Jerusalem (1972)

Jerusalem was an early 1970s British raunchy heavy rock five piece outfit. The band released one self-titled album in 1972 on Deram (UK catalogue number : SLD 6), produced by Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. Jerusalem’s only other release was a 45 rpm 7 inch single, the non-album ‘Kamikaze Moth’ backed with ‘Frustration’ from the LP.

The band's raunchy, unpolished and brutal rock was way ahead of its time and the band never "made it" in a commercial sense. A second follow up album was commenced with Gillan but never finished. In recent years their only album has been re-issued as a Japanese CD.

Ian Gillan's thoughts about the band & working with the album:

"This is the first album by Jerusalem, a band which excites me very much; they are rough, raw and doomy with their own strong identity. As they are young and a bit green, they don't follow many rules, so their material is almost crude - but still immensely powerful in content.

I believe that, whenever possible, the work of writers and players in their formative stages should be recorded; before inhibition and self-consciousness set in, before fire and aggression die down, and while they are still absorbing influences and doing things which others might consider 'uncool'. Most important though, before they might develop that self-imposed rigidity which afflicts so many. I hope none of these things happen to Jerusalem, we'll have to wait and see, this album is just in case. I hope you like it as much as I do." (via Wikipedia)

Yet another classic heavy group from the early 70's, destined to obscurity. It couldn’t have helped in later years that Vernon Joyson in his Borderline book "Tapestry Of Delights", besides admittedly accurately describing the music as "bone-crunching heavy rock", pretty much dismissed them by saying their album "doesn’t offer anything musically that isn’t available much more excitingly elsewhere. Skip this one!" To my ears, nothing could be further from the truth, if heavy rock of this vintage is your thing. The album's a little monochromatic I guess, but that’s because there’s raw, heavy rockin’ excitement plastered wall-to-wall, no room for too much subtlety or "tastefulness", and it doesn't really sound the same as any other group, but ploughs its own furrow like a record cutter the size of agricultural machinery. (Reviewed by achuma @ HeadHeritage) (BUY IT)

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Jerusalem - Midnight Steamer