Witch – Lazy Bones!! (prog/psych from Zambia, circa 1975)
Zambia’s Witch is a really awesome recent discovery of mine. I recently found myself bored with newer music, and of course, moods like that usually lead to explorations of music in the past. I was looking through some blogs, and happened upon an article on these guys. There’s really not a lot to even prove this band existed, aside from a single LP, entitled Lazy Bones!!, which came out as a private pressing by a small, local label in 1975. The band is a 5-piece, featuring a slight Afro-rock vibe buried under garage rock rhythm guitars and progressive psychedelic experimentation. The vocals are in English, but don’t sound as bad as foreign dudes with thick accents singing in English usually do.
Highlights include the opening track, “Black Tears,” with a slow, proggy, opening riff and solid vocal harmonies throughout, “Motherless Child,” which is based around a cool garage rock riff, some awesome, syncopated drumming, and lots of fuzz and wah on the lead guitar, and “October Night,” with its sweet wah-soaked intro riff, and some of the most soul-influenced sound on the entire record.
The recording, for obvious reasons, is pretty raw, having been recorded for a small label in the mid-70’s in Zambia, and more or less forgotten and un-remastered. In fact, it’s a wonder any of it survived as well as it has. And I’m pretty glad it has.
–Soup