A Spiritual Greeting: White Witch
[Capricorn
Records, 1973]
AMG Rating: 8
Review: Despite the Top 40 dominance
of singer-songwriters and mellow sounds like The Carpenters, hard rock bands
sold millions of albums during the early-to-mid 1970s. Alice Cooper had a
string of improbable hits with their cartoon perversity and gory theatricality,
while Grand Funk Railroad rode their stripped-down “power trio” format to
massive success. And Black Sabbath was producing their most influential
records, the ones that would inspire countless metal bands to emulate their
sound and demonic affectations.
White
Witch may have been as good as any hard rock band of their day—and was
certainly better than many—but, where Ozzy and company capitalized on their
implied link to Satanism, White Witch worked the other side of the
philosophical street, suggesting some vague association with “white” (good)
magic. The lack of white magic-influenced bands in subsequent years indicates
which approach was more successful and appealing to audiences. It couldn’t have
helped that they were on Capricorn Records, the label that was home to The
Allman Brothers and many southern rock bands they influenced. (Reportedly,
unsold White Witch albums were melted down to press Dickie Betts’ solo
records.)
Regardless
of their obscurity, White Witch was versatile, often surprising, and always
listenable. On their second (and best, and final) album, they integrating
progressive, glam, and psychedelic elements into something of a hard rock
sampler. Lead singer Ronn Goedert (who died in 2000) was a vocal chameleon, and
the band was equally adept at playing heavy and with finesse. The addictive
“Showdown” sounds like a gutsier version of Supertramp or a poppier Deep Purple,
and trippy tracks, “Crystallize and Realize” and “Class of 2000” could almost
pass for lightweight early Genesis. “Walk On,” the album’s best song, is a
lilting stroll that would stand out on any of The Kinks’ 70’s concept albums.
While
the group’s philosophy is never exactly clear, lyrics referencing the Book of
Revelations and Jean Harlow (in a single song) make for interesting listening.
And whether sounding like a leather-lunged Brit screamer or a ringer for Ray
Davies, Goedert delivers even when the songwriting doesn’t. Although “A
Spiritual Greeting” was, in fact, the band’s farewell, it’s a satisfying slice
of vintage hard rock.
—James
A. Gardner
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