THIS IS THE US ORIGINAL PRESSING on MERCURY 'Red' label. PROMOTIONAL COPY. GATEFOLD COVER (UNIPAK Style). The cover is in VG condition, normal wear, BUT discolouration/wear on spines/corners, ringwear/edgewear, red written on front (centre), written/marks on rear (top right corner); INSIDE PANELS in VG+ condition, with surface edgewear for details see photos (with and without flashlight). The vinyl is in VG+ condition (some clicks) and plays wonderfully and without lessening in sound quality.

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SIR LORD BALTIMORE

Brooklyn, NY's Sir Lord Baltimore were arguably America's first bona fide heavy metal band, and the funny thing is, they didn't even know it, since the style had yet to establish itself when the band first burst onto the scene. And because SLB's precocious, raw talent was offset by their immaturity and utter lack of business acumen, their budding career was summarily derailed after just two generally underrated albums. Thus, they were cursed to endure decades of obscurity until their music was rediscovered, vindicated, and often covered or flat-out copied by many stoner rock bands of the 1990s and beyond. If anything makes sense in the ill-fated Sir Lord Baltimore story, it's the fact that the commercial success attained during their existence was as modest as the band's inner-city roots. Vocalist/drummer John Garner, guitarist Louis Dambra, and bassist Gary Justin were recently graduated from high school and had only been rehearsing for a few months when they auditioned for talent scout Mike Appel, who would later help launch the career of one Bruce Springsteen. Impressed by the band's undeniable power and chemistry, and assured by Dambra (who had just recorded an album with another group named the Koala) that the ferocious riffs he was playing were in fact not copped from Jimmy Page, Appel decided to take the inexperienced young trio under his wing. So, after fine-tuning and rearranging their raw materials into a strong batch of songs, Sir Lord Baltimore began recording their debut album, Kingdom Come, in West Orange, NJ, where they reportedly impressed a visiting Pink Floyd and attracted the attention of high-powered artist manager Dee Anthony, who wasted little time pushing out Appel and taking over the group's day-to-day operation.

Produced by John Linde

1971     LP     MERCURY  RECORDS       STEREO   SRM 1 613

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.   ORIGINAL PRESSING

GATEFOLD COVER (Unipak Style)

HEAVY CARDBOARD COVER

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Barcode: none

LABEL: MERCURY -  WHITE LABEL - BLACK TEXT

Catalog on cover: SRM 1 613

Catalog on labels: SRM-1-613

Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): SRM-1-613-[scratched out]M-A2-II-I  PR  

Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): SRM-1-613  BM-2--I-II  PR

On labels: rim text "Manufactured and Distributed by Mercury Record Productions, Inc."

Produced by........

Executive Producer......

Arranged by..........

PROMOTIONAL COPY . NOT FOR SALE

On Front Cover: Mercury............Printed in U.S.A.

On Inside Panels: Photos, Tracklist & Credits

tracklisting

Side A: MAN FROM MANHATTAN - WHERE ARE WE GOING

Side B: CHICAGO LIVES - LOE AND BEHOLD - WOMAN TAMER - CAESAR LXXI

grading

RECORD VG+ but (please, read above description)

SLEEVE VG but (please, see pictures and read above description)

Like a vintage wine, Sir Lord Baltimore's first album, Kingdom Come, was deemed to be nothing special when it was unleashed in 1970, but after aging for years in the dusty cellars of musical memory, its groundbreaking sonic maelstrom spun of savage volume and distortion would ultimately be vindicated for presaging the rise of heavy metal (Kingdom Come indeed). None of this was of much use to the Brooklyn natives back in 1971, however, as they prepared to reenter the studio with newly added fourth member, Joey Dambra (brother of lead guitarist Lou), for a second, and, unbeknownst to them, final time. What's more, the band's powerful manager, Dee Anthony (Humble Pie, Peter Frampton, Joe Cocker, etc.), had recently convinced them to sever ties with their discoverer and creative advisor, Mike Appel, and although Anthony made good on his promise of recording contracts (with Mercury) and high-profile gigs (opening for Black Sabbath, among others), SLB seemed wanting for guidance on their sophomore, eponymous album. Side one, in particular, was almost unrecognizable as the work of the same blissfully naïve but inspired hooligans who had raped and pillaged their way across Kingdom Come with wild abandon; as opening track "Man from Manhattan" was a clumsy art rock pastiche featuring several disconnected sections over the course of ten confusing minutes, while the second track, "Where Are We Going," unsuccessfully attempted to mix soul singers and hard rock, and was further dampened by overdubbed crowd noises to make it sound like a live recording. For its part, side two boasted a far more familiar-sounding and infinitely more satisfying quartet of concise, powerful heavy rockers like "Chicago Lives" and "Loe and Behold" [sic] that were only slightly more "civilized" and, in the case of the mega-riffed "Woman Tamer," notably slower than those first album eruptions -- leaving only the once-again prog-inflected "Caesar LXXI" to bring the LP to a less-than-stellar conclusion. Much like the imminent finale of Sir Lord Baltimore's career, actually, once they were dropped by both Mercury and Anthony following another disappointing showing in record stores with this LP. Their career would never recover, but their legacy would...and how! [When it was finally reissued in conjunction with SLB's first album in the mid-'90s, this second opus had its two vinyl sides reversed so that "Chicago Lives" played first and "Where Are We Going" came last]...(AllMusic)