Customer Reviews

III

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is early 70s prog, drenched in Hammond B-3 with lots of long jams. The sound is a mix of this, and heavy rock.

But this is no gaudy ELP or Trace record. Black Widow 3 was made before most of the self-indulgeance that infected progressive rock arrived; before the style became an arena act. This work is as tasteful as pre-Dark Side Pink Floyd, or any of the early Vertigo bands--one of the guys from Cressida even joined after that wonderfully tastefull band broke up.

If all that doesn't sell you, buy this for "Sun" an amazing ballad that could have come straight off of Atom Heart Mother. It is beautifully melodic and meloncolly, one of the most gorgeous songs i have ever heard.

The rest of the record is also very good, and well worth having

Originally released in 1972,this was Black Widow's third lp.Best described as early '70's doom metal/hard rock.See my review of their 'Come To The Sabbat' 2-CD Anthology.Best cuts here are the eleven-minute/three part epic "The Battle" which I noticed had several moods as well as changes in tempo,"King of Hearts" and the well-written "Old Man".Line-up:Kip Trevor-guitar&lead vocals,Geoff Griffith-bass&vocals,John Culley-acoustic guitar&vocals,Zoot Taylor-keyboards&organ,Romeo Challenger-drums and Clive Jones-flute&sax.Should appeal to most open-minded fans of Uriah Heep,Sabbath,Atomic Rooster and possibly Iron Butterfly or even Argent.Not their best work,but decent.

For a band that established themselves by holding mock Satanic rituals of nude women during their shows, you'd expect that the bold moves continually get bolder. The reverse is true for Black Widow who stormed onto the scene with such vengeance and infamy that even Black Sabbath tried to distance themselves from the satanic folk rock band.

While Black Widow's original effort owed a lot of its success to the crazy stage antics and unbelievable reputation of the band, the music was not only solid, but actually displayed great musicianship with beautiful rythyms, melodies, and arrangements. Of course you had your acoustic guitars, drums, and bass, but for an extra bit of attitude they added an organ, a flute, and a fiddle.

These songs would range from mellow and soulful to upbeat and even slightly deranged (at least as deranged as you could imagine a folk song).

Despite all of the fixings for an outstanding if not intriguing band, Black Widow's reputation backfired on them. Because of this they distanced themselves more and more from the image that they had initially built and by their 3rd release, simply entitled III, that image was more or less gone along with a few of the original band members.

III isn't a bad album by any means but it doesn't have that same fire that Sacrifice did which without a doubt, set them apart from anybody else at that time, folk band or not. III however could easily be mistaken for any other folk band out there.

The melodies aren't nearly as powerful or complex and the material never really has much of a punch.

For fans of Black Widow, III can easily be appreciated as another album by the notorious group without the ingredients that made them Black Widow.

Perhaps this album was done in order to make them more mainstream in which case, that backfired too. Either way, the album is good but doesn't match up to their previous efforts and signified that the end was near for a band that made quite a mark in the world of stage theatrics and imagery.

This album is/was a disapointing follow up to the second and best Black Widow album 'Black Widow'.

Black Widows third album sounds like a *major* change compared to Sacrifice. Now the songwriting is just... well the songwriting is actually *great* but it should be said it's not ANYTHING like what you're probably hoping for.

Instead, these songs are written in a very clean, straight forward kind of way (for the most part) that closely resembles Ten Years After and maybe even the Allman Brothers a little bit.

The guitar playing is definitely the albums strong point with tasty and melodic guitar solos similar to Wishbone Ash perhaps, and a song like "Old Man" really illustrates how you can write a perfectly normal song and elevate it to greater heights just by the guitar soloing alone.

That's why I love the early 70's in fact- so much detail in every single album, so you always have *something* to enjoy.

Am I hearing things, or do I hear the "nah nah nah nah" part from the Beatles "Hey Jude" at the very end of "Old Man?" It's kind of blurry so I can't make out the words exactly, but it sure sounds like it!

Another magnificent song is "Lonely Man". Beautiful vocal melody, and that flute solo in the middle is REALLY good. The way the flutes and bass compliment each other is highly unusual and just fantastic. I love it.

Also, the way this album was recorded sounds so *perfect*. It's sparkling clean, similar to Wishbone Ash's Argus album for example, and it's very easy to identify every single note.

I like this album and I believe you will as well. Just don't expect the evil/satanic theme and instead just expect quality, inoffensive songwriting.

Its a great record from Black Widow.
Warning: Only the true Rockers has to have this record, if you love sepultura and another thinks like that, forghet, go to trash's session and enjoy yourself

one of my favorite bands;pounding riffs,good old fashioned hard sound features this 80' european hard rock performance.tokyo blade,old savatage alike,heavy sound,unique voice,the whole package for 80' metal lovers.unfortunately this is not their best record;the first one which was released in the late 80's,and it is called "streetfigther",is a lot better-i think.too bad that it is impossible to track it down in the states.if anybody has a word on its availability,pls,pls,let me know!!! thanx :)