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Wh-Wie

Wha-ha-ha (Japan): Shinutokiwa Betsu (Better Days YF-7018-AX, with insert, 1981)

New Wave/Progressive/Avant-Garde

Mishio Ogawa

The obvious reference points here is the bric-à-brac music of French near-contemporaries like Look De Bouk, though Wha-ha-ha’s music is more high-tech, with an added dash of Nippon eccentricity. This is appealingly playful stuff, with some lovely symphonic moments and plenty of unexpected diversions; however, whilst plain good fun, it’s also a little too fragmentary and inconsequential for me to rate it a B–.

GRADE: C+.

Wha-ha-ha (Japan): Getahaitekonakucha (Better Days YF-7041-AX, with inserts and obi, 1981)

New Wave/Progressive/Avant-Garde

Mishio Ogawa (principal vocals)

Easily as eccentric as its predecessor, this second and final album shares its strengths and weaknesses – maverick sense of adventure, lots of surprises and plenty of great moments, but ultimately a series of snippets rather than a coherent set. GRADE: C+.

Whale (USA): All Keyed Up! (Phaze Boost Recordings W-500, 1980?)
Rock
Terri Norton (principal vocals, percussion)
The opening ‘Disco Fred’ is ostensibly a throwaway dance/pop song, but has a mood of wistful loss and one of the most haunting hooklines imaginable; it’s an instant classic. The album never comes close to equalling it, but this is an enjoyable record throughout, alternating barroom hard rock with loungier pop and nostalgic material; overall, it’s hard to see what sort of audience this was aimed at, although they were presumably a cabaret act. The band was the brainchild of one Fred Bye, who writes, produces and engineers everything, plays guitar throughout, occasionally sings and handles all the instrumentation on about half the cuts. Other reviewers have classified this alongside Jade Stone & Luv and linked it with the ‘incredibly strange music’ movement; the oddest thing about it is the recording, which isn't mono but is barely recognisable as stereo either. Overall, this is a catchy, diverse, curious little record. GRADE: C+.

Rudie Whaling (USA): Vaudeville Rock Revue (Paramount PAS 6068, 1973)
Rock/Soul
The album is aptly titled, as several tracks do indeed blend rock and vaudeville (principally old-time jazz) to rather dubious effect. However, the better half of this offers rather good soul and blues-tinged rock, not unlike seventies Elkie Brooks. The LP is also interesting inasmuch as Whaling produced and arranged everything and wrote or co-wrote most of the material, making this one of relatively few early seventies albums that was almost completely masterminded by a woman. GRADE : C+.

What A Beautiful Pinball (West Germany): White Bird (ZYX 20001, 1978)
Pop/Lounge
Robyn Lynn (occasional vocals)
This bizarrely named German band’s sole album comes in a sleeve pastiching It’s A Beautiful Day’s debut, and opens with a competent cover of their ‘White Bird’. The remainder is a mixture of soft pop and Americanised country/rock, with everything except the two closing numbers being a cover version. It’s nicely done, but it’s amazing that a band like this could score a major label deal in the post-punk era. The band had an all-male line-up at this point, though female singer Robyn Lynn (credited as ‘Linda’ in another It’s A Beautiful Day reference) duets on ‘White Bird’ and ‘The Letter’; she subsequently joined the band as a full-time member. GRADE: C+.

Whipped Cream (Sweden): And Other Delights (Radium 226.05, CD, 1991)
Psychedelic
Elisabeth Punzi (joint lead vocals, guitar)
Shoegaze Swedish-style: not that different from any other shoegaze you’ve ever heard but executed with aplomb and trippiness in spades. However, that’s only part of the story – Whipped Cream are far from one-trick ponies and throw in a fine semi-acoustic number (‘Silver 1’) and an excellent Beatles pastiche (‘Theodora Wine’), which are also supremely trippy. As a footnote, the CD version contains two short bonus tracks, both pretty good. GRADE: B–.
Whipped Cream (Sweden): Tune In The Century (Snap 3, CD, 1992)
Psychedelic
Elisabeth Punzi (joint lead vocals, guitar)
At its best (as on the haunting single ‘Observatory Crest’ and the majestic closer ‘Beyond The Sun’) this is delightful, but overall it doesn’t add much to the impression created by their first. As such, I’m torn regarding a grade: this is either a very strong C+ or a just-about-B– and I think I’ll go with the former. GRADE: C+.
Whipped Cream (Sweden): HorseMountain (Snap 14, CD, 1994)
Psychedelic
Elisabeth Punzi (joint lead vocals, guitar)
Whipped Cream’s swansong is considerably more varied than their first two, ranging from garagy, almost punky, stuff through to folky numbers and even managing to include a lengthy drum solo. The best numbers here are very good indeed, whilst I’d describe the remainder as merely good. GRADE: C+.

