ARTHUR BROWN Kingdom Come CD (1972)

Before there was Alice Cooper, before there was KISS, before shock rock became a genre with rules and merchandising schedules, there was Arthur Brown screaming at audiences in a burning helmet. He is, without argument, one of the founding architects of theatrical dark rock, and most people still only know the one song.

Kingdom Come from 1972 is the weird one, and that's saying something for a man whose entire career is the weird one. Recorded under the banner of Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, this album pushed deep into proto-industrial and experimental territory years before those terms existed. Primitive electronic textures, lysergic psychedelia, and Brown's absolutely unhinged vocal performances collide into something that sounds like it was transmitted from a parallel dimension where prog rock and industrial music evolved simultaneously. It's a genuine cult artefact, the kind of record that makes serious music people go quiet for a moment when you mention it. Essential for anyone interested in the dark, strange corners of early 1970s British psychedelic and progressive rock.

CD format. 1972 recording.

Fans of: The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, early Genesis, Comus, Van der Graaf Generator, Goblin.