The collected works of sometime occult-rockers, Black Widow. There’s some fine music amongst the black magic hype.
Release Date: 30th August 2024
Label: Grapefruit Records (a division of Cherry Red Records)
Formats: 6CD Boxset
We believed them at the time – they seemed so serious about it all. Famous for a stage show that went through the motions of Satanic rituals and which culminated in the “sacrifice” of a naked virgin, Leicester proto-prog outfit Black Widow certainly earned their share of headlines back in the heady days when the dreamy, sincere, sixties mutated into the glittery, superficial, seventies. The headlines weren’t confined to the music press, either; the band’s lurid reputation provided the outrage and titillation so revered by the national tabloids and august organs such as The News of the Screws and The People duly obliged by donating the column inches that Black Widow were after in the first place.
satanic antics
History and experience may assure us that Black Widow’s Satanic antics were nothing more than an attention-seeking gimmick, but it seemed serious at the time. And yet, despite all the hype, Black Widow made some fine, durable music, now available once more after what seems like an eternity, thanks to our friends at Grapefruit/Cherry Red.
There’s probably more in this latest boxset offering than anyone, even any last remaining Widow-Watchers, could sensibly want but, put the overload to one side and what remains: a fascinating record of the development of one of British Rock’s most singular bands from psych experimentalists to prog pioneers and – best of all – the buried treasure of Black Widow’s eponymous second album, are worth the investment on their own.
pesky gee!
The Black Widow story started back in 1966, when vocalists Kay Garrett and Basil Francis joined forces with a bunch of local Leicester musicians to form a soul band that they blessed with the name Pesky Gee! (the ! is part of the name, not an exclamation on my part…) By mid 1967, vocalist/guitarist Kip Trevor had replaced Basil Francis and Pesky Gee! had, along with Leicester compatriots, The Farinas (shortly to become Family) started to flirt with blues-rock and psychedelia and, in early 1969, Pesky Gee! released their debut single, Where In My Mind. It flopped, but at least Pesky Gee! had a direction to follow and, what’s more, the failure of the single prompted a couple of lineup changes that would set the scene for the band’s subsequent evolution into Black Widow. Guitarist Chris Dredge was replaced by Jim Gannon and keyboardist Jess ‘Zoot’ Taylor was drafted in on keyboards.
The debut (and only, as things turned out) Pesky Gee! album was released in June 1969. It was intended to be an eponymously-titled album but the band’s label, Pye Records, were confused by the verbal conveyance of the band’s name and, when the sleeves were printed, the band were nonplussed to find that their album had been given the title: Pesky Gee! Exclamation Mark.
The Pesky Gee! album forms Disc one to this boxset and it’s an enjoyable, albeit unusual, piece of work. Unusual because it consists entirely of cover versions of contemporary material, including some very well-known songs that were fixtures in the repertoires of many of the era’s up-and-coming bands.
a period piece
It’s a real period-piece; very much of its time but a thoroughly rewarding listen, nonetheless. Pesky Gee!’s soul and R&B roots are clearly evident in their versions of Pig Foots (a tune that was, at the time, a staple of Georgie Fame’s setlists in The Marquee and The Flamingo) and A Piece Of Heartbreak, a song written especially for the band by Malcolm Rabbitt, an early mentor. The cover of Donovan’s Season Of The Witch is bluesy and sultry, with a wonderfully dreamy vocal from Kay Garrett, whilst the Pesky Gee! version of Family’s Peace Of Mind (a track from Family’s 1968 Music In A Doll’s House album) is uncannily true to the original.
Elsewhere, the interpretation of Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild is imaginative but slightly insipid and the take on the Vanilla Fudge song, Where is My Mind, that became the first Pesky Gee! single, is a refreshing chunk of glowering psychedelia. Best of all, though, is the stunning version of Erma Franklin’s Piece of My Heart. Far more restrained that the definitive Big Brother and the Holding Company version, it still gives Janis and Co and run for their money.
the emergence of black widow
The Pesky Gee! album certainly showcases a band with oodles of potential, but Pye Records weren’t convinced and, before 1969 was out, Pesky Gee!’s recording contract had been terminated. However, undeterred, and inspired by the popularity of Hammer Horror movies and the sales of novels by authors such as Dennis Wheatley, the band formerly known as Pesky Gee! decided upon a change of name and direction. They made their first appearance as Black Widow in November 1969 and set about recording their next album – their debut as Black Widow.
Unfortunately, the album – a concept around the theme of Satanic rituals – had not progressed beyond the demo stage before vocalist and founding member Kay Garrett announced that she was leaving the band to get married. Her loss was a significant one; certainly many of the high-points of the Pesky Gee! album were focused around Kay’s vocal performances but, given the heavier content of the new material it was, perhaps, appropriate that Kip Trevor took over the lead vocal and front person responsibilities. The demo tapes lay untouched until 1998 when they were dusted down and released as Return To The Sabbat by the small UK label, Mystic Records. Return To The Sabbat forms Disc Two to this set.
sacrifice…and lady astorath…
The demo album was recut by the re-formatted band and the result was Sacrifice, Black Widow’s first album under their new name and their first for the CBS label. A number of events conspired to make Sacrifice the best-selling album in the Black Widow canon (it reached #34 on the UK album chart).
