5. Sir Lord BaltimoreKingdom Come
Probably the most aggro, proto-metal record ever for me. I hate using the word proto-metal, but that’s all people can understand these days. Before it was metal, it was rock! The thing that gets me about these guys – well, a combination of things – but what it comes down to is the energy in this record is like the energy of three kids from New York City, from the boroughs, trying to sound like Led Zeppelin. In 1971 or ’72 there was just Mountain out of New York City, and Blue Öyster Cult was just starting up too. So it was Mountain, Blue Öyster Cult, and Sir Lord Baltimore trying to do the Led Zeppelin thing. They sound to me anxious, kind of like the Groundhogs sound anxious, playing just a little bit too fast, screaming just a little bit too loud, none of the finery of the British rock that was happening. It was balls out, ridiculous, awesome.
In its own way it’s the most punk rock record that I’ve ever heard because if you want to clear a room of people, you put on a Sir Lord Baltimore album as loud as you can and I guarantee that most people will leave. It’s too much to take! They’ve got a singing drummer, screaming out God knows what, just making up stuff. I think they’re trying to be British, they’re trying to be Zeppelin, and failing! But in their own way, turned it into like this straight-ahead aggro fuckin’ proto metal. It was produced by Eddie Kramer, the guy who produced Hendrix, and the production is fantastic! It’s dry, really separated, like true stereo, you know: there’s the bass in the left-hand side, there’s the guitar in the right-hand side. All these things add up to this atmosphere that feels like it’s gonna pop, it’s going to blow up your speaker. ‘Master Heartache’ is one of the heaviest, best songs ever written. It’s just a guy screaming "Woman! You are the master heartache. WAAAAAAAGHHH!!!" [laughs] And they go out of the way to make it even heavier. Just when you don’t think a song could get any heavier, they write a part.
