Black Widow

by William Ruhlmann
Leicester, England-based Black Widow formed in 1969 from the ashes of blue-eyed soul band Pesky Gee! Jim Gannon (vocals, guitar, vibraphone), Kip Trevor (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Zoot Taylor (keyboards), Clive Jones (woodwinds), Bob Bond (bass), and Clive Box (drums) played dark, allegedly satanically inspired rock along the lines of Black Sabbath, and gained plenty of attention and controversy for their theatrical live sets. Black Widow made the U.K. Top 40 with their 1970 debut album, Sacrifice. Despite, or perhaps because of, the focus on their occult trappings, they moved away from their dark roots with their 1971 self-titled album and continued this trend with the following year's Black Widow III. By this time, however, lack of critical and label support, plus many lineup changes, caused the group to falter. Late in 1972, after losing their deal with CBS Records, Black Widow recorded Return to the Sabbat, a self-produced set that did not see the light of day until 1999, when it was released by Blueprint Records. A tribute album, Come to the Sabbat, appeared later that year as well.