Firstly, the notoriety of Black Widow’s live performances on the underground circuit can’t be ignored. Black Widow’s set culminated in the mock sacrifice of the female demon, Lady Astorath, often played by Maxine Sanders, wife of Alex Sanders, a self-proclaimed witch who led a London-based coven. Lady Astorath was invariably naked and the sacrifice ritual included a session of simulated sex with the band’s frontman Kip Trevor. In 1970, such a palaver was guaranteed to pull a crowd – one that included, as the informative and entertaining essay that accompanies this boxset admits: “…a motley selection of teenage headbangers, the dirty mac brigade, religious zealots and journalists hoping to stumble across further nude and/or neopagan outrages.”
a festival reputation
Secondly, Black Widow’s musical reputation was greatly enhanced by triumphant performances at two of 1970’s festivals – the tiny Whitsun Festival at Plumpton and at the vast 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. In both cases, a highlight of the band’s set was Come To The Sabbat, a track from Sacrifice that was quickly becoming the band’s signature tune.
A remarkably upbeat number that has been described as “…musically a cross between Jethro Tull and Family’s The Weaver’s Answer” (and I’d go along with that), the popularity of Come to the Sabbat was further boosted by its inclusion on the best-selling CBS ‘Sampler’ album, Fill Your Head With Rock. Thus, although the single version of the track was never, ever, going to receive BBC Radio airplay, it was sufficiently accessible to become a staple at student dances and even at church youth clubs where, presumably, the vicar was either absent or oblivious to the song’s lyrical content.
amusing? or disturbing?
Personally, whilst I find Come To The Sabbat slightly amusing rather than disturbing, I can’t say the same for the rest of Sacrifice (Disc Three to this collection); it’s an album that I find unsettling and indulgent and it seems that I’ve never been totally alone in forming that conclusion. Sacrifice marked the end of Black Widow’s flirtation with Satanism; the fallout from the Charles Manson murders – themselves reported as ‘Black Magic Murders’ – meant that Black Widow wouldn’t be welcome in America and the publicity that played such a key role in popularizing the band in the first place was, by late 1970, starting to work against them. They were even struggling to recruit young ladies willing to participate in the naked sacrifice routine. It was time to move on.
moving on
The move away from the occult imagery wasn’t without its hitches. Woodwind man Clive Jones, drummer Clive Box and bassist Bob Bond all resisted the change and, in the process, Box and Bond were replaced, respectively, by Romeo Challenger (later to find drape and drainpipe fame with Showaddywaddy) and Geoff Griffith. The new lineup went on to produce something truly special, the high-point (at least in my opinion) of Black Widow’s short career.
The second album to bear the Black Widow name, 1971’s eponymous Black Widow is a work of beauty. Unfortunately, without the naked sacrifice and Satanic imagery, Black Widow had nothing to immediately distinguish them from the throngs of other proto-progressive bands trying to make a mark in a crowded, highly competitive market. I’m firmly of the belief that people should have listened more closely because Black Widow is a tremendous album that still sounds great today.
a pastoral mood
The mood to Black Widow (the album) is overwhelmingly pastoral and songs like The Gypsy, the wonderfully harmonic When My Mind Was Young, the mystical Mary Clark and closing track, Legend of Creation all sounding as fresh and melodic today as they did 53 years ago. The Journey, Poser and Wait Until Tomorrow are all well-crafted rock songs that would grace any album of the era and the instrumentation, with flute, sax and organ all playing as prominent a role as the then-ubiquitous guitar, provides a true foretaste of what, in 1971, was just around the corner. Black Widow (the album) may have sunk at the time of its release but it remains a genuine chunk of buried treasure.
The commercial failure of the second Black Widow album was the harbinger to further change. Guitarist and principal songwriter Jim Gannon left the band before ethe end of 1971, to be replaced by ex-Cressida man, John Culley and it was with this revised lineup that Black Widow ventured forth, once again to record Black Widow III (Disc five of this set), released in January 1972.
mainstream potential?
I can’t help feeling that, on a different day, with the wind maybe blowing in a different direction, Black Widow III could have been the album that took Black Widow into the mainstream. They’d certainly matured during the two years since Sacrifice and, on songs like the three-part suite The Battle, the organ-drenched Lonely Man and the quirky Kings of Hearts, they demonstrated that they were settling into a potentially pioneering role in the emerging progressive genre. Indeed, close your eyes and the tight vocal harmonies of opening track, The Battle could be coming from the mouths of Messrs Anderson, Howe and Squire, rather than from Trevor, Griffith and Culley.
And, by way of relief, Black Widow manage to get into a funk groove on Accident and show that they were no slouches with a slow-building observational ballad either, with Old Man.
Black Widow III could have been THE ONE, but it wasn’t to be and, following poor sales, CBS released Black Widow from their contract in mid-1972 and that, essentially, was that. The band soldiered on without a record contract, laying down tracks for a projected fourth album but the band failed to attract sufficient interest and, in early 1973, Black Widow sundered. That wasn’t quite the end of Black Widow, though; in 1998, Mystic Records picked up on those tapes for that projected album and released them as Black Widow IV, an album that, with a stack of demos and live performances from throughout the band’s career, forms Disc six of this set.
potential unfulfilled?
Black Widow was a band that promised much and, ultimately, achieved less than it deserved. From the viewpoint of 2024, the early flirtations with mock sacrifice and Satanic ritual may look contrived and ill-advised, but they did bring widespread attention to the band. That Black Widow were unable to build upon the status that attention had brought them is probably down to bad luck and the overcrowding in the 1970 rock music market but, there’s no doubt whatsoever, Black Widow made a lot of fine music and, thanks to Grapefruit/Cherry Red, that music is all here to be rediscovered.
Watch Black Widow perform Come to the Sabbat – their biggest ‘hit’ – on a 1972 German TV broadcast here:
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