Second album from Kingdom Come
BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 10/17/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I call Arthur Brown's second album with Kingdom Come the "Crescent and Star" album, since that's what's featured on the front cover. The album was originally released in 1972 on Polydor. I'd give this album a three and half star rating but I'm not given that option, and here's the reason why: I don't feel this album quite lives up to the greatness of Galactic Zoo Dossier (or even Kingdom Come's next, and final album, Journey). The only new band member this time around is bassist Phil Shutt, the rest of the band consisted of Arthur Brown (as always), guitarist Andy Dalby, keyboardist Michael "Goodge" Harris, and drummer Martin "Slim" Steer. Previous bassist Desmond Fisher left the band and same for synthesizer player Julian Paul Brown (not sure of his relation to Arthur). This album doesn't quite have the punch, or is as aggressive or exciting as Galactic Zoo Dossier. The album, overall tends to be mellower. "Water" is that prime example, it's basically an atmospheric piece, but it's really lacking in any memorable themes or melodies. But near the end, for the first time ever on an Arthur Brown album is the presence of Mellotron (which doesn't get used much here, but will be much more on Kingdom Come's following album). The next song, the ballad "Love is a Spirit", luckily is way better. It's obviously a song meant to get radio airplay (after all Brown was hoping he'd get another hit like he did with "Fire"). It's quite catchy, and an excellent song regardless of intentions. The band starts getting in to more experimental progressive territory with "City Melody" and "Traffic Light Song". "The Experiment" is one of the album's highlights, because it goes through several different changes that sound like different songs. The middle part of the song is more acoustic, with Andy Dalby, rather than Arthur Brown handling the vocals. "Hymn" is a bit more gospel-influenced than the rest, and this song makes me wish it was a bit more adventurous because it more or less stays the same throughout. To me, I find this album a bit uneven, and if you want to try any of Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come material, I suggest you get Galactic Zoo Dossier and Journey before you come here."
Track Listings (11) - Disc #1