Thankee TC & CL, makes the effort worthwhile
TC, I have a few memories of those bands as well. When Black Sabbath 3, Master Of Reality, was released, we used to frequent a pub named the Kings Head on the approach to Blackfriars Bridge, very near the London Ambulance HQ. The DJ used to play mostly rock music and he said he was so impressed with Black Sabbath's new album he played it in it's entirety. One night in the pub a long haired yoof came dashing out the toilet pursued by 2 CID ossifers who had escaped from on eopisode of the 'Life On Mars' TV series. They didn't catch him but apparently he'd just flushed all his drugs down the toilet to escape a nick. It was that sort of pub.
I saw Black Widow at The Lyceum in London's Strand and when they performed Come to the Sabbat the singer mimed whipping some scantily clad floozy with long blonde hair and clad in a diaphonous shift. Then he whipped the shift off of her and she stood there starkers. This had quite an effect on young Mr Flops whose tongue rolled out and whose knees started knocking together, not to mention the eyeballs that were suddenly on stalks.
Bouncers soon whisked her off stage and the band had to finish their set. Boo hiss. The incident made The Sun newspaper the following day, I still have the press cutting somewhere. I aklso have all of Black Widow's recorded output on mp3. I'd call it very much of it's time, not bad with occasional flashes of brilliance.
From late '71 to early '74 I DJ'ed every Friday night at a place named The Falcon, it's next to Falconwood railway station in Kent on the Welling/Eltham borders and it's now a Harvester Restaurant but back then it had a fair sized dance hall tagged onto it. Sometimes we'd have bands and twice Stackridge appeared. They were good.
The bouncer at this venue was a man mountain named Wally, now sadly deceased, who rarely thumped anybody, he'd just pick up anybody fighting two at a time and throw them outside. Wally liked Stackridge and the 2nd time they played he insisted on introducing them. So just before they started Wally announced from the stage, in a very gruff cockney voice 'Ladeez and Genelmen, give a big welcome for Stack-er-ridge' And the band played on. Here's a pic of me and Wally from those times:
If you have it!
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