Whipping Post (Switzerland): After And Really ‘Live’ (Musk-Projekt MP 7777/2-3, double, with insert, 1978)
Blues/Rock
Astrid Cotti (occasional vocals, keyboards)
This solid blues/rock set takes in covers of material by the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Chicken Shack, John Mayall, JJ Cale and the Allman Brothers, as well as a couple of token originals. One of the latter (‘When The Curfew Blows’) is probably the best thing on offer, along with a lengthy cover of ‘Season Of The Witch’; both add some progressive influences to the band’s sound. The word ‘Live’ in the title has inverted commas due to three of the four sides being recorded without overdubs in the studio rather than in front of an audience. GRADE: C+.

Sharon Whitbread & Fred (UK): Variety Is The Spice Of Life (RA RALP 6011st, 1972)
Folk/Rock
Sharon Whitbread (lead vocals)
Sharon Whitbread and Fred Hext (real name Tony Hart) were 15 and 17 respectively when they recorded this deeply obscure album. It comes housed in a brilliant period laminated sleeve, depicting Sharon in a multicoloured kaftan and Fred dressed up like the last of the great white hunters. I expected it to be traditional folk, but it’s nothing of the kind – instead, it’s a mixture of folk/rock, pop/rock and acid-folk, with two really world class tracks. Some may find Sharon’s voice hard to get used to, however – she sounds similar to Buffy Sainte-Marie, with so much vibrato that the effect almost sounds electronically produced. Labelmates Faraway Folk provide backing vocals on one track.

GRADE: C+.

White Cloud (USA): White Cloud (Good Medicine GM-LP-3500, 1972)
Country/Rock
Joanne Vent (joint lead vocals, tambourine)
Lively country/rock with mostly self-penned material, exuding a backwoods hippie vibe and featuring some good guitar work. Whilst the music is enjoyable enough, the most striking feature is the packaging: an absolutely gorgeous gatefold sleeve with a mock-snakeskin texture and a wraparound band akin to a horizontal obi. GRADE: C+.
See also Joanne Vent

White Coven (Spain): Demo (No label, CD, 2015)
Rock/Metal/Progressive
Sara Lapiedra (lead vocals)
Effortlessly blending electric and acoustic elements, this retro hard rock band deliver great dynamics and plenty of energy. As a bonus, this is beautifully recorded for a demo and whilst there’s only 15 minutes of music here every second drips with promise. GRADE: B–.
White Coven (Spain): Overseas (Surnia 21599-2018, CD,with gatefold minisleeve and poster booklet, 2018)
Rock/Metal/Progressive
Sara Lapiedra (lead vocals), Josette Melendez (keyboards)
At its heaviest and bluesiest – as on ‘Your Time Is Over’ and ‘Coven’ – this resembles fellow retro-rock practitioners Blues Pills. However, it’s much more wide-ranging, from the sumptuous balladry of ‘Moonroom’ to the swampy near-country of ‘Farewell’ to the full-blown prog of the title track. An album like this could easily have become unfocused, giving the impression of a band throwing styles at the wall in the hope that something would stick, but it’s all so good that their mercurial nature becomes one of their key strengths. GRADE: B–.

White Coven (Spain): White Coven (Móbil, CD, 2021)
Blues/Rock/Metal/Progressive
Sara Lapiedra (lead vocals), Josette Melendez (keyboards)
Once again, this sounds somewhat like Blues Pills, apart from the two long songs, which are lighter and much proggier. How much you like this may depend on how retro you like your retro rock, but White Coven recapture the seventies vibe they were seeking with aplomb, and there’s plenty of good music here. GRADE: B–.

