Wicked Lady - The Axeman Cometh [1969-72][2012]





01 Run The Night
02 War Cloud
03 The Axeman Cometh 
04 Life And Death
05 Wicked Lady
06 Out Of The Dark
07 Rebel
08 Living On The Edge





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Cover Art






From Amazon:



This group can jam. And jam some more. Somewhere between Buffalo's Volcanic Rock and early Blue Oyster Cult is perhaps the closest I can come to giving you an idea what this sounds like, but that's not to say Wicked Lady really sounds like anyone else. Lots of extendrd jamming that never comes close to being dull. The guitar playing is excellent, bass and drums are top notch.

I understand this was recorded in a basement on a 2 track recorder. Unbelievable! The sound is really good, and I'm thankful no producer or record company got the chance to sabotage these recordings. The band knows exactly what they're doing. This is early 70's rock at it's best. Great stuff for headphones, but sounds really great cranked up on the stereo for a party.

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That's the first album of one and only real "Wicked Lady", formed in 1968 in Northampton (UK) by Martin Weaver (guitars/vocals), "Mad" Dick Smith on drums and Bob (aka Motorist) Jeffries on bass. The act emerged as power-trio inspired by the darkest and heaviest side of Brish R&B, and soon acquired a reputation of being riotous, violent, stoned and drunk - and attracting the similar crowd. The band was confined to perform in pubs and clubs, and college circuit too - but not top venues.

The music of "Wicked Lady" lacks the finesse of, let's say, Black Sabbath, of the later days, and the vocals of Martin Weaver have to hypnotizing power and are more on mainstream side, but the dark and menacing charm is there with mesmerizing manic rhythms and fuzzy guitars.It is really evilish concoction of raw hard rock with heavy psychedelia. The quality of sound might be considered as "sub-standard" by purists (au par with Shiver, for example), but don't get discouraged by that, it has powerful appeal and unusual appeal!

This album features original recordings from 1968-1972. In 1970 "Wicked Lady" split, to re-surface same year with another bassist - Del "German Head" ("Deutschekopf") Morley and to record second album - "Psychotic Overkill" (Psychotic Overkill, bootleg of the same was re-issued in Sweden as "Blow Your Mind", the difference is:minus immortal "Voodoo Chile", plus miserable cheap sexy photo of overused whore on the cover). Both albums had been bootlegged heavily, by Kissing Spell (=Erebus Records=Radioactive) mainly, which is responsible for spreading around some pathetic and silly rumours (see the booklets humbly signed "Kissing Spell") : Martin Weaver and "Mad" Smith were member of the same chapter of Hell's Angels (brothers, we're talking about 1969, while the Angels were introduced to London by George Harrison in 1969 only, and their impact couldn't reach Northampton that fast); Martin Weaver later became soldier of fortune in Africa - in real life he went further with "Dark" (Round The Edges (+ 4 Bonus-Tracks))** , and later joined "Mind Doctors" (Threshold of Reality).
Trivia: the drummer threw the kit into the audience, the frontman beat to pulp an A&M man, the same drummer had to be dragged off stage after shouting for 15 minutes "Pink Fairies are sh..." Neverneverland, and furious club owners had to pull the plug on the act after they played the same song on and on *(personally, I failed to locate any source able to corroborate these stories).
With the second album "Wicked Lady" moved further into dark depressive psychedelia, recording drugs'n'sex saga "Sin City" and 21 minutes madness epic "Ship of Ghosts".

I really hope (and wish) that either "Angel Air" or "Rockadrome" will produce legitimate re-issues of both albums - with proper sound and booklets, it is long overdue to "Wicked Lady"

Anyone who had ever been with the band, or at the real live gig, knows that both stories are gross exageration - the roadies, event promoters and the audience were not good samaritans, and they would not stand such crap from anyone - even the band
** The story of Weaver's relationship with "Dark" is a bit confusing - is was formed in the same 1968 by Steve Giles, also in Northampton, and apparently both were in the same band. However on the legendary album of "Dark" recorded in 1972 (very hard psychedelia, striped to the bones, without niceties) Weaver appeared as guest musician, and is not on bonus tracks.

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Now that I have both Wicked Lady LPs I now need the Dark LP. I wished they'd make a re-press of that too. Hopefully soon. If you don't have this LP, you should!