PESKY GEE! – Exclamation Mark (1969-2005) British Rock Masterpiece | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Now a mere footnote in '60s rock history, Leicester, England's Pesky Gee! are perhaps remembered more for the band that they became -- notorious Satan-worshipers Black Widow -- than for their actual music. Taking their name from a song in another local group's repertoire, Pesky Gee! were originally formed as a soul band before constant gigging slowly pushed them toward a more experimental and progressive style of rock & roll. By 1968, the band consisted of Kay Garrett (lead vocals), Kip Trevor (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Chris Dredge (guitar), Clive Jones (saxophone, flute), Alan Hornsby (brass), Bob Bond (bass), and Clive Box drums, and had signed a deal with Pye Records. A cover of Vanilla Fudge's "Where Is My Mind" was chosen as their first single in March 1969, but when it failed to chart, both Dredge and Hornsby flew the coop, being replaced by guitarist Jim Gannon keyboardist Jess "Zoot" Taylor. Wasting little time, this "new and improved" lineup managed to record Pesky Gee!'s cleverly titled first album, Exclamation Mark, in a single, one-night, four-hour session. Issued in June of the same year, the record sadly fared no better than their single, and the impatient Pye soon showed them the door. Feeling that this particular incarnation had run its course, and simultaneously observing the general populace's growing fascination with forbidden topics like black magic and the occult, Pesky Gee! decided to re-invent themselves as a theatrically Satanic outfit by assuming the fittingly conspicuous name of Black Widow. Eduardo Rivadavia

Starting out as a typical U.K. club soul band, and then turning toward psychedelia and prog rock in the latter half of the '60s, it wasn't until Pesky Gee! changed their name in 1970 to Black Widow, transformed, and released the satanic Sacrifice that they reached the public eye. If not singular in any particular way, the prog-edged Pesky Gee! album, released on Pye in 1969, has enough cool Hammond organ flourishes and late psych-intoned vocals (male and female) to cause interest. Much is aimless, relies too much on the blues-rock boom, or is downright bad ("Born to Be Wild"), but when they got the mix right they were superb, as on their original psych/soul/prog numbers: on "A Place of Heartbreak" there is a superb male/female vocal, a soulful beat, and some haunting changes; while "Where Is My Mind" (both songs were released as a 45) has a driving rhythm, a unique use of horns, and sees the beginning of the band's fascination with sinister subject matter and horror vocalization. The covers get a bit much, although the Julie Driscoll-intoned reading of Donovan's "Season of the Witch" has some fine moments. Not a solid affair but representative of the change in the British music scene of the late '60s. Jon "Mojo" Mills

Tracklist :
1 Another Country 7:40
2 Pigs Foot  4:42
3 Season Of The Witch 8:24
4 A Place Of Heartbreak 3:02
5 Where Is My Mind 3:02
6 Piece Of My Heart 2:54
7 Dharma For One 4:05
8 Peace Of Mind 2:21
9 Born To Be Wild 4:21
Credits
Bass Guitar – Bob Bond
Drums – Clive Box
Guitar – Jimmy Gannon
Organ – Jess Taylor
Saxophone – Clive Jones
Vocals – Kay Garret, Kip Trevor