Classic bands you may, or may not have heard of Part 1 - Sir Lord Baltimore.

I'm going to start a new series which will explore some of the bands that helped shaped music as it is today but that which didn't get the recognition they deserved at the time due to their choices or they were overshadowed by some monster band that sent them to the briny deep.

Sir Lord Baltimore...

Sir Lord Baltimore are the first band of this series that I'm going to be talking about, they were a heavy/hard rock/psych band from Brooklyn, New York. They released 2 studio albums Kingdom Come in 1970 and Sir Lord Baltimore in 1971, they have been called one of the originators of the sludge/stoner sound, which you can hear in the distortion they use on their tracks and the groovy riffs and solos that just ooze effortlessly out of the speakers, particularly on the title track to Kingdom Come. In May of 1971, Mike Saunders (of later Angry Samoans fame) wrote a favorable review of Kingdom Come for Creem magazine. Saunders stated that "...Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book", which is one of the first printed uses of the term "heavy metal" to reference a musical genre. So that's some pedigree right there!

They only released 2 albums and shortly after the release of Sir Lord Baltimore their sophomore release their popularity declined, they were dropped for their label Mercury and fell off the radar. They blamed the decline and subsequent dropping on drugs, poor record sales and non payment of royalties. Although after the release of Sir Lord Baltimore they were working on music for a third album which was slated for release in 1976 but which never made it to the recording studio but some of the material was used on a future release called Sir Lord Baltimore III - Raw which contains the previously unreleased tracks and was released in 2006 but was only available via mail order and still is.

One could surmise that with their drug issues and competing with other monsters of that era (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, BOC, etc.) they might have been a bit overshadowed in an incredibly high quality and saturated market which could have been the labels fault for not promoting them properly but that could also be the drugs playing a part. It was an incredible era for music in the early 70's not every band made it but the majority of the bands that released albums during this era made absolute belters and Sir Lord Baltimore are no exception.

Sir Lord Baltimore are probably one of the most underrated bands in the history of heavy metal, in 2 albums they managed to influence some of the greatest bands in history, including Kiss and Pink Floyd, and also created an entire subgenre of heavy metal. Even the musicians in the band led the way in so many areas, you can hear Bruce Dickinson and Ronnie James Dio in the vocals, you could be mistaken that Bill Ward and John Garner were taught by the same drum teacher. The guitar and bass work is eclectic, clean, serene and devastatingly heavy whilst sounding nothing like the godfathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath. They also led the way in the recording studio being one of the first bands to use multi-tracking for the guitars which probably helped with their original and heavy sound.

I can't speak highly enough of this band, every time I listen to their albums they give me shivers, makes me wonder what they could have achieved should they have continued to make music. Did they even need to make any more music, their legacy is great and all encompassing, I don't think there's another band in history that has given the world so much in so little, the only other band that comes close would be MC5 but that's a tale for another time!

Here's a couple of tracks, please enjoy, leave a comment telling me what you think and please buy the albums if you can find them they'll make an incredible addition to your collection!