Sir Lord Baltimore are a pioneering American heavy metal band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 1968 by lead vocalist/drummer John Garner, guitarist Louis Dambra, and bass player Gary Justin. They are notable for the fact that a 1971 review of their debut record, Kingdom Come, contained the first documented use of the term "heavy metal" to refer to a style of music. Additionally, Sir Lord Baltimore featured a drumming lead singer, traditionally a rarity in rock and metal music. The group have been called "the godfathers of stoner rock."
Having first met in high school, Garner (the band creator), Dambra, and Justin started rehearsing together in 1968. At the time of their formation, Dambra (as Loius Caine) was also playing for a gorup called The Koala, who released an eponymous LP in 1969. Additionally, Justin has cited Cream's JAck Bruce as an influence on his early career choice.
After a relatively short time, the new band auditioned for Mike Appel, who was then working as a talent scout and would late launch and manage the career of Bruce SPringsteen. Appel agreed to mentor them, reportedly gave them the name Sir Lord Baltimore, would later co-write the lyrics also co-arranged and co-produced their debut album.
That album, Kingdom Come. was recorded at Vantone Stuidos and engineered by Nick Masse from the legendary "Four Seasons" West Orange, New Jersey, with JIm Cretecos serving as Appel's co-producer. Addiontal tracks, mixing, & overdubbing were done at New York, New York's Jimi Hendrix Electric Lady Studios with legendary engineer Eddie Kramer, better know for his work with Jimi Hendrix, KISS, and many others. ACcording to Appel, British psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd had the opportunity to hear Sir Lord Baltimore during these sessions, and were reportedly impressed. Released on Mercury Records in 1970, Kingdom Come featured very fast-paced rock 'n' roll with high levels of distortion in the guitar andm in some cases, the bass, and extensive multi-tracking to further enhance the guitar sound. Though this style of rock 'n' roll would become popular in later years, it was considerably different from the majority of that era's contemporary rock music.
On February 19-20, 1971, Sir Lord Baltimore played consecutive nights at New York's Fillmore East as the opening act on a bill that included The J. Geils Band and Black Sabbath, as part of the latter's Paranoid tour. (Sir Lord Baltimore played additional dates on this tour, as well.) A photo of the band used in the Fillmore East's programs was later used as the cover of their 2006 album, Sir Lord Baltimore III Raw.
In May 1971, Mike Saunders (of later Angry Somoans fame) wrote a favorable review of Kingdom Come for Cream magazine. Of historical note was Saunders' assertion that "...Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book." To date, this appears to have been the first printed use of the term "heavy metal" to reference a musical genre.
Issued the same year, and again on Mercury, Sir Lord Baltimore marked a change in direction, with Kingdom Come's frenetic pace giving way to slower-tempoed songs more reminiscent of music produced by the band's hard rock peers. Sir Lord Baltimore expanded to a four-piece for this album, with Louis Dambra's brother, Joey Dambra, joining as a second guitarist. Sir Lord Baltimore contains the supposed live recording, "Where Are We Going" which was actually recorded at Mercury Studios. The audience was dubbed in since the produced thought it was a good idea to include a "live" track.
Their career started to fade after Sir Lord Baltimore's release, and Mercury dropped them shortly thereafter. The band publicly blamed drugs on its initial downfall, with loaw record sales and non-payment of reoyalties also being cited. However, the band did start work in the mid-1970s for an unreleased third album originally scheduled for 1976, and music written for that project was eventually used on Sir Lord Baltimore III Raw.
In 1994, Kingdom Come and Sir Lord Baltimore were reissued on a single compact disc, Kingdom Come/Sir Lord Baltimore, from PolyGram. However, the track listing on the combined CD differs from the original recordings. Kingdom Come was issued again seperately as downloads in 2007, this time on Athropology Recordings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Lord_Baltimore
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Return to Flesh!
Life is short, so make the most of it!
I hate to burst your bubble (just kidding, it gets me off), but there is no life after death. There is no reincarnation of the soul. Live this life, here and now, to the fullest extent. Given one brief chance to do all that you can, will you really shrink away from the sun and deny its illuminating rays? Or will you go forth boldly, and transcend through fulfillment of the body? Grow strong, conquer much, and laugh heartily!
I am calling for a return to flesh!
