Still Crazy after all these years!!!
Alan Dearling shares images and words
‘Stunning’, ‘Magnificent’, ‘Theatrical’ – all apply to the current show from the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. It is a multimedia extravaganza – great band, superb showmanship and performance art at its finest, courtesy of Arthur and his creative director, Claire Waller. They have honed the stage show into a wonderful example of performance art. Memorable. Arthur changed costumes, make-up, masks between every song. And he was in very fine voice indeed. Stentorian, almost Shakespearian at times, and hitting the high notes in the more subdued, mellow songs.
Here he is in a recent video from Hamburg: ‘Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child’:
And in Helsinki: ‘Voice of Love’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y01U8pMo1QU
83 years young, Arthur Brown hails from Whitby, where his parents had run a guest house, and then educated in Leeds at Roundhay Grammar School… he was also one of the first pop stars of the 1960s who went to university, first in London, then Reading. He had studied law and philosophy. But academia’s loss was the music business’s gain.
All Hail the God of Hell-Fire!!!
It says on Wikipedia, that, “After a spell fronting a number of bands in London, Brown then moved to Paris in 1966, where he worked on his theatrical skills.”
He first sang with The Ramong Sound in 1966, who became the Foundations.
Again from Wikipedia, we learn that The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, “…was formed in 1967. With Vincent Crane (Hammond organ and piano), Drachen Theaker (drums, who was replaced in 1969 by Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster and later ELP) and Nick Greenwood (bass).
Their song ‘Fire’ (released in 1968 as a single) sold more than one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart and Canada, and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as its parent album, ‘The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’.”
I saw Arthur early on in 1971 with the newly formed Kingdom Come at the University of Kent (maybe at Darwin College, where I was on the College Committee), and later with I’m fairly sure a different line-up of Kingdom Come (and a drum machine). He was wearing a perspex box on his head! He had just released the concept album ‘Journey’, after ‘Galactic Zoo Dossier’ (1971), and ‘Kingdom Come’ (1972). I remember considering it as marginally incomprehensible. The concert was one of the ‘Concert in the Park’ seriesin Harlow, in June 1973 and it was sponsored by the local town council. I think the Pink Fairies were the support act, but gave up when the drummer, Russell Hunter, collapsed on stage. Fairies’ guitarist announced, “Sorry, his motor’s bust!” In fact the whole concert was pretty chaotic, since Arthur had wanted it to be more like a sit-down, outdoor theatre show. Not what the Essex crowd wanted or expected. I also witnessed him being crucified on a cross, while performing with various of his musical buddies including Screaming Lord Sutch (and his Heavy Friends)! Down the years, I’ve also seen Arthur Brown support, and guest with Hawkwind and members of that band’s various offshoots.
By coincidence, I have been collaborating with musician Gregg McKella recently. He has worked with multi-instrumentalist and producer, Nick Pynn, who has contributed to Gregg’s new album, but Nick also worked extensively with Arthur. In 2007, Brown and Pynn released an album, ‘Voice of Love’, on the Côte Basque record label, featuring a number of original recordings.
The current band line-up for The Crazy World of… is Arthur Brown, Jim Mortimore, Sam Walker and Dan Smith. Arthur is still flaming Fire. A true Valkyrie from Valhalla. My experience of the live show took place at The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge – a regular venue for Arthur over the years.
https://www.thegodofhellfire.com/
Alice Cooper has said: “Without Arthur Brown there would be no Alice Cooper.”
And, Alice along with many other musical colleagues, has been involved with an Arthur Brown film project, ‘Everything is Now’, with director, Sam Walker, which went out for crowd-funding a few years ago, but which doesn’t seem to have been completed as yet. Fingers crossed that it will get finished and made publicly available: https://www.facebook.com/arthurbrowneverythingisnow/
Finally, here is a podcast from 2024 featuring an interview with Arthur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMMNQ6p4XAk
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