Screaming Lord Sutch - Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends/Hands of Jack the Ripper

2 on 1 remastered release from one of the first genuine rock and roll longhairs with guests Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, Keith Moon, Victor Brox, Brian Keith & Ritchie Blackmore. Tracks 1-12 taken from the album Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends with tracks 13-20 taken from the album Hands Of Jack The Ripper. Includes a five minute medley, 'Tutti Frutti Medley' (Long Tall Sally, Jenny Jenny, Keep a-Knockin', Jenny Jenny, Tutti Frutti). Waxin' Gold. 1995. Album Description

five for the first album

Believe it or not, the first album on this disc, Lord Sutch And Heavy Friends, in spite of the presence of Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Jeff Beck and a host of other major British Rock stars, was not a hit AT ALL in the US when first released in the early Seventies. In fact, my first exposure to it happened due to being a broke teenager, forced to troll through the cut-out cassette bins in search of something decent upon which to spend his lunch money. Needless to say, as a Zep fan, Heavy Friends caught my eye. And what the heck? $1.99 wasn't too much to ask, so I took a chance and was rewarded with an item which would eventually represent what I imagined was the very definition of Rock 'n' Roll itself: Loud, raucous and nothing short of magical, unplanned perfection . . . Not unlike conceiving Einstein in a one-night stand. Sutch couldn't have planned it, any more than he could repeat it. Here is the genuine article. And although Hands of the Ripper does not quite live up to the promise of the first album, it's worth the extra cash, if for nothing more than the title track. I'd consider this disc 5 stars if all it had on it was Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends. (Although, you have to admit, "Hands of Jack the Ripper" is a pretty cool title.) October 16, 2004

UPDATE -I've listened to the LP, maybe the CD is the same???

I have not listened to the CD which I did not even know existed until now. There is no song listing for this CD so I have no idea whether I'm even interested in buying it. If it is one and the same as the original LP then by all means GET IT! The backing musician lineup reads like a who's who of early rock, Jimmy Page, Nicky Hopkins, Noel Redding, John Bonham, Jeff Beck, and more..

These are short compact rock tunes, almost ditties. Sutch cannot sing, that much is true. That's why he is (was - suicide? late 90's) called Screaming Lord Sutch. It is not about his singing, he does lay down the appropriate urgent energy about such fun but trivial topics as Flashing Lights, A Union Jack Car, Gutty Guitars...backed by some of the most recognizable names in rock when they were in their early days is the most fulfilling.

I have no idea if they've sonically cleaned up or messed up the old LP version on this CD. Someone help out here or I'll be back after I purchase the CD.

I'm Back. I found out that this CD (I think...) (Waxin' Gold Records - Germany 1995 SD 9015/49) is actually the original "Heavy Friends" LP content and the "Hands of Jack the Ripper" LP combined into one CD. I can do without the Ripper (tracks 13-20) but the "Heavy Friends" part (tracks 1-12)is still a showcase for all of the young budding musical talent at that time in 1970. It's a fun ride through 12 songs then transitions to unlistenable amateurish mayhem from that point on. Screamin' Lord Sutch can sure scream but the quality musicians on Heavy Friends keep that unecessary excess to a minimum. I'm sure that "live" his show was a riot. However, on CD it loses something in the translation. Get the CD for the first 12 tracks, for those sonic gems alone the CD is worth it. Do yourself a favor, burn a partial copy and leave out the last 8 tracks, take those last eight tracks burn them separately and give them to your enemies... August 17, 2003

More reviews at Amazon.com ...