Dec 14

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN

 
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown  are an English psychedelic rock band formed by singer Arthur Brown in 1967.  The band included Vincent Crane (Hammond organ and piano), Drachen Theaker (drums), and Nick Greenwood (bass).  Their song “Fire” (released in 1968 as a single) was one of the one-hit wonders in the United Kingdom and United States in the 1960s.  “Fire” sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
For Dead Hippie’s detractors on the Internet, it is Simon Smallwood’s singing that the various blogger types don’t like:  “histrionics” come up a lot, “gallingly awful” is one description, and still another complained that he was trying to copy The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (remember “Fire”?) – like that’s a bad thing.  I guess it is a personal preference; there are some who consider Sleater-Kinney lead singer Corin Tucker difficult to listen to (not to mention Bob Dylan), but I have never had that problem – far from it. 
 
(July 2012)
 
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Vocalist Greg Lake of King Crimson joined keyboard wiz Keith Emerson of the Nice and Carl Palmer, who had drummed for the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Atomic Rooster, in forming Emerson, Lake and Palmer; how you feel about this “super group” probably goes a long way toward defining how you feel about progressive rock as a whole.  King Crimson’s woodwind man, Ian McDonald eventually co-founded Foreigner, a highly successful though completely different band.  For decades, I confused McDonald with about the only other prominent woodwind player in rock and roll, Jethro Tull front man and flautist Ian Anderson. 
 
 (October 2012)
 
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Even in the context of the late 1960’s, King Crimson’s debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King seemed to come out of nowhere, even after other bizarro albums had already come along (both of which are excellent by the way):  the 1968 debut Gris-Gris by Dr. John the Night Tripper (the stage name of premier New Orleans pianist Mac Rebennack, and later shortened to Dr. John), which features voodoo rhythms and chants; and, in the same year, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, which spawned the hit single “Fire”.  In the Court of the Crimson King featured powerful music and dense lyrics, particularly on the title song, “In the Court of the Crimson King” and “21st Century Schizoid Man”, interspersed with quieter songs like “I Talk to the Wind” and an extended free-form jazzy interlude on “Moonchild”.  I have already discussed this album at length on an earlier post about another UARB, Trillion. 

 
(March 2013)
 
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The NME ad about the Klubs – which included a photo of the band in face paint like the Crazy World of Arthur Brown was using (their hit single “Fire” had come out earlier in 1968) – was deemed worthy of inclusion in the magazine edition. 

 

(July 2013)

 

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Mick Farren’s early writing was for one of the first underground newspapers, International Times (later called IT after threats of litigation by The Times of London); he wrote articles for the newspaper and also edited IT for a period of time.  The newspaper was founded in November 1966 and was a mixture of rock music promotion, polemical journalism, and scandalous humor.  The London police repeatedly raided the newspaper’s office in an attempt to shut them down; IT responded by hosting a benefit rock concert called The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream in April 1967 featuring Pink Floyd, the Pretty Things, Savoy Brown, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Soft Machine, and the Move.

 
(March 2014/1)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021