Arthur Brown was famous for his hit single “Fire”, which also included Vince Crane - later in Atomic Rooster - who is one of my very favourite R’n’B Hammondists during his time in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Arthur Brown did subsequently enter into a very crazy world when (history hear is hearsay rather than guarranteed) borrowing a friend’s large house in a place called Puddletown.  Shagging on the front lawn and general hippy behaviour were (allegedly) the order of the day.  The band included Android Funnel (so named because he went around with a funnel strapped to his head) on guitar, Dracken Theaker on drums and at least someone else who I can’t name because the album is currently lost in the snake pit of un-alphabetical order.  Funnel and Theaker were also in a clearly Beefheart inspired - there are moments when it is hard to distinguish them from the man himself (who must always be considered as a precedent for jagged music) at his jagged best - band called (or tagged) Rustic Hinge.

There are some similarities between what Puddletown Express were doing at this time and the Miles Davis “Bitches’ Brew” period - spookily the use of “synthetophone” by the express mirrors closely the sound and musical intent of the bass clarinet on the Miles.  But an important distinction is that Arthur Brown et al came from a rock perspective, and Miles from a jazz perspective. It is also the case that Miles was never really a free jazz player (except for a period in ‘68 - live in Paris), and most of the Bitches’ Brew stuff was charted to some extent or another.    

Consequently Miles never played anything as free, funky, jagged and downright extraordinary as “The Lord Don’t Want You”, which never ceases to amaze me every time I hear it - and I’ve heard it many, many times. Not even Puddletown Express came close to it, or even Arthur Brown in the rest of his career.

Arthur went on to found the prog rock band Kingdom Come, which played some music similar to early Vince Crane Atomic Rooster, so it’s hard to know why they split.  The Hammondist in Kingdome Come (Goodge Harris) is of a far less rought style than Vince, and never really uses the out-and-out Hammond sound. But his playing is very satisfying from a different perspective.

The quality of Arthur’s output and his madness were severely affected (in a detrimental, with the emphasis off the mental, fashion) by his becoming involved with a “mystical” group (not musical) called “Beshara”.  This had been founded by Reshad (Tom) Feild and his teacher Bulent Rauf, and should never have been so dull if Reshad’s first book, “The Last Barrier” was anything to go by. It wasn’t - and I’ve been thrown out of Beshara twice.

Anyway, back to “The Lord Don’t Want You” - it definitely taps into the energy of free jazz, but is also remarkably funky and jagged in the way that post-punk funk was supposed to be - only more so. But it isn’t jazz, it comes from a rocker.

Right click to download the Real file of the whole tune

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