OFF: Black Widow (Re: BITCH!)

[John McIntyre]

>From: cannibal at CUTEY.COM

>>Which reminds me of a band called BLACK Widow, who I think recorded in the
>>'70s--they had this tune called "Come to the Sabbat"...and it
>>was...strange, cool, cheesy, folky. The chorus went "Come, come, come to
>>the Sabbat, come to the Sabbat, Satan's there..." Anyone else ever hear
>>that? Might be funny for the Surgeons to do, just as a joke... Hell, I know
>>I'd do that tune if I had a band...

>Hey, Black Widow! I had this great track by them called "Wait Until
>Tomorrow" (or something very close) on a comp, sort of
>Motorhead-meets-Tull. Very cool, rockin' stuff. Another track of theirs,
>"Gypsy" was pretty awful though, but somewhat strange. Jethro Tull on
>bicycle glue. Been eyeballing their CDs (they put out 3 albums), hopefully
>they'll show up in the bargain bins.....

I'd warn people to listen before they buy with Black Widow.  I've got
_Sacrifice_ and _III_ on vinyl and they sound like two different bands.
Which is no surprise when you check the liner notes.  All the songs on
_Sacrifice_ (which is the album with "Come To The Sabbat") were written
by guitarist Jim Gannon who is not on _III_.  The only personnel carryovers
between the two albums are the singer (who also takes up the guitar slack
on _III_ but is not credited with guitar on _Sacrifice_, which was recorded
in 1970), the organ/piano player, and the sax/flute player.  _III_ is
pretty much jazz rock with the only "evil" imagery being the cover shot
of a long forgotten prisoner languishing in his cell with only a spider
(guess which kind (-8) for company.  Heck, _Sacrifice_ is more jazz rock
than Black Sabbath evil sludge.  Nik could pull of Satanic sax and flute,
but Clive Jones, the guy from Black Widow, isn't in that league.

I do, however, have this memory of reading a review of one of Black Widow's
live performances.  Tellingly, all I can remember is the description of the
intro: half the stage is in total darkness, the other half is dimmly lit,
mostly by the fires underneath kettles.  In the glow of the fires, a naked
woman takes her place as the altar.  A priest raises his sacrifical knife.
As the blade plunges downward, the lighting shifts to illuminate the band
who had been hidding in the darkness as they start to play.

Alas, I would have loved to have seen that show, but the music on
_Sacrifice_ doesn't do it justice and the music on _III_ doesn't come
close.

John McIntyre
Physics - Astronomy Domine Dept
Michigan State University
mcintyre at pa.msu.edu