The Day After The Sabbath 49: I Am The Witch [female vocals pt.2]

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Volume 49 is another selection of tracks with female vocals. There are now six volumes with this theme.

So far those six are: 17 (link), 49 (link), 71 (link), 97 (link), 129 (link) and 154 (link).

The last time I did this was in vol 17 last year and as you can see it's taken me a while to find a decent amount for another, the task has been rewarding as I've had to look far afield from the usual suspects that I used in that one.

TRACKS

01. J.C. Heavy (Manchester) - Do What You Like (1971)
02. Alta Tension (Argentina) - Mississippi Queen (1970)
03. The Rattles (Germany) - Devil's On The Loose (1971)
04. A Euphonious Wail (California) - Night Out / I Want To Be A Star (1973)
05. Aguaviva (Spain) - La Niña de Hiroshima (1971)
06. Uta (France) - Baudelaire (1969)
07. Renaissance (UK, Surrey) - Rajah Khan (1972)
08. Birtha (Los Angeles) - Free Spirit (1972)
09. Pamela Webb and The George (UK) - Hold On, I'm Comin' (1969)
10. Tomorrow's Gift (Hamburg) - Prayin' to Satan (1970)
11. Circus 2000 (Italy) - I Am The Witch (1970)
12. Zephyr (Colorado) - Hard Chargin' Woman (1969)

J.C. Heavy were a short-lived act from Manchester UK and have one of the most immediate, hard-hitting tracks here. The concept of an Argentine psych-fuzz band covering Mountain's Mississippi Queen is like a match made in heaven and Alta Tension's short but sweet track nails it! The Rattles started life as a Hamburg beat group and played with The Beatles, later they made some hard rock/pop crossover and this track is wonderful.

We head back into Latin territory with Spain's Aguaviva and this stunning track based on an anti-war poem which translates to "The Girl of Hiroshima". It is quite unforgettable and unlike anything else I have come across so far for the blog. I used an 'A Euphonious Wail' track back on vol 44, that album has been growing on me and I find the lyrics of the track 'I Want To Be A Star' poignantly ironic coming from this long forgotten band. Uta was a French pop singer who heavied it up for this single B-side and Renaissance were an early UK prog band who created a haunting epic in the track Rajah Khan.

Birtha are one of the only all-female bands I have found, they play some great hard rock'n'roll and the track from an extremely obscure female solo singer Pamela Webb is an excellent heavy-fuzzed cover of the Sam and Dave classic. Fans of Amon Duul will dig the Krautrock occult heaviosity of Germany's Tomorrow's Gift, as they will also Italy's Circus 2000 with their similarity to the contemporary crop of female-fronted occultists like Blood Ceremony. Colorado's Zephyr end the comp with a massive slab of blues-rock and the guitar expertise of a young but already skilled Tommy Bolin (James Gang, Deep Purple).

Cheers, Rich

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The Day After The Sabbath 48: Bad Vibrations

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Volume 48 kicks off with The Hook who assaults us with the heaviest track from their debut album, and impressively heavy it is for 1968. Sleepy John and Sudden Death were two US bands who's early 70's recordings languished for decades in absentia until the wonderful Rockadelic (also responsible for Crank) did us the favour of unearthing them, bringing us some cool proto-hard rock.

01. The Hook (US) - Son Of Fantasy (1968)
02. Sleepy John (US) - You Say (1970)
03. Sub (Germany) - Ma-mari-huana (1970)
04. October Cherries (Singapore) - Are You Ready [Grand Funk Railroad] (1971)
05. Sainte Anthony's Fyre (US) - Chance Of Fate (1970)
06. Puhdys (Germany) - Türen öffnen sich zur Stadt (1974)
07. Scorpion (US) - Can't Get Blood From A Stone (1973)
08. Ning (UK) - Machine (1971)
09. Alamo (US) - The World We Seek (1971)
10. Sudden Death (US) - Road Back Home (1971)
11. Schizo (France) - Paraphrenia Praecox (1972)
12. SRC (US) - The Badaz Shuffle (1972)
13. Gift (Germany) - Bad Vibrations (1972)
14. Three-Headed Dog (UK) - Slick Solution (1973)

15. The Bear Brothers (UK) - Red Shoe Trucken (1972)  

Sub's peon to the herb is an early gem of trippy krautrock and October Cherries are the first Singaporean band I have ever used, doing this cool Grand Funk cover. Sainte Anthony's Fyre were a power-trio from Trenton, New Jersey who's rough recordings still convey their hard rocking intentions perfectly. There is an interview with their drummer Bob Sharples here at Psychedelic Baby webzine. Puhdys are a German band who are still around, this is their first single and at the time they were in Uriah Heep/Deep Purple mode, thanks to bonistik for sending me that scorcher. Scorpion, Ning and The Bear Brothers are all one-single bands who have vanished into obscurity, but good and novel recordings they left behind indeed.

Memphis's Alamo produced a solid album of hard rock with cool hammond and gravelly vocals in 1971, and France's Schizo (first appearance: Vol 45) were too good to not use another of their murky unusual tracks. SRC were an also-ran from the productive Detroit scene and this is a great hypnotizing track with some excellent guitar breaks. Chances are that Gift are already known to you as a bloggers' favorite, and they fit in neatly with other German proggy proto-metal bands like a personal fave of mine; Night Sun.

Many thanks to Nololob for bringing Three-Headed Dog to my attention today; "Three-Headed Dog - Hound of Hades CD. Previously unreleased early 70s underground hard rock unearthed from the infamous Birmingham rock scene which brought us such luminaries as Judas Priest and Black Sabbath. Three-Headed Dog were among the lesser known and more obscure acts playing the circuit which included others like Iron Claw, Necromandus and Flying Hat Band."


Cheers, Rich.

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