Arthur Brown: The God of Hellfire….and man of peace – reviewed

by Richmond Harding on July 31, 2010

“I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE AND I BRING YOU……”

“FIRE!”

These are the words Arthur Brown screams with an unending quiver of energy …just as he did some 4 decades ago …..

And how The Firestation Centre for Arts and Culture BURNS tonight!!!

Only the face makeup has changed…… carried over from Arthur’s early 70s band ‘Kingdom Come’….now, only a singular eye on forehead…the PINEAL gland…..THE THIRD EYE…..

And so he conducts, a joyous dance, as his band plays with gathering ferocity, hell storm, brimstone…and fury

His vocal display is a wonder.. this man is 68! But he still has a full, throaty voice, a thick red wine, which hits the high notes in a blistering blast as he dances like a man of even half his age, a nimble Pied Piper, or Pan, who twirls and whirls, as an angel gathers about him, all dressed in silken gold, a dancer come to praise this phoenix lord….

The band is heaven, solid back boogie bass and tight trip drums, groovy blues, laced with WAH guitar… a piercing asthmatic sax and deliriously perfect Hammond organ, played by a rather chic hippy chic, a Pierrot beauty, with ‘Alice tears’ streaming from her eyes….

This cat like creature, curls like lioness, as she tumbles through the ivory and zebra keys as Arthur, dances towards her, reacts to her.. and with her….as the high notes soar into deeper outer space….

This then, is the preacher’s carnival, a theatrical delight, and a circus of theatre… and Arthur, it is apparent, is the only circus MASTER here…. in fact, he steals the very keyboard from beneath the lioness’s fingers, as she follows undaunted….and plays, crouching on the stage, like a concubine….

TRULY AUDACIOUS!, the audience applaud mid-song…..

MAGNIFICENT….

I couldn’t wish to be tonight, anywhere else but here…..

For …FIRE…is one of those classic tracks we all know…or should….or probably do, even if we think we don’t. A genre defining moment from the magical era of 1968,

Brown is also sited as having influenced the stage shows of many, Alice Cooper and Peter Gabriel are fine examples, and even Marilyn Manson has tagged the name of Arthur Brown, and as I think of the tune, the image comes to me, of Arthur on top of the pops…… plated metal helmet burning, brightly, dangerously even as he sings…”Fire.”

You couldn’t do that now! Health and Safety would scream!!

In late ’68 when Arthur played at a festival in Windsor, he actually caught fire, and the flames had to be doused by beer……no wonder then, that ….it is The Crazy World of Arthur Brown which is his best loved LP

Yet…was FIRE just a ‘one hit wonder’ I questioned?…. and for a moment, I couldn’t think of any more….

But a little research jogs the memory, the first LP was produced by The Who’s manager, KIT LAMBERT, with PETE TOWNSEND as the executive producer – so no wonder it found deserved success…

But this was by no means the end of a career.. Arthur’s band Kingdom Come continued through the early 70s and he has a cameo role, alongside Eric Clapton, as THE PRIEST in the iconic musical TOMMY…

Not to mention an involvment with THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECTS Tell Tale Heart (Alan Parsons, for those who dont know, is very much part of the inner rock-n-roll coattery, having worked with both the Beatles, and Pink Floyd as an engineer).

Yet, most important perhaps to remind a generation or two, that the prodigy’s rave tune Fire samples the very line…”I am the god of hellfire” …our nearest contemporary connection…

It was a beautiful night, one I will treasure,

I must mention too that Arthur’s band were well and most ably supported too by Macgillivray… a cross between the folk rock band STEELEYE SPAN and a medieval mummers play “Good evening” the singer says, as a woman….. “Good evening” she says too, in bearded mask, as a man….

The eve was set……somewhere in the experimental late 1960s… .just like hanging out at the ‘U.F.O’ and I was there….as he opened with Dylan’s “A hard rain’s gonna fall” and I’m so exited I drop my pad and pen on the floor….

He’s impossibly tall…. at first dressed in hat and robe like anti-Pope, then revealing circus master’s tails beneath… as the band and he, sway and carve through classics wonderously… “I put a spell on you” is fabulously warm….. a crackling valvestate parade of mystery…. a super groove… and how…. how this maestro seems to conjure magic tricks……

At times, he speaks Enochian scribble, others in angelic tongue… occasionaly….he screams a primal scream….but still, as always, he critcises capitalist greed and failing corporate governments…….

“Thank God” I think… for THIS man has LIVED THIS LIFE AND MORE..the dream is NEVER OVER….and he HAS INTEGRITY.

How then to follow Fire I wonder, or the dance of gypsy queen about her gypsy king? But d’you know? he does…

“I’m just a soul whose intentions are good,” he sings, calling with his voice….”Oh Lord, please do not let me be misunderstood…”

The message is clear.

And the guitar licks are amazing, as Arthur orchestrates the band to ORGASMASIC ever rising crescendo, until at last , he falls to his knees……

And the music rises, in-perpetuity, to a cacophony of chaos….. that rides well within in the harmony of law…as he stands ……deservedly … bathing in the glory of the universal light.

Simply STUNNING….his ENERGY IS OURS…

In latter years Arthur has moved towards using music as a therapeutic tool (he is a qualified counselor), and let me tell you that shows well in his deep, kind eyes, wizened depths at the crows feet sides and his firm, firm handshake ….that seems to last an perfect age…

“How do you keep going?” I ask…later backstage, amongst the beautiful carnival people…considering too, that he and the band have not only played The Firestation tonight, but appeared at Guilfest just the very same afternoon.