a great find from Progarchives--this album has earned its place at the top of my stack. Creative yet fitting cover art wraps up the package

I now own 49 separate cds that he has released over the year's, including his incredibly rare Legboot cd, which was released in very limited numbers, and only during two concerts.

My original "Lost Ears" album is also a very rare article, being a special promotional copy, without any of the original artwork, but for some reason includes the very scarce poster, an item that came with very few of the original 1976 releases.

Out of all the albums that Arthur has ever released, this 1976 Gull double album, is the final work to be released onto cd.

Much of the music, is similar in style to his final Kingdom Come album "Journey", there is not much of the insane Zoo Dossier to be found here.

One almost feels that the twin album was released just to cash in on his recent success, and seems out of place in the rest of the Kingdom Come releases.

The Lost Ears is not even recognised as a definite Kingdom Come album, much of it's composition is a rehash of various tunes taken from a number of his works, and the fact that it's taken just over forty year's to finally reach the cd format, indicates it's a forgotten piece of work.

Well it's finally available, but be quick, i can see availability being limited, as few music lovers will remember the album ever existed.

The album is based around some sort of concept where the human race is trapped inside a galactic zoo. Or something. Regardless of the concept and whether you grasp it or not, you truly feel that the musical content is conceptually based. It's like watching a fantasy movie where strange beings and humanoid entities swarm around as if it is all business as usual. Brilliant. The opening rambling about the Lord that leads into 'Internal messenger' is a typical example of the sense of humour that leads a vibrant existence on this album and certainly the next one, which is equally good. While 'Internal messenger'. 'Sunrise' and 'Simple man' are songs of normal, early progressive structure, songs like 'Night of the pigs' and 'Creep' ventures into the wastelands of the previous, shelved album 'Strangelands'.

I don't mind the occasional freakout, as on 'Creep', but I want it to be just that, occasional. 'Strangelands' is really too much freak for me but when mixed in with 'normal', if that at all is an apt description of Brown's musical legacy, it makes perfect sense and makes it all very enjoyable. This album, as with the following, is just that, the perfect mix of crazy freakouts in the canteen at the asylum and scary normality of someone who acknowledges no bounds or barriers. Brown and his cronies created a truly wilfully wayward collection of songs that at first might appear as a great conundrum but if one listens and puts in an effort it is simply adorable and truly rewarding. I wouldn't say that it is impenetrable but 'Galactic zoo dossier', though it might seem that way, really is not. It is simply a wonderful album and holds everything I adore in early incarnations of progressive rock. There is a sense of humour, the warm and destructive organ and that wonderfully crude soundscape that is so endearing. A truly brilliant piece of music that really have stood the test of time. It is one of my favorite albums and I suppose I would take it with me if I was sent on an everlasting journey into space, never ever returning to Earth. It would surely make my life a lot easier, when heading straight for Uranus. Or whatever.

I came to understand the album through the track "Whirlpool", by way of Brown's strange sailor anthemish bit, or how to explain it. I listened to the beginning of the song several times, when I'd given up hope, and it stuck by me. After that the whole track and eventually the whole album unravelled it's secrets and the treasure was found.

When you've cracked the code the album it is strangely accessible, though fully impenetrable at first. The music is severely demented, yet so amazingly conceived it's blinding me. The british antics and references are definately to my taste and the ideas seemed to come flying by at crazy speed and in ever crazier numbers. There are a lot of sounds, bits and utter pieces joining in, making me wonder how on Earth you are able to concoct anything like this. The only real putdown, for me, is when Brown discusses his bowl movements accompanied by the band making silly, colonic noises. It is ridicilous and out of place, in fact it is below Brown I think. That put aside, the album is endearingly british, quirky, insane, utterly progressive and entertaining in every sense of the word.

As a result, I find "Kingdom come" being a true delight. While not worthy of five stars it is certainly an album of four, bright shining stars. From my first feelings of bewilderment and disgust, I am now amazed and in love with this album. There are tales of everything, to the sounds of folk, medieval, hard rock, amazing organ playing an progressive music of the highest caliber. Top notch! Sort of.

I think this album is overrated if given over the three stars.

Being from one of the pioneers in progressive rock, one tends to be lenient, especially if one bears in mind the psychedelic gem The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Not that the talents do not come up here and there, but, on the whole, the album lacks a bit of a direction or an aim to reach the target if ever thre was one.

There are instrumental passages in which nothing happens at all and you keep waiting and waiting for the change or the progress to start. So there comes a moment in which you disconnect and stop looking through the window of your cabin/seat/compartment and produce your book out of your bag to have a little enjoyment. Then something attracts you attention for a while... but hopelessly boredom appears again...

I guess there are reviewers which rate this album much higher and maybe due to the impression it made them when it was released, but time has left its implacable mark on it.

Two and half stars (plus another half as a tip for being Crazy Arthur Brown).

Ibnacio

Arthur Brown is a cult singer who became famous with heavy psychedelic and 'shocking' the 'Crazy world of Arthur Brown' album in 1968. With his low voice and high screams (like Ian Gillan of Deep Purple) and his extravagant style and appearance he and his band made one of best standing psych records of the sixties. After that, Brown has had a career that perhaps never wasn't as satisfying as how it started. With Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come he went to the space/electronic scene and came up with this band of not-too-talented musicians.

At first we are confronted with the simplicity of the bare drum-computer (played by Brown) intro that is as slow as it is boring. Luckily the (often overrated) spacey/electronic and mellotron sounds join in eventually and we get some acceptable vocals of Brown. The chord structures are the simplest possible and even the vocals aren't very developed. The guitars often sound out-of-pitch, which always is a serious issue for me (false notes can make me shiver). Still, the opening track 'Time Captives' is perhaps the most interesting track of the album. 'Triangles' has a more developed harmonical approach, but is under- produced and sounds as if the band doesn't know where it is heading. The second long track 'Gypsy' suffers some more from the enormous lack of flexibility in form, dynamics and style that arises from playing without drummers. The sudden change of rhythm into the up- tempo section then finally comes as a surprise, but even this sounds poor because of the copy-paste sound. On side two we get to listen to mainly the same signs of amateurism that makes me want to put off side one.

Now, as the second reviewer that allows himself to be very critical towards this otherwise enthusiastic received record of Arthur Brown I'm beginning to wonder what others see in it. Spacey atmospheres? The sheer fact it's Arthur Brown going in prog-realms? To have yet another space rock record with heavy use of mellotrons? Obscurity? I just can't see.

Conclusion. For me, the apparent lack of flexibility, skills, song-writing and production isn't easy put aside. Perhaps my brother, 'the philosopher' will write a more happy review (after he's gotten my once oh so exciting purchase). As for me, I couldn't recommend this even to fans of Arthur Brown, because that magic vibe around his character will only become less vibrant whilst listening to this amateurism. Two stars.