Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends

2025-01-29T21:27:30Z

72.74.211.77:

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends
| type = studio
| artist = [[Screaming Lord Sutch]]
| cover = LordSutchAndHeavyFriendscover.jpg
| alt =
| released = February 1970 (U.S.) <br /> 25 May 1970 ([[United Kingdom|UK]])
| recorded = May–September 1969
| venue =
| studio = Mystic Studios, [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], California; [[Olympic Studios]], London
| genre = [[Rock music|Rock]]<ref name=AM />
| length = 35:15
| label = [[Cotillion Records|Cotillion]]
| producer = [[Jimmy Page]], Lord Sutch
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title = Hands of Jack the Ripper
| next_year = 1972
}}
{{Album ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name=AM>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r67298|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[Record Collector]]''
|rev2score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/lord-sutch-and-heavy-friends|title=Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends - Record Collector Magazine}}</ref>
|rev3 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev3score = (negative)<ref name="RS #54">{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=J.R. |date=April 2, 1970 |title=Lord Sutch and his Heavy Friends |journal=[[Rolling Stone]] |publisher=Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. |issue=54 |pages=66}}</ref>
}}

'''''Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends''''' is the debut album of [[England|English]] [[Rock (music)|rock]] singer [[Screaming Lord Sutch]]. Recording began in May 1969 at Mystic Studios in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] and it was released on [[Cotillion Records]] in 1970. The album featured an all-star line-up with contributions from [[Led Zeppelin]]'s [[Jimmy Page]] (who also produced the album) and [[John Bonham]], guitarist [[Jeff Beck]], session keyboardist [[Nicky Hopkins]], session guitarist Deniel Edwards and [[The Jimi Hendrix Experience|Jimi Hendrix Experience]] bassist [[Noel Redding]]. Rick Brown and [[Carlo Little]] were previously with the Savages. '''''Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends''''' was named in a 1998 [[BBC]] poll as the worst album of all time, a status it also held in [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]'s book ''The Top 1000 Albums of All Time'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timepieces.nl/chart/12172/1994-colin-larkin-all-time-top-1000-albums |title=1994 Colin Larkin – All Time Top 1000 Albums |publisher=Timepieces.nl |date=1962-10-24 |access-date=2012-02-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904000631/http://www.timepieces.nl/chart/12172/1994-colin-larkin-all-time-top-1000-albums |archive-date=2014-09-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

This album has also been released under the name ''Smoke and Fire''. A CD release under the latter name appeared on the Magnum Music Group label sometime in the 1980s, evidently mastered from a vinyl copy of the original album. The cover credits Page, Beck, Bonham, Redding, and Hopkins; Sutch's name appears only in the personnel list, as David Sutch.

==Track listing==

===Side one===
#"Wailing Sounds" ([[Jimmy Page]], Sutch) – 2:38
#"'Cause I Love You" ([[John Bonham]], Deniel Edwards, Jimmy Page, Sutch) – 2:46
#"Flashing Lights" (Jimmy Page, Sutch) – 3:14
#"Gutty Guitar" (Sutch) – 2:33
#"Would You Believe" (Jay Cee) – 3:20
#"Smoke and Fire" (Sutch) – 2:38

===Side two===
#"Thumping Beat" (Jimmy Page, Sutch) – 3:07
#"Union Jack Car" (Jimmy Page, Sutch) – 3:03
#"One for You, Baby" (Sutch) – 2:44
#"L-O-N-D-O-N" (Sutch) – 2:56
#"Brightest Light" (Jay Cee, Sutch) – 3:57
#"Baby, Come Back" (Jimmy Page, Sutch) – 2:31

==Personnel==
*[[Screaming Lord Sutch]] – lead vocals
*[[Jimmy Page]] – acoustic and electric [[guitar]] (on tracks 1–3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 12),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Lord-Sutch-And-Heavy-Friends-Lord-Sutch-And-Heavy-Friends/release/5815236|title=Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends – Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends (2013, CD)|via=www.discogs.com}}</ref> backing vocals, producer
*[[Jeff Beck]] – electric guitar (on tracks 4, 5, 11)
*[[John Bonham]] – [[drum kit|drums]] (on tracks 1–3, 7, 8, 11, 12), percussion, backing vocals
*[[Nicky Hopkins]] – piano, keyboards (on tracks 4, 5, 11)
*[[Kent Henry]] – guitar (on tracks 5, 6, 9–11)
*[[Noel Redding]] – [[bass guitar]] (on tracks 7, 9–11)
*Rick Brown – bass guitar (on tracks 4, 5, 11)
*Deniel Edwards – lead guitar and bass guitar (1–3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12)
*Martin Kohl – bass guitar (on tracks 5, 6, 9–11)
*[[Carlo Little]] – drums (on tracks 4–6)
*Bob Metke – drums (on tracks 6, 9, 10)
;Technical
*Tommy Caccetta – engineer
*Edgar Blackeney, Lord Sutch – album design
*Baron Robbins – cover photography

==Charts==
{|class="wikitable"
! Chart (1970)
! Peak<br />position
|-
| Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=181}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|16
|-
| US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' Top LPs
|style="text-align:center;"|84
|}

==Reception==
Many of the musicians had grave misgivings upon its release. They were under the assumption these were demo-quality recordings. As a result, the artists disowned the project and the album sold poorly. It also seriously damaged Sutch's reputation with the musicians involved. "I just went down to have a laugh, playing some old rock 'n' roll, a bit of a send-up. The whole joke sort of reversed itself and became ugly," Jimmy Page said of the record.<ref name="book of bands 2">{{cite web |url=http://thebookofbands2.blogspot.com/2010/09/next_64.html |title= Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages |access-date=2011-01-14 }}</ref>

A reviewer in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' called Sutch "absolutely terrible" and lamented that the celebrated musicians involved were made to sound "like a fouled parody of themselves".<ref name="RS #54" />

''Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends'' was named in a 1998 BBC poll as the [[List of music considered the worst#Albums|worst album]] of all time, a status it also held in [[Colin Larkin (writer)|Colin Larkin]]'s ''[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]'' 3rd Edition (2000).<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[All Time Top 1000 Albums]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=28}}</ref>

==Additional information==
Catalogue: Atlantic 2400 008 (UK), Cotillion SD 9015 (US)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends Session [https://www.ledzeppelin.com/event/may-5-1969 Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends Session (Page / Bonham) | [title]]

{{Jimmy Page}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1970 debut albums]]
[[Category:Cotillion Records albums]]
[[Category:Screaming Lord Sutch albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Jimmy Page]]
[[Category:Atlantic Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Screaming Lord Sutch]]
[[Category:albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios]]

wiki143 - User contributions [en]

Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends