Reviewed by Tom Mott
Released: 1980 Arthur Brown / Vincent Crane Faster Than The Speed Of Light Genre: Moody Ooze Rating: 3.6 out of 5 Highlights: Nothing We Can Do Tightrope Vincent who?!?! He's the organist who wrote "Fire"---as in "I am the god of hellfire." Mic drop. Collect your Foghat at the door, Mister Crane. You too, Mister Brown! After Arthur Brown left The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (CWAB), Crane and Carl (ELP) Palmer formed Atomic Rooster, a band I've heard of but haven't listened to.[1] At the same time, some of the other CWABs went on to form Rustic Hinge, who recorded exactly one, killer, Beefheart-influenced album.[2] Anyways --- this album? Nothing We Can Do has a pretty bitchin' organ riff. Timeship journeys to unexpected places. Brown puts the "bomb" in bombastic, and Crane happily adds the "astic." This is over-the-top, recorded-with-a-full-symphony-orchestra, hey first violinist, there's an orgy-at-my-yurt-next-Tuesday stuff. And I kind of dig it. It won't be everyone's cup of tea. Theatrical enough that Allen might surprise himself by liking bits and pieces of it. There's a certain Jesus Christ Superstar thing happening here that I find appealing enough to not skip through tracks. Crane has a knack for knocking off effortless synth/organ riffs. I could see these guys dressed up as Musicaliens and jamming on a float in the Main Street Electrical Parade. You could do worse. The cover painting is nice too. 1. Atomic Rooster is more of the same organ-driven bombast. Proggy Deep Purple adjacent. Not bad--but is there really a need for more than one group in this microgenre? 2. If you like Safe as Milk and Mirrorman Sessions, track down Rustic Hinge on YouTube. Surprisingly cool.
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