Arthur Brown burst out of obscurity in 1968 with "Fire," an energetic and forceful fusion of blues, jazz, psychedelia, and embryonic hard rock with Brown's over-the-top vocals invoking the dangers of the dark side. The standout track from his debut album The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (which was also the name of his group), it was the defining song of his career, but Brown's oeuvre was impressively diverse. He dabbled in prog rock with his later group Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come (best heard on 1972's Galactic Zoo Dossier), upbeat pop/rock (1974's Dance with Arthur Brown), raucous and full-bodied blues-rock (1988's Brown, Black & Blue, a collaboration with Jimmy Carl Black), electronic pop with poetic accents (1982's Speak No Tech), full-on theatrical rock (2022's Long Long Road), and ominous celebrations of all things spooky (2022's Monster's Ball). The common thread that ties Brown's catalog together is his big, booming voice, over-the-top vocal theatrics, and a willful eccentricity that boosts the power of his music.
