Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Black Widow - Black Widow IV CD (album) cover

BLACK WIDOW IV

Black Widow

 

Heavy Prog

3.29 | 55 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Atavachron
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars Tepid but not bad 'fourth album' from this cult heavy prog group, a stillborn record pieced together years after the tracks were recorded in 1972, taken from flautist Clive Jones' master tapes and a few from the only acetate made of 'Black Widow lV'. In a stroke of musical irony, this set would be a departure for the band, a move toward the gentler sounds of the California scene but retaining a progressive/pop sound and showing significant growth in a more mature direction away from their tongue-in-cheek coven atmosphere. Think early Tull jamming with the Byrds at a party through a sound system that had seen better days. The out of place but fun 'Sleighride' is Prokofiev's Troika at least twenty years before ELP released it and turns into a groovy organ rocker, a bit long at nine minutes and sporting one too many hippies singing in the sunshine but prog rock just the same. 'More Than a Day' is pleasant and has some nice flute and acoustic guitar, as does the draggy and queasy 'You're So Wrong'. Though 'The Waves' fails at Animals-style psych and 'Part of a New Day' is the kind of track best left off a record, placed in a tightly sealed jar and buried in a stranger's backyard. Really, it's the kind of song that moves you to actually put the donut down, get up and hit the skip switch. 'Floating' foreshadows the prog-pop of Argent and 'Pictures in My Head' borrows again from classical, and at some point the band seems to want to be Caravan, but they aren't. A lukewarm and unfinished headstone for these guys and only recommended to fans of the band.
Atavachron | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this BLACK WIDOW review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.