White Witch was a glam rock/psychedelic/hard rock band from Tampa, Florida that made two albums for Capricorn Records in the early 1970s. Their name was a paean to white magic, contrary to the black magic of groups like Black Sabbath. As the band announced before their shows: To bring good where there once was evil, to bring love where there once was hate, to bring wisdom where there once was ignorance; this is the power of White Witch.[1] The group was inducted into the Florida Musicians Hall of Fames Florida Music Honor Roll. Whitewitch 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 couldnt 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 Dickey 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 Ron 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 albums best song, is a lilting stroll that would stand out on any of the Kinks 70s concept album
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 00:26:27 +0000
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