“Bedlam In Command 1973” was recorded live in front of an audience at Command Studios, London 22nd October 1973 principally as a promo recording for the USA.
great live show from this short lived uk outfit, this show was recorded for that old midnight special t.v show in 1974, bedlam where very tight for this gig, these guys sure where a powerhouse back then who could have gone on to bigger and better things had they stuck it out a little longer but cozy wanted to leave to form cozy powells hammer so that was what ended this great band, anyway i would classify this as really good hard rock with a lot of high energy live!!! i guess there is not much else to say, we all know cozy went on to be in many bands when hammer fell aprt like rainbow,msg,whitesnake,elp, and at the end of his life in 1998 he was playing with yngwie malmsteen, anyway sadley cozy was killed in april 1998 at age 50 in an auto accident, sadley rock lost one of its best drummers ever that day, anyway there is also a 3 cd set of bedlam recordings on the mischif label if you want to explore this outfit some more, the box set includes the one lp they released in 1974............
If you are reading this, you should know about "Bedlam", so you know WHAT you're about to buy. If not, think twice, and be sure that you are pleased with the music (listen to the samples first). "Bedlam" was a British hard-rock outfit from the beginning of the 70s, which lasted merely 18 months (quite an achievement in this trade, where the average lifespan of a project was between few weeks and few months) - "but never seemed to get going" (Vernon Joynson - Tapestry of Delights: Revisited). This aggressive act with strong showmanship started its life as Beast and gained some reputation through gigging hard and through their debut 1973 album on Chrysalis (CHR 1048) which was produced by Felix Pappalardi (of Cream and Mountain fame). Remember, that was 1973, the giants were still roaming the Earth, and any new talent with a debut album had to compete with (just few names to start with) Led Zeppelin "Houses Of The Holy", The Who "Quadrophenia", Black Sabbath "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Deep Purple "Who Do You Think We Are", Grand Funk "We're An American Band", Alice Cooper "Billion Dollar Babies", and "Bedlam" simply was not in the same league. True, it was started by veteran musicians - Dave Ball played with Procol Harum and Long John Baldry, the singer Frank Aiello was with critically acclaimed 60s act "Truth" and cut his teeth in London musicals ("Hair" among them), Cozy Powell (born Colin Flooks) spent some years touring with The Sorcerers before joining Jeff Beck in 1970. Anyway, "Bedlam" was touring and gigging not-stop, and that's what we have on this CD. Angel Air (I would recommend to follow this label, because only few like-minded are left in the world) again painstakingly restored previously unreleased tapes, which portray a burned-out band. Live "Bedlam" is inferior to their studio album (which was not a revelation either) - the skills and musicianship are there, but the whole affair is rather messy - a la "Deep Purple meets Grand Funk". All elements of top-rate hard-rock are in place - lengthy solos, manic drumming, loud distorted guitars - but it just doesn't get together, the melody is missing. The worst part are Frank Aiello's vocals - whether he was not in his best shape (although in general he was not Coverdale or Plant), or just had a bad day, he sounds exhausted, tuneless and off-tune. To the original list of songs from the concert Angel Air added a bonus track - the first live performance of "Dance With The Devil" for TV show - which was the biggest success (# 3 in British charts, # 49 - in the USA) of Cozy Powell (the single was recorded for Mickey Most' RAK label when Cozy Powell went solo - without Bedlam; Suzie Quatro joined him on bass for this recording). It comes with a leaflet - excellent rare photos and insignificant text ( few entries from the diary of the band, providing us with useless minuscule details which suit a fanzine for die-hard fans only). After not so untimely death of "Bedlam", Cozy Powell went drumming for the first league (1975 and onwards - Rainbow, 1982-85 Whitesnake, 1986 - Emerson, Lake AND Powell, 1988-1991 - Black Sabbath) before his death in a road accident. I am afraid that "Bedlam" was/is mainly remembered as Cozy Powell's band (there was a reunion concert in 2000 with Russell Gilbrook on drums). It is a good CD for a completist, a musical historian, or devoted fan of the band, but I wouldn't recommend it to everyone - if you're so desperate get the studio album