KINGDOM COME

This is Arthur BROWNn's second album with KINGDOM COME, a self-entitled album released in 1972. So you don't confuse it with any other band called KINGDOM COME (such as the '80s band), look for the album cover that has a crescent and star, and this is the album you'll be looking for. Things have changed in the KINGDOM COME lineup since the release of "Galactic Zoo Dossier". Bassist Desmond Fisher, and synthesizer player Julian Paul Brown are now out of the picture, leaving BROWN, guitarist Andy Dalby, keyboardist Michael "Goodge" Harris, and drummer Martin "Slim" Steer to find a new bassist, in this case Phil Shutt.

To me, I felt this album was bit of a disappointment compared with "Galactic Zoo Dossier". Certainly the album isn't bad, it just lacks the energy and punch of its predicessor (or it's successor). In fact, the opening cut, "Water" seems to exist to be atmospheric and little else. But luckily most of the rest of the album is better, like the ever catchy "Love is a Spirit", the twisted "City Medoly" and "The Experiment". As KINGDOM COME was a more democratic band than THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN, Arthur wasn't the only one handling the vocals as Andy Dalby also does some vocal duties, like on the acoustic part of "The Experiment". Perhaps the most outrageous (as well as tasteless) part of the album is near the end of "The Experiment" where Arthur BROWN literally sings: "I used to get up early in the morning/and listen to the rumbling of my bowels", complete with very crude sounds. Also of interest is the Mellotron makes it's very first appearance on an Arthur BROWN album, that is "Hymn" and the end part of "Water" (don't worry, "Kingdom Come"'s followup album uses the Mellotron much more extensively). The last song on the album, "Hymn" just sounds too gospel-y for my liking, and I thought that song, as well as "Water", were the album's low point, making it a bit uneven, but the rest is quite good material. Just whatever you do, when you get in to Arthur BROWN's KINGDOM COME material, make this your last purchase.