White Elephant (USA): White Elephant (Just Sunshine JSS-3000, double, 1972)
Jazz/Funk/Rock
Sue Manchester (joint lead vocals), Ann E Sutton (joint lead vocals)
Housed in a striking embossed grey-and-white book sleeve, this double LP offers some lively and energetic jazz/funk grooves. With soul, rock and gospel elements thrown into the mix, it gives little hint of the anodyne genre that jazz/funk would later become, and contains some outstanding passages. That said, the songs are generally not as good as the chops, and some of the horn parts are rather hackneyed – and be warned, there are plenty of horns. The band was led by prolific jazz musician Michael Mainieri, and included top players such as Warren Bernhardt, Michael and Randy Brecker, Ronny Cuber, Steve Gadd, Tony Levin, Hugh McCracken and David Spinozza. GRADE: C+.

White Harvest (USA): White Harvest (Rite Record Productions 36528, with insert, 1976)
Rock
Bobbie Campbell (occasional vocals, keyboards)
Packaged in a rather minimalist white sleeve, this is a fine album of melodic guitar-based Christian rock. This isn’t progressive, psychedelic or hard rock, but it has slight nods in all those directions and some excellent guitar playing throughout (especially on the heavier ‘I Can’t Understand’). At times, this bears a resemblance to the superb US Apple Corps albums; unlike those LPs, this is an extremely rare and expensive disc. GRADE: C+.

White Noise (UK/USA): An Electric Storm (Island ILPS 9099, 1969)
Electronic/Avant-Garde
Annie Bird (joint lead vocals), Val Shaw (joint lead vocals), Delia Derbyshire (electronics)
This fascinating album, recorded as a collaboration between American composer David Vorhaus and BBC Radiophonic Workshop members Delia Darbyshire and Brian Hodgson, is very much a game of two halves. The first side consists of quirky electronic rock, not unlike that of their Stateside counterparts United States Of America, whilst the second is far more avant-garde, with just two long tracks. The LP is probably best remembered for the howling cacophony of ‘Black Mass: An Electric Storm In Hell’, though this was actually an afterthought, recorded in a single night to complete the album after Island threatened to sue for non-delivery of the master tapes. Fifty years on, the disc still sounds pioneering, and was enormously influential at the time. GRADE: B.

White Noise (USA): Different (White Noise WN-1001, with inner, 1981)
Metal
Susan Cain Vickers (joint lead vocals, guitar, harmonica)
Like the unrelated White Noise above, this obscure private pressing is also a game of two halves: the numbers fronted by bassist Carl Montney are dumb rock with lyrics about bedding groupies, riding Harley-Davidsons and being out on tour, but those fronted by Susan Vickers are altogether darker and more eerie. The twin highpoints are the sinister ‘Obsession’, with its slower tempo, and the lengthy suite ‘Dancing Bear/Bring Me Giants’ which demonstrates that the band had some progressive ambitions. GRADE: C+.

White On Black (UK): White On Black (Saydisc SDL 251, with inserts, 1974)
Folk
Sue Franklin (joint lead vocals, guitar, cello, recorder), Suzi Lawrence (joint lead vocals, guitar, flute)
With pleasant covers of everything from ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ to ‘I Don’t Know How To Love Him’ and ‘Scarborough Fair’ to ‘Norwegian Wood’, this is a lovely, understated contemporary folk album. In addition to the expected acoustic guitars and basses, flute, recorder and cello add some rich instrumental colouring, though without any original material much of the LP feels rather generic. GRADE: C+.

White Rose (UK): It’s Been A Long Time (Look LKLP 6021, 1975)
Folk/MOR
Alison Forsyth, Catherine Simmons
This curious private pressing mixes vocal MOR and some lovely baroque folk. The material ranges from the Beatles to Judy Collins, Cole Porter and Rodgers & Hart, but this was par for the course for the band: according to the sleevenotes, their live performances could take in ‘Bach or Bacharach, Garfunkel or Gershwin’. GRADE: C.

