Sir Lord Baltimore

Okay, I may be doing a bit of a cop out here, but I just not going to be able to do another 1985 album review in the final days of December. I just have so many new cd's to listen to that I will not be able to do it. So instead the time machine is going to go even further back and I am going to review a great cd from a band that you may never have had the pleasure of hearing before. Sir Lord Baltimore were an early 70's hard rock/metal band that hailed from New York not Baltimore. The cd that I just bought has both of their albums on one cd. The first album is called Kingdom Come and their second album is actually self titled. I have been listening to a number of lesser known early metal bands lately like Budgie, Blue Cheer and Captain Beyond lately. Like all of those Sir Lord Baltimore had a lot to offer and they probably influenced some young bands that were starting up in the early 70's. Sir Lord Baltimore have some similarities to other bands of the time. Most noticeably Deep Purple, Blue Cheer and Budgie yet they have a lot of their sound as well. They were fairly heavy for the time (70-71) and what I liked most about them is how straightforward most of their songs were. These guys manage to throw in a lot of squealing guitars and in face your drums, but yet still manage to stay very much in control of what they are doing. Some of the guitar parts make wonder if Ted Nugent heard these guys before he went solo, not so much the tone but the way there are parts that are separate from the main rhythm yet they still manage to fit in. I think that the Kingdom Come album rocks quite a bit more than the second album as almost every song kicks off and never lets up. The self titled album is a bit more layered and the songs tend to take a little longer to get started. The second album reminds me a little of Budgie as they try to take the heaviness from the first album but blend it in with parts that take a little longer to build up to a peak. The band added a second guitarist for their second album and it's also interesting to not that their drummer was their singer. I would be willing to bet that these guys were awesome live because they have a lot of energy. It's a shame they only gave us two albums before breaking up, but they are two very good albums. I just bought the cd the other day and have already listened to it twice. So if you can find this one, I would highly recommend it.