Widowmaker CD: "Straight Faced Fighters"

Sleeve and track listing

Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 22602.

Disc 1

1. Such A Shame¹
2. Pin A Rose On Me¹
3. On The Road¹
4. Straight Faced Fighter¹
5. Ain't Telling You Nothing¹
6. When I Met You¹
7. Leave The Kids Alone¹
8. Shine A Light On Me¹
9. Running Free¹
10. Got A Dream¹

Disc 2

1. Come On Up²
2. Such A Shame²
3. Too Late²
4. El Doomo²
5. Ain't Telling You Nothing²
6. When I Met You²
7. Too Late To Cry³
8. The Hustler³
9. Here Comes The Queen³
10. Something I Can Do Without³
11. Sign The Papers³
12. Pushing And Pulling³

¹ from the album "Widowmaker"

² BBC live in concert 1976

³ from the album "Too Late To Cry"

Review

(This is the UK band 'Widowmaker' from the mid-70's. Not to be confused with Dee Snider's solo band.)

Now this is more like it. Widowmaker should have been big, really big... but a hard rock band in the face of the "year zero" ethos of punk meant they didn't really break through. They got a better reaction in the USA (and got on bigger tours, too) but distributions problems with (manager) Don Arden's label Jet meant their first album didn't really sell that well. A shame because it really is quite good.

All tracks are good, but the ones that stick in my mind are ballads like Leave The Kids Alone and rockers like On The Road. All of their eponymous debut are included here, together with their 1976 BBC 'In Concert' performance, showing just how good they were live. After lengthy tours of the USA vocalist Steve Ellis jumped ship, having not really enjoyed long spells away from home. Their second album was weaker as a result, some of whose tracks appear here as well. At the time I felt this was a mistake, but with those tracks now appearing on Running Free I realise I wasn't missing much.

Of the various Widowmaker albums that have been made available in recent years, this is the one to get, including as it does their tasty first album and the complete 'In Concert' show.