THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN

This album completely kicked my 12 year- old ass back in 1968. And to think that the track "Fire" was in regular rotation on AM radio and was somewhat of a "hit" is unbelievable when I think about it today. Being that it was released in 1968 this might be considered proto-prog by some folks, but I think "prog" really began in 1967. I think that it would be unfair to to call this album psychedelic as Vincent Crane's organ colors are much too dark and full bodied compared to the cheesy Vox and Farfisa sounds that most bands were using in the '60's. Arthur's lyrics are dark and frightning in a way that only obscure blues artists were in the same time period. And his presentation was completely unique. While there is no mellotron on this album, the string arrangements are very close to what someone might have played on a tron and the flutes are very tron-like also. The brass parts tend to sound a little "'60's Brittish" but they work nicely overall. I would imagine that this album left a rather big impression on the young Ozzy Osbourne. The CD reissue is a good transfer of a good analog recording and adds 5 tracks of mono mixes that the original LP did not have. And in the unusual way of Arthur Brown, the bonus tracks are at the start of the CD and not at the end. A good album to check out if you are interested in hearing what the roots of prog sound like.