I have an aunt who helped my mother to rear me, and so I became very close to her. Sadly, she is a devout Catholic. As I grew older (surviving seven years of Catholic education) I came to understand just what kind of reprecussions that has had on her life. My poor, misled aunt has allowed a considerable amount of shit into her life. Rather than taking the positive action to change her situation, she instead sits back and prays for God's help, all the while having her Christ-like kindness taken advantage of. The worst part of all is that she is content because a dead, impaled (not to forget fictitious) Nazarene promised her an afterlife if she was a meek and humble little lamb.
There is no afterlife.
Conciousness is the result of various biological processes and once the clock stops ticking, the curtains close and the show is over. There is no sound reason to think otherwise.
Some spiritual-types find this brand of thinking to be drab and disheartening, lessening the beauty of "God's creation." My feelings are quite to the contrary. How exciting is the same amusement park ride after you've ridden it again and again? Or one that merely never ends? Because I have one ride on this ship as it hurtles through this particular pocket of space, I appreciate it so much more.
Now, I am in no way interested in changing the minds of the spiritualists. In a Niesztchean way, I believe there are different moralities for different people. This goes hand-in-hand with the concept that people are not equal. They are free to believe what they wish, but if their nonsensical dogmas bleed into my very real world, I will stand against them.
For those of you who are with me, who seek truth be it beautiful or ugly, we arrive to my next point.
Just what are you going to do during your brief trek through spacetime? With no promise of afterlife, rebirth, nirvana, et certera, your actions here on Earth become vastly more significant. A very wise man once admonished us to "never lose sight of the big picture...we are making hisory right now."
So, we return to Flesh, return to Earth, back to an understanding of who we are, void of wishful thinking and Judeo-christian morality. God, the giver of values, is dead. With a clear mind, decide your own values. I will compromise what makes me happy with doing what is best for my folk.
Others may see the brevity and become filled with a dangerous nihilism and a hatred of life. Be they not surprised when I lend a helping hand guiding them into the lions' pit.
R.
I hate to burst your bubble (just kidding, it gets me off), but there is no life after death. There is no reincarnation of the soul. Live this life, here and now, to the fullest extent. Given one brief chance to do all that you can, will you really shrink away from the sun and deny its illuminating rays? Or will you go forth boldly, and transcend through fulfillment of the body? Grow strong, conquer much, and laugh heartily!
I am calling for a return to flesh!
I have an aunt who helped my mother to rear me, and so I became very close to her. Sadly, she is a devout Catholic. As I grew older (surviving seven years of Catholic education) I came to understand just what kind of reprecussions that has had on her life. My poor, misled aunt has allowed a considerable amount of shit into her life. Rather than taking the positive action to change her situation, she instead sits back and prays for God's help, all the while having her Christ-like kindness taken advantage of. The worst part of all is that she is content because a dead, impaled (not to forget fictitious) Nazarene promised her an afterlife if she was a meek and humble little lamb.
There is no afterlife.
Conciousness is the result of various biological processes and once the clock stops ticking, the curtains close and the show is over. There is no sound reason to think otherwise.
Some spiritual-types find this brand of thinking to be drab and disheartening, lessening the beauty of "God's creation." My feelings are quite to the contrary. How exciting is the same amusement park ride after you've ridden it again and again? Or one that merely never ends? Because I have one ride on this ship as it hurtles through this particular pocket of space, I appreciate it so much more.
Now, I am in no way interested in changing the minds of the spiritualists. In a Niesztchean way, I believe there are different moralities for different people. This goes hand-in-hand with the concept that people are not equal. They are free to believe what they wish, but if their nonsensical dogmas bleed into my very real world, I will stand against them.
For those of you who are with me, who seek truth be it beautiful or ugly, we arrive to my next point.
Just what are you going to do during your brief trek through spacetime? With no promise of afterlife, rebirth, nirvana, et certera, your actions here on Earth become vastly more significant. A very wise man once admonished us to "never lose sight of the big picture...we are making hisory right now."
So, we return to Flesh, return to Earth, back to an understanding of who we are, void of wishful thinking and Judeo-christian morality. God, the giver of values, is dead. With a clear mind, decide your own values. I will compromise what makes me happy with doing what is best for my folk.
Others may see the brevity and become filled with a dangerous nihilism and a hatred of life. Be they not surprised when I lend a helping hand guiding them into the lions' pit.
R.
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