Heavy (1970)

Well before the advent of the world wide web, and even years before the popular distribution of zines and fan newsletters, many bands never expanded beyond their own regions, limited to touring and selling/distributing demos and self-produced records at their shows. Oftentimes, great music was never widely released, and the only way most people knew about it was by word of mouth and the occasional rare find at a garage sale.

Thus is the case with Fresh Blueberry Pancake, a Pittsburgh band formed in 1968 and featuring Tony Impavido on bass and the mic, Geoff Rydell on skins and John Behrens on guitar. They toured the Allegheny area for a few years, penned a few songs, and went to Philadelphia to record a rather lengthy demo. The nine song record, limited to roughly fifty copies, was released in 1970 as "Heavy."

The offering was a mixed affair stylistically, but no matter how you look at it, the group had a style built for the 70s. The first song is "Hassles," a heavy bluesy, groovy song that could easily fit in with the best stoner rock. However, over half the album is a mix of jazzy or Grateful Dead style rock. In fact, outside of the aforementioned "Hassles," the hard rock "Stranded," and the devastating "Clown on a Rope," the record does not really live up to its name. Still, for a 1970 release, most of the songs foreshadow the trends further down the road. Arguably, Fresh Blueberry Pancake was ahead of its time, but fame and fortune were not theirs to have, and they disbanded in 1972.

Jeronimo (1971)

The rise and fall of the indigenous tribes of the area now known as the United States has been a major staple of heavy metal and rock music for decades, although the issue has tapered off in recent years. From Iron Maiden to Anthrax to Thin Lizzy, we could make a pretty solid list of songs. Expand that to the wild west and we could have a collection to rival a Time-Life CD set (complete with free gift if you order now).

Well, that theme was on display in the name of the group Jeronimo, a German band formed in 1969. Their debut, 1970's "Cosmic Blues," was a straight forward rock album with a few heavy tracks. However, their sophomore release, the self-titled "Jeronimo" (featuring a photo of Chiricahua Apache hero Geronimo taken in 1887), was a complete heavy metal record.

Featuring the solid riffs and vocals of Michael Koch and backed by the rhythm section of bassist Gunnar Schäfer and drummer Ringo Funk, Jeronimo contained nine tracks of rip roaring early metal. A great example from the album is End of Our Time, which features ferocious guitar work, furious drum work, and a wicked bass line.

Shades has a similar sound to the debut of Lucifer's Friend, again showing that savage rock quality with competent musicianship. The album could be more polished, but the smattering of sloppiness and raw flavor adds more personality to the proceedings.

(Although unreleased on the initial album pressing, I would be remiss not to mention a true heavy metal gem, Save Our Souls)

I like to leave you with one song after every discussion, and for this I offer "Silence of the Night," which features a frenetic bass line that simply destroys the ear drums, and that doesn't even take into account the razor sharp rhythm guitar and crashing symbols.

This album is truly a delight and comes highly recommended for metalheads interested in the old school before the old school.

Kingdom Come (1970)

In an era of simple band names, Sir Lord Baltimore stands out with one of the more memorable monikers. The group also gave us one of the more original albums from that time, a sludgy, heavy rocker that should have propelled the Brooklyn trio into same status as Black Sabbath. Instead, the band released only two records and disappeared.

"Kingdom Come" was their first release, featuring doomy Sabbath-like riffs with the energy of Led Zeppelin. In fact, Mike Saunders wrote in May '71 issue of Creem magazine,

This album is a far cry from the currently prevalent Grand Funk sludge, because Sir Lord Baltimore seems to have down pat most all the best heavy metal tricks in the book. Precisely, they sound like a mix between the uptempo noiseblasts of Led Zeppelin (instrumentally) and singing that’s like an unending Johnny Winter shriek: they have it all down cold, including medium or uptempo blasts a la LZ, a perfect carbon of early cataclysmic MC5 (“Hard Rain Fallin’”), and the one-soft-an-album concept originated by Jimmy Page and his gang.

While the title track is an early doom metal masterpiece, most of the tracks have the punch of songs like "Pumped Up". Deep, distorted guitars are the theme here, with bluesy, earthy vocals that bring to mind Jack Bruce. Apparently, bassist Gary Justin cited Bruce as a major influence of the band, which makes some sense. In the same way Cream took the blues with more speed and deeper riffs a few years prior, Sir Lord Baltimore followed suit, just with thicker fuzz to create a heavier product.

Spinning this record (or more accurately, playing the mp3s) shows a band before their time, and it is easy to see how stoner rock bands were heavily influenced by the gunky riffs and goopy guitar licks, plodding keyboards and ponderous rhythm. While they may not have ever been memorable on tour (unable to capitalize on touring with Sabbath and Humble Pie), Justin, John Garner (drums/vocals), and Louis Dambra (guitar) certainly put out a stunning studio product. Like the debut from Lucifer's Friend, this one is highly recommended.