Whitewitch - Spiritual Greeting (CD)

All Music Guide

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 an 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 Capricor...n 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 (d. 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. Read more Less