I've been racking my brains trying to remember when I first saw and heard Angel Witch. As the NWOBHM dam began to burst in '79 an ever growing pile of 7" singles and EP's filled the end of my singles shelves. Live, although the local scene took a while to catch up, there were exciting new bands opening larger and headlining smaller shows all over London. Girlschool made a breakthrough with Motorhead, and Samson, Saxon and so many others had their logo's jumping out of the gig guide in the back pages of Sounds, from The Bandwagon to Ealing, The Marquee to The Cartoon.
I recall a Marquee, it must have been either very late '79 or very early '80. We walked in as Sledgehammer were closing their set I think, with the track Sledgehammer. Twas de rigeur to have a track the same name as the band. Motorhead, Iron Maiden and, of course Angel Witch fitted that criteria admirably. Like Maiden, my most vivid memory of that first sighting was the crowd. They already had a loud, loyal following, urging them on to bigger and better things. Immediately, despite being only a 3-piece, they had a full bottom end Sabbath sound, with a sprinkling of widdly scree on top of course. Kev Heybourne even teased a harmonic snarl from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind during his solo. And (I think) they may have done Paranoid, or did someone that night say they'd recently seen them do it? Newcy Brown memory fudge I'm afraid....
And we didn't have very long to wait to get hold of some vinyl, as the (now) iconic Metal For Muthas compilation came out on February 15th and included the mighty Baphomet. Another Marquee came hot on the heels and then a gig at Crocs in Rayleigh, one of their thursday night NWOBHM live band specials. A couple of days later I saw them in the middle of a 3 band bill coming on after NWOBHM bretherin Sledgehammer and before Canadian AOR group April Wine. A bit of a mismatch, but I enjoyed all 3, and once again the ever growing Angel Witch following made themselves heard! Six days later Tommy Vance played 4 tracks recorded for his Friday Rock Show - Sweet Danger, Angel Of Death, Extermination Day and (natch) Angel Witch. Had to leave a couple of tape machines and 2 C120's set up at home that night, 'cos although I tried never to miss a FRS we were up to Hammy for Judas Priest with special guests Iron Maiden! Phew!
In May, following the Metal For Muthas release on EMI, a 7" and 12" of Sweet Danger came out, with Flight Nineteen and Hades Paradise (12" only and misspelt as Hadies!). It hit 75 on the charts then disappeared, but was despite the 'failure' tag was only the 5th NWOBHM single to get that high in the charts. A longer deal was put on the table, but with Maiden getting all the attention and funds Angel Witch didn't want to be pushed aside (as Pallas had been when EMI signed Marillion the following year as part of the NWOBP) so chose Bronze instead with their motorhead and Girlschool pedigree.
By now we were getting familiar with the songs, they were becoming old friends. The gigs kept on coming, and a sterling performance at the 'Heavy Metal Barn Dance' at a boiling hot and packed Stafford Bingley Hall enhanced their reputation many fold. They were one of the stand out bands of the day, has to be said. Remember a couple of gigs in August, one in west London Ealing way, and another Marquee before their Reading set. And before long their Bronze debut single Angel Witch and Gorgon came out. And a tour with Girlschool and Tank. And the elpee. Things were going a pace for sure. Sounds hated the album, which was not only wrong, but like the hatchet job Girl got for Sheer Greed, did a lot to halt everything in its' tracks.
With so much rock, so much NWOBHM material and gigs out there, word of mouth was not enough. You read Sounds, it had Neil Kay's playlist. It was where the NWOBHM moniker was born, and Deaf Barton and cohorts championed it all. They were part of it, just like us. So a bad (and it was BAD) review crucified the band. And Dave Hogg, lovable geezer and madman to boot, went too far over the top too often and was fired. Dave Duford, brother of Girlschool stickswoman Denise, came in and they recorded their next Bronze single Loser, backed with Suffer and Dr Phibes. A stab at commerciallity it flopped. And the reviews were worse than ever. By now the band was sadly beginning to flounder. The gloss and glory of the NWOBHM was wearing off in the eyes of the industry and countless bands were discarded or ignored. By september there was a farewell Marquee show after which Kev Riddles vacated the bass position and moved on to Tytan. Remember them giving Diamond Head a run for their money at the Zig Zag club the following may by the way.
Angel Witch carried on, split, came back and so on. But for me, the 3 piece was the one. Those Marquee shows, the crowd and the riffs and the power. Some bands had a song (Trespass spring to mind), others a sound. Angel Witch were down to earth but with a firmly British take on HM.
Now, go and play the elpee. If you can, get the expanded 2CD 30th anniversary edition. Not withstanding the classy artwork and live pics from Reading among the gatefold card sleeve thing, it's a 30 track monster set including those FRS sessions, 7 demo's from '78 and '79, baphomet from Metal For Muthas and the 8 tracks released on 7" and 12", most of 'em different to the elpee versions. The core is the original record. It holds up amazingly well, the production better than I remember, Andy Pearce's remastering bringing even more life and power to the songs. And what songs. Atlantis, Sorceress, Devil's Tower...plus the one's we all know and love. They made me smile, they made me rock,and made me more serious about doing it myself. we were all part of the club then, it mattered and it was fantastic.
"You're an Angel Witch, You're an Angel Witch"
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