ARTHUR BROWN: DANCE (1975)
1) We've Got To Get Out Of
This Place; 2) Helen With The Sun; 3) Take A Chance; 4) Crazy; 5) Hearts And
Winds; 6) Dance; 7) Out Of Time; 8) Quietly With Tact; 9) Soul Garden; 10) I
Know The Lord Will Find A Way; 11) Is There Nothing Beyond God.
«Kingdom Come» came to an untimely end with Journey, but, considering that Brown
still retained Andy Dalby for his next — and this time, first officially solo
— project, one could claim that they simply underwent a name change, since the
remainder of Kingdom Come's lineup was always a revolving door anyway. That is,
one could claim that only before
listening to the album. If you don't hear the substantial difference, try again.
Not that the difference is so substantial as to
justify occasional haughty dismissals of Dance.
One anonymous web reviewer went as far as to blame it for showing «disco
tendencies», despite the fact that there is not the slightest hint of disco on
the album — most likely, falling victim of a simple psychological association:
if the year is 1975 and your album is called Dance, it must be some sort of a disco sellout, regardless of what
your ears tell you. Others do not venture that far out, but the overall
consensus seems to be that Dance
finds Arthur Brown in decline, betraying his psychedelic and avantgarde roots
for a smooth, accessible, ordinary pop sound.
However, let us not forget the general picture.
At heart, Arthur Brown was primarily a big, sincere fan of R'n'B in its
various incarnations, the grander, louder, and more theatrical, the better. The
three albums of Kingdom Come, in the overall frame of his work, look more like
a part-time experiment, fueled by the mood of the times — a conscious attempt
to go over the top by adding layers of extra complexity to the same old R'n'B
sound. Now that progressive rock was on its way out, though, Brown's
experiment, too, came to an end: and in a way, Dance is not so much a sellout as a process of «calming down» and
returning to things that are less arrogant and defying, although by no means
following the particular fads of 1975.
It opens with a loud cover of ʽWe've Got To Get
Out Of This Placeʼ — yes, including a wobbly synthesizer pattern characteristic
of the Era of Funk, but otherwise, quite loyal to the 1965 original in melody
and attitude: sufficient proof that Brown could care less about the present if
he still didn't have an open path to his past (and, in a funny move of
self-irony, the other golden oldie cover on the record is the Stones' ʽOut Of
Timeʼ, where Brown's "you're out of touch, my baby, my poor old-fashioned
baby" could just as well relate to himself as to his imaginary
antagonist). Both songs are quite well done, if not particularly spectacular in
any respect, and the presence of «old-fashioned» female backup harmonies and
saxophone solos should not be in the least annoying for those who don't have a
prejudice against «old-fashioned» R'n'B in general.
The original compositions, meanwhile, are
diverse and, even though much less befuddling and easier to swallow than on
Kingdom Come albums, also make more sense — at the very least, they give the
listener enough time to flesh out an emotional reaction. There is still at
least one lengthy, prog-influenced, epic: ʽHelen With The Sunʼ is hardly worse
than the average anthemic ballad from Kingdom
Come or Journey, with a
powerhouse vocal from Arthur and tasteful arrangements of electronically
treated guitars from Dalby. There is a little bit of facetious/salacious music
hall (ʽCrazyʼ) that is so tongue-in-cheek it would be ridiculous to get
offended. There are moody, lyrical R'n'B numbers (like the title track) that
sound very closely to certain bits of Kingdom Come properly extended and played
to their full length. And there is a funny ten-minute «gospel suite» to end the
album, running the gamut from kitschy ska (ʽSoul Gardenʼ) to quite sincere-sounding
gospel-funk (ʽI Know The Lord Will Find A Wayʼ) to a rather mysterious, unpredictable
reggae conclusion where, after having just sung all the required praise for the
Supreme Being, Arthur repeats the mantraic question "is there nothing
beyond God?" for two and a half minutes — obviously not hoping for an
answer, but not afraid to ask the question, either.
My personal favorite on this record has always
been ʽQuietly With Tactʼ, a song that plays out exactly as suggested — in waltz
tempo, with a certain cheese-free elegance, and features some of Dalby's finest
examples of guitar playing: Dalby is actually credited for writing the entire
song, and, indeed, Arthur's vocal part, fine as it is, sounds here more like a
taster introduction to Andy's solo parts, spiralling around the listener in a
grand display of «controlled emotion». Nobody ever seems to list the song as a
highlight, which is a travesty: its solos would easily make my Top 100, had I
ever bothered to compile one.
All in all, Dance is certainly not recommendable for those who, in «The Crazy
World Of Arthur Brown», value the «crazy» part above all else. But it is
definitely an album that belongs to the world of Arthur Brown as safely as
anything, and its combination of styles, moods, theatricality, and spirit is
anything but generic for 1975. And I,
for one, feel good about getting to hear a bit of the human side of Arthur Brown here — we have all gotten to know him
fairly well as the God of Hellfire and the Time Captive, but it turns out that
he can fairly well hold his own in the much more grounded genre of
«dance-art-pop». Thumbs up, of course.
Interestingly, Victor Peraino put out an album in 1975 under the name "Victor Peraino's Kingdom Come", though I'm not sure that any other band members played on it.
ReplyDeleteConsidered as a lengthy, prog-influenced epic Helen with the Sun is quite generic indeed. Nor do I hear powerhouse vocals, but then again I measure everything by the standard set by Gillan and Dio.
ReplyDeleteStill it's an enjoyable listen, exactly because of the dance (and certainly not disco) element. It also helps that Lee Robinson plays like the reincarnation of Gary Thain (OK, he had still some months to live). And I like the goofy synth at the end; sounds like Keith Emerson who for once manages to restrain himself.
This records has some nice ideas and sounds, altough listeanable i think it's somewhat bland, it has melody but nothing particularly interesting or capivating.
ReplyDelete