Sir Lord Baltimore

Album review

Like a vintage wine, Sir Lord Baltimore's first album, Kingdom Come, was deemed to be nothing special when it was unleashed in 1970, but after aging for years in the dusty cellars of musical memory, its groundbreaking sonic maelstrom spun of savage volume and distortion would ultimately be vindicated for presaging the rise of heavy metal (Kingdom Come indeed). None of this was of much use to the Brooklyn natives back in 1971, however, as they prepared to reenter the studio with newly added fourth member, Joey Dambra (brother of lead guitarist Lou), for a second, and, unbeknownst to them, final time. What's more, the band's powerful manager, Dee Anthony (Humble Pie, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, etc.), had recently convinced them to sever ties with their discoverer and creative advisor, Mike Appel, and although Anthony made good on his promise of recording contracts (with Mercury) and high-profile gigs (opening for Black Sabbath, among others), SLB seemed wanting for guidance on their sophomore, eponymous album. Side one, in particular, was almost unrecognizable as the work of the same blissfully naïve but inspired hooligans who had raped and pillaged their way across Kingdom Come with wild abandon; as opening track "Man from Manhattan" was a clumsy art rock pastiche featuring several disconnected sections over the course of ten confusing minutes, while the second track, "Where Are We Going," unsuccessfully attempted to mix soul singers and hard rock, and was further dampened by overdubbed crowd noises to make it sound like a live recording. For its part, side two boasted a far more familiar-sounding and infinitely more satisfying quartet of concise, powerful heavy rockers like "Chicago Lives" and "Loe and Behold" [sic] that were only slightly more "civilized" and, in the case of the mega-riffed "Woman Tamer," notably slower than those first album eruptions -- leaving only the once-again prog-inflected "Caesar LXXI" to bring the LP to a less-than-stellar conclusion. Much like the imminent finale of Sir Lord Baltimore's career, actually, once they were dropped by both Mercury and Anthony following another disappointing showing in record stores with this LP. Their career would never recover, but their legacy would...and how! [When it was finally reissued in conjunction with SLB's first album in the mid-'90s, this second opus had its two vinyl sides reversed so that "Chicago Lives" played first and "Where Are We Going" came last.]

© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo