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Kingdom Come (Sir Lord Baltimore album)

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Kingdom Come
Studio album by
Sir Lord Baltimore
ReleasedDecember 1970
RecordedVantone Studios; Electric Lady Studios
Genre
Length38:00
LabelMercury
ProducerMike Appel, Jim Cretecos, Eddie Kramer, Kim King
Sir Lord Baltimore chronology
Kingdom Come
(1970) 		Sir Lord Baltimore
(1971)

Kingdom Come is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Sir Lord Baltimore, released on Mercury Records in 1970. It was one of the earliest heavy metal albums and is considered an important influence on the genre.[1][2][3]

Writing and recording

All of the songs on Kingdom Come were co-written and arranged by Mike Appel, who would later become Bruce Springsteen's manager.[4] Co-produced by Appel and Jim Cretecos, the album was recorded at Vantone Studios in New Jersey before being mixed by Eddie Kramer and Kim King at Electric Lady Studios in New York.[5] Kramer is well known for his work with Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and Curtis Mayfield.

Musical style

This album is notable for the fact that its 1971 review in Creem contains an early documented use of the term "heavy metal" to refer to a style of music.[6][7] It features distorted guitars and bass, enhanced by extensive use of multi-tracking, and has been compared to Deep Purple, Blue Cheer, Van Halen, Kiss and the Stooges.[8]

Kingdom Come is also considered a pioneer in stoner rock.[9][10][11]

Release

Kingdom Come was released in December 1970.

It was reissued on PolyGram in 1994, on Red Fox in 2003, and on Anthology Recordings in 2007. The 1994 and 2003 re-releases also contained 1971's Sir Lord Baltimore. The re-release has a different track listing than the source material, transposing the original records' A- and B-sides. This compilation featured the same cover image used on Kingdom Come, only with that album's title removed.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[12]

Kingdom Come has received acclaim from critics, and its influence on heavy metal music is well-noted. In his retrospective review, Marcos Hassan of Tiny Mix Tapes called it "[one] of those great records where not a second is wasted".[13] Loudwire named it in #68 in their list "Top 70 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1970s" and has called "one of the earliest true hard rock albums."[14] The album ranked on the list "10 Essential Proto-metal Albums" by Classic Rock.[15]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Master Heartache"4:37
2."Hard Rain Fallin'"2:56
3."Lady of Fire"2:53
4."Lake Isle of Innersfree"4:03
5."Pumped Up"4:07
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Kingdom Come"6:35
7."I Got a Woman"3:03
8."Hell Hound"3:20
9."Helium Head (I Got a Love)"4:02
10."Ain't Got Hung on You"2:24
Total length:38:00
Note

The cassette release of the album transposes the tracks "Lady of Fire" and "Hell Hound" in order to even the runtime of sides A and B.[16]

2007 reissue

Anthology Recordings' 2007 re-release contains an altered track listing, transposing sides A and B of the original record. (Polygram and Red Fox's reissues also used this track listing.)

No.TitleLength
1."Kingdom Come"6:35
2."I Got a Woman"3:03
3."Hell Hound"3:20
4."Helium Head (I Got a Love)"4:02
5."Ain't Got Hung on You"2:24
6."Master Heartache"4:37
7."Hard Rain Fallin'"2:56
8."Lady of Fire"2:53
9."Lake Isle of Innersfree"4:03
10."Pumped Up"4:07

Personnel

Sir Lord Baltimore
  • John Garner – lead vocals, drums
  • Louis Dambra – guitar
  • Gary Justin – bass
Technical

References

  1. ^ "10 proto-metal albums you should definitely own". loudersound. August 19, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  2. ^ "The 10 Best Proto Metal Albums To Own On Vinyl". Vinyl Me, Please. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  3. ^ Noize, Astral (May 21, 2018). "The Forgotten Trailblazers of Heavy Metal: A Study of Underlooked Proto-Metal". ASTRAL NOIZE. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
  4. ^ Unterberger, Richie, Sir Lord Baltimore biography, AllMusic. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
  5. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Sir Lord Baltimore biography". Anthology Recordings. Archived from the original on February 9, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
  6. ^ Saunders, Mike (May 1971). "Sir Lord Baltimore — Kingdom Come". Creem. Archived from the original on March 8, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.
  7. ^ Weinstein, Deena (2009). Heavy Metal: The Music And Its Culture. Hachette Books. p. 20. ISBN 9780786751037.
  8. ^ Cope, Julian, Kingdom Come review, HeadHeritage.co.uk, August 2002. Retrieved on February 15, 2007.
  9. ^ Sleazegrinder (March 2007). "The Lost Pioneers of Heavy Metal". Classic Rock.
  10. ^ McPadden, Mike (November 24, 2014). "Revisiting Brooklyn's Heavy Metal Roots With Dust and Sir Lord Baltimore". Vice. Retrieved May 19, 2019. The music of ... Sir Lord Baltimore is so fully realized and so instantly commanding that it's mind-boggling to consider that it was made by high school kids. When you take a listen, there it is: doom metal/stoner rock, wholly and flawlessly formed by teenage longhairs, awash in the madness of Brooklyn circa 1970 A.D
  11. ^ Soderberg, Brandon (April 14, 2015). "How Sir Lord Baltimore invented stoner rock because it didn't know no better". Baltimore City Paper. Retrieved May 19, 2019. This is stoner rock before stoner rock because, well, what else would you call it?
  12. ^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Kingdom Come - Sir Lord Baltimore | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  13. ^ Hassan, Marcos (June 2, 2012). "Sir Lord Baltimore – Sir Lord Baltimore/Kingdom Come | DeLorean | Tiny Mix Tapes". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  14. ^ "Top 70 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 1970s". Loudwire. May 2, 2016. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  15. ^ Sleazegrinder (December 18, 2016). "10 Essential Proto-metal Albums". Classic Rock Magazine. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  16. ^ Sir Lord Baltimore – Kingdom Come (1970, Cassette), retrieved January 18, 2022
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