This boxset is remarkable in that it is the first ever such anthology (There was a less comprehensive boxset in 2003) of a band who most people first heard on their ‘Come to the Sabbat’ on a CBS budget-priced sampler double album called “Fill Your Head with Rock”. Before that though there was PESKY GEE, represented by the first CD. Mistakenly entitled “Exclamation” by Pye Records instead of “Pesky Gee!”, the CD has a raw charm, with an engaging if unspectacular jazz prog vibe on opener ‘Another Country’. Its problem was relying too much on cover versions; the second track was ‘Pig Foots’ (sic), a blues more associated with GEORGIE FAME with a Hammond solo and a widely separated coruscating guitar break; other covers included VANILLA FUDGE’s ‘Where is my Mind?’, released as a single and ‘Born to be Wild’. There are three bonus tracks from singer Kay Garrett’s solo works, whose vocal style has been compared to JULIE DRISCOLL.
The band’s most famous album “Sacrifice” started with ‘Ancient Days’, with doomy spectral organ before the emergence of a song about conjuring up demons in a slightly funky jazz rock style with sax and flute that stretches out for over 9-minutes. ‘Way to Power’ references the four horsemen of the apocalypse, but it was the Satanic references in the ominous tribal rhythms, chanting and flute led ‘Come to the Sabbat’ (Satan’s there) that raised most eyebrows and stereotyped a band that included a mock sacrifice in their stage act. ‘Conjuration’ is a narrated slow march, with hokum about raising the devil. ‘Seduction’ is a ballad; the lyrics not about Satan this time apparently; it all sounds a bit sleazy and too cabaret jazz. Overall, the album sounds like that not enough time was taken over to get the composition and production right, and parts of it sound rather naïve now. The longest track, despite more trite lyrics, showcases the band at their most free, approximating JETHRO TULL in style, the flute and organ both soloing well, but nothing too different from what was around at the time. The demo album (1969), released in 1998 as ‘Return to the Sabbat’ makes up CD 2, and this is often preferred due in part to the appearance of Kay Garrett. The actual album that came out on CBS in 1970 makes up CD 3 with the ‘Come to the Sabbat’ single edit and a live German TV ‘Beat Club’ show previously released in 2007.
On “Black Widow” (1970) (CD 4) the band virtually ditched the black magic. It’s still pretty intense, with some nice interplay on opening track ‘Tears and Wine’ fuelled by a strong FREE-style guitar riff before sax then organ dominate the piece. It was a good idea to follow this with a more acoustic folky approach, a thumping beat recalling LINDISFARNE perhaps, although the fluttering flute, with a boogie thrown into its 4-minutes, another guitar break, make the direction of travel unclear. ‘The Journey’ has a SMALL FACES feel about it. The album ends with a bluesy, jazzy ‘Afterthought’. There are four bonuses: an alternative version of ‘Mary Clark’ from the CBS sampler “Rock Buster” and more of the ‘Sacrifice’ album from German radio.
CD 5 has “Black Widow III” (1971), their most progressive album to date, as evidenced by the opening three-part mini-suite, ‘The Battle’, about a wounded soldier; it reminded me a bit of RARE BIRD’s ‘As Your Mind Flies By’ with added sax and flute and less organ although this shines in the early stages; more evocative than most Black Widow music with a powerful crescendo of guitar and drums at its denouement. ‘Lonely Man’ is a funky affair with a mellifluous flute break. Bonus tracks include the ‘I Wish You Would’ single and three songs recorded live in Milan.
Many commentators believe that “Black Widow IV” (CD 6), the canned album from 1972, eventually released on CD in 1997 by Mystic Records is their most progressive, although some might baulk at a 9-minute opener ‘Sleighride’ that was inspired by Prokofiev’s “Troika” in much the same way as Greg Lake’s ‘I Believe In Father Christmas.' The ingredients are similar to before with the more folky, pastoral side of the band revealed on ‘More Than a Day’ and their prog rock inclinations on ‘Parts of a New Day’. The seven bonus tracks are demos recorded in December, 1972 and three more from the Milan concert.
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