Time Captives: Cherry Red, Esoteric Collect Complete Albums, More from Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come

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I am the god of Hellfire and I bring you...Fire!

With those words, Arthur Brown introduced "Fire," his unhinged single that shot to No. 1 in the U.K. and Canada and No. 2 in the U.S. in 1968. While "Fire" has endured, Brown's band The Crazy World of Arthur Brown didn't. The group dissolved in June 1969 after recording just two albums, one of which was shelved for two decades. Brown, the charismatic and outrageous frontman, moved on and formed a new band: Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come. Now, all four of the band's albums have been collected with copious bonus material (including previously unreleased tracks) on Cherry Red imprint Esoteric Recordings' 5-CD box set Eternal Messenger: An Anthology 1970-1973.

Brown, recently returned to the U.K. after more than a year in America, enlisted keyboardist Michael "Goodge" Harris, guitarist Bob Ellwood, and bassist Dave Ambrose to join his new outfit. Joined by drummer Rob Tait and percussionist Pete Bailey, the band dubbed Kingdom Come ran a tape recorder while jamming on loose, original compositions. The results were briefly released on CD in 1995 as Jam and return here in remastered form. U.K. label Polydor had distributed "Fire" via Kit Lambert's Track Records, but owing to difficulties with Track, the label initially passed on signing Kingdom Come. Brown, however, pitched his new band to Polydor's parent PolyGram, and debut Galactic Zoo Dossier appeared on Polydor after all.

The 1971 album appeared minus Ellwood, Ambrose, Tait, and Bailey, and plus guitarist Andy Dalby, bassist Desmond Fisher, organist/guitarist Julian Paul Brown, and drummer Martin Steer. They brought to life Brown's ambitious concept about humans "lost in our own maze," trapped in a zoo of their own making. The dark LP took in rock, blues, soul, and even classical influences, anchored by Brown's quasi-operatic, dramatic, and instantly recognizable voice. Its progressive and frequently discordant sound was quite a bit different than "Fire," though, and the hooks weren't plentiful. The downbeat lyrics with vaguely spiritual and sci-fi overtones also lacked accessibility. But Galactic Zoo Dossier did allow Brown's uncompromising vision to come to fruition. The band brought the songs to life in theatrical live performances, replete with makeup, costumes, and special effects.

Brown, Dalby, and Harris regrouped with bassist Phil Shutt for the band's eponymous sophomore LP. Kingdom Come (1972) was also loosely conceptual, based "all on water...the idea being that we are all captains of our own metaphorical ship," per Brown in the liner notes. "There are always people, however, who want to grab hold of your ship and take it under their control." If the narrative was oblique on such H2O-based songs as "Water," "The Whirlpool," and "The Experiment (featuring Lower Colonic Irrigation)," the overarching theme wasn't nearly as dark as on Galactic Zoo Dossier. (Note that Brown was experimenting with these concepts as far back as the jam session.) The musicianship was expectedly aggressive and crackling throughout - taking in extended instrumental passages, shifting moods and time signatures, and a sense of abandon that recalls Frank Zappa.

Kingdom Come's first two albums were more ambitious than wholly successful, but 1973's Journey would be truly groundbreaking. Brown's band (whittled down to just Dalby, Shutt, and keyboardist Victor Peraino) was the first to use a drum machine-in this case, the Bentley Rhythm Ace-so prominently on an entire album. Peraino, on keyboards including the Mellotron, provided much of the album's cosmic ambiance. Brown also used a triangle to guide the guitar playing and achieve unusual tones on the guitar. While Dave Edmunds (Rockpile, Love Sculpture) bears credit for producing all but two songs on Journey, Brown asserts in the liner notes that Dennis Taylor actually produced the sessions with Edmunds mixing the final release. Brown praises Edmunds, however, for championing the group's new, electronic sound - somewhat of a surprise considering the producer's own oeuvre as a rock and roll revivalist. An innovative slice of space-prog, Journey anticipated Krautrock and dabbled in metal and primal blues. Like Kingdom Come's first two albums, it didn't register much commercially at the time. Today it's hailed for its visionary sound.

All three core albums are expanded in Esoteric's box with singles and/or alternate versions on every disc. (All of the bonus tracks from the label's 2010 individual reissues have been retained.) As well as Jam, the box also includes a full disc of BBC Sessions. At the BBC 1971-1972 has live material recorded for Top Gear and Mike Harding, Alan Black, and John Peel's shows. Nine of these twelve tracks are previously unreleased, with only the Peel session having been issued on Esoteric's 2010 expansion of Journey.

Each album is handsomely packaged in a mini-LP sleeve within the clamshell case; both Galactic Zoo Dossier and At the BBC are gatefolds. A 48-page booklet has Malcolm Dome's comprehensive essay drawing on an insightful new interview with Brown plus striking photos of the band, picture sleeve and poster images, and more. A foldout poster with lyrics for Galactic Zoo Dossier is also included. Ben Wiseman has remastered all of the material.

Kingdom Come broke up after Journey, and Brown pursued a solo career. He later appeared on key albums from The Who (his old friend Pete Townshend had championed The Crazy World of Arthur Brown) and The Alan Parsons Project and played with Hawkwind, Carl Palmer's ELP Legacy, and The Pretty Things. Eternal Messenger: An Anthology 1970-1973 is a fitting tribute to this rock pioneer and provocateur who hasn't always gotten his due. It's available now at the links below.

Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Eternal Messenger: An Anthology 1970-1973 (Cherry Red/Esoteric ECLEC52752, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Galactic Zoo Dossier (Polydor LP 2310 130, 1971)

Internal Messenger
Space Plucks
Galactic Zoo
Metal Monster
Simple Man
Night of the Pigs
Sunrise
Trouble
Brains
Medley: Galactic Zoo (Pt. 2)/Space Plucks (Pt. 2)/Galactic Zoo (Pt. 3)
Creep
Creation
Gypsy Escape
No Time
Eternal Messenger (Polydor single 2001 234, 1971)
D. Side to Be the B-Side the C-Side (Polydor single 2001 234, 1971)
Sunrise (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2179, 2010)
Metal Monster (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2179, 2010)
Space Plucks Dem Bones (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2179, 2010)

CD 2: Kingdom Come (Polydor LP 2310 178, 1972)

Water
Love Is a Spirit That Will Never Die
City Melody
Traffic Light Song
The Teacher
The Experiment (Including Lower Colonic Irrigation)
The Whirlpool
The Hymn
Traffic Light Song (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2186, 2010)
The Hymn (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2186, 2010)
The Experiment (Including Lower Colonic Irrigation) (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2186, 2010)

CD 3: Journey (Polydor LP 2310 254, 1973)

Time Captives
Triangles
Gypsy
Superficial Roadblocks: Lost Time/Superficial Roadblocks/Corpora Supercelestia
Conception
Spirit of Joy
Come Alive
Time Captives (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2187, 2010)
Conception (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2187, 2010)
Come Alive (Alternate) (previously included on Esoteric reissue ECLEC 2187, 2010)
Spirit of Joy (Single Version) (Polydor single 2001 416, 1973)
Slow Rock (Single Version) (Polydor single 2001 416, 1973)