Arthur Brown (his real name Arthur Wilton) was born in Whitby, England, on 24th June 1944 and was undoubtedly one of the memorable figures of British psychedelia. His first vinyl excursion was a Reading University flexidisc which is now sought-after. The 'A' side, You Don't Know is bluesy. Even harder to track down are two tracks he contributed to a Soundtrack for a 1966 Roger Vadim film. The French title of the film was La Cure, although it was released in the States as The Game Is Over. The Arthur Brown Set (backed by The Sharks) recorded two songs for Vadim, Baby You Know What You're Doing and Don't Tell Me, which were quite close to the sound of the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown a year later but with some soul /James Brown influence. The two songs featured on a French EP (Barclay 71 026) and a US Soundtrack album (Atco 33-205) and the sleeves feature slightly different pictures of Jane Fonda nude. The bulk of the music on the US album, though, was provided by the French musicians Jean-Pierre Boutayre and Jean Bouchty and is of little interest. The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown's debut 45, Devil's Grip, made little impression but the follow-up, Fire, became a UK No 1 in July 1968 and also climbed to No 2 in the USA. Even before this they had become a very popular attraction around London's underground clubs, like the UFO, in this era. They had a flamboyant stage act which often involved Brown appearing in a flaming helmet with bizarre facial make-up. Indeed, their act was so expensive to stage that Brown eventually became broke. Their (first) album was built around Brown's screaming vocal style and is certainly worth a spin. Also of interest was Rest Cure, the flip side to their international hit. They failed to consolidate on their sudden and phenomenal commercial success and, after the failure of their third 45, they split in the wake of a US tour. The second album they'd been working on remained unreleased until Reckless Records issued it in 1988. Carl Palmer and Vincent Crane went on to form Atomic Rooster and Palmer later became a member of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Brown re-emerged in 1971 with Kingdom Come - another theatrical rock outfit. In 1975 he recorded a cover of The Animals We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. Also, back in 1964-1965, he recorded a R&B album with a London group called South West Five, which has yet to be released. Lineup Arthur Brown -- vocals Vince Crane -- keyboards Drachen Theaker -- drums