White Skull (Italy): I Won’t Burn Alone (Underground Symphony US CD-004, CD, 1995)
Metal
Federica De Boni (lead vocals)
This symphonic metal set isn’t the most ambitious album in the world, but it’s very good for what it is – catchy, punchy and powerful, with some excellent riffing. GRADE: C+.

White Willow (Norway): Ignis Fatuus (The Laser’s Edge LE 1021, CD, USA, 1995)

Progressive
Sara Trondal (joint lead vocals), Tirill Mohn (guitar, violin)
Widely acclaimed at the time, this is an impressive album of dark progressive rock with strong folk edges. Mournful, introspective and very, very Scandinavian, it really takes flight on the longer tracks, with some exquisite moments, though it would probably have worked better as a continuous suite rather than a collection of individual songs and instrumentals. Not everything is brilliant – the mediaeval-esque ‘Song’, sung in the falsetto style of a troubadour, is kitsch rather than authentic – but overall this is a quietly remarkable debut. The LP was later reissued with completely different artwork (Termo TERMOCD012, double CD, with gatefold minisleeve and artwork, Norway, 2013) with an excellent second disc of demos, outtakes and live recordings. GRADE: B–.
White Willow (Norway): Ex Tenebris (The Laser’s Edge LE 1029, CD, USA, 1998)
Progressive
Sylvia Erichsen (joint lead vocals), Asa Eklund (occasional vocals)
This isn’t dissimilar to their first album, but it is even folkier and more wintry, with an extremely melancholy mood. Superbly atmospheric, this is frequently a stunning album, with numerous moments of chilly beauty. GRADE: B–.
White Willow (Norway): Sacrament (The Laser’s Edge LE 1034, CD, USA, 2000)
Progressive
Sylvia Erichsen (principal vocals)
Whilst more progressive and decidedly more dynamic than its predecessor, this is perhaps a touch less atmospheric. In some ways, their music remains more admirable than engaging, but this is an excellent album by any definition. GRADE: B–.
White Willow (Norway): Storm Season (The Laser’s Edge LE 1038, CD, with obi, USA, 2004)
Progressive
Sylvia Erichsen (principal vocals), Marthe Berger Walthinsen (bass, tambourine)
The obi claims that ‘White Willow broaden their classic progressive sound with heavier guitars, thick layers of analogue keyboards and more intense rhythm section’, but whilst this does have a few prog-metal touches here and there, it’s mostly business as usual. GRADE: B–.
White Willow (Norway): Signal To Noise (The Laser’s Edge LE1046, CD, USA, 2006)
Progressive
Trude Eitang (lead vocals), Marthe Berger Walthinsen (bass, cymbal)
With six songs and three instrumentals, this marks a shift towards shorter, heavier tracks with a slight alternative rock flavour (mirroring the transition undertaken by Anekdoten). The result is another fine and atmospheric album – in many ways, one of their best. GRADE: B–.
White Willow (Norway): Terminal Twilight (The Laser’s Edge LE1060, CD, with digipak, 2011)
Progressive
Sylvia Erichsen (principal vocals), Ellen Andrea Wang (bass)
With Sylvia Erichsen returning and a new female bassist (Ellen Andrea Wang of SynKoke) joining, this has a slightly more modernistic feel in parts, including some electronics. With plenty of dynamism and complexity, plus many of the old White Willow trademarks, it’s probably their finest piece of work. GRADE: B.

White Willow (Norway): Future Hopes (The Laser’s Edge LE1078, CD, USA, 2017)
Progressive
Venke Knutson (lead vocals), Ellen Andrea Wang (bass)
I’m not convinced by the girlish tones of new vocalist Venke Knutson or the impressionistic production style favoured here (or indeed whether a Roger Dean cover is appropriate for the band’s chilly Scandinavian minimalism). Similarly, the two short, folky tracks that open the album don’t really go anywhere, but subsequently this is more sure-footed, though it’s probably their patchiest release to date. GRADE: B–.
See also Amherst, Dag Arnesen Trio, Cybele, Pixel, Tirill, SynKoke

White Wine (Australia): Overflow (Festival FL-33,576 / SFL-933,576, 1969)
Pop
Angela Jones, Leonie Goodwin
This is a rather good late sixties pop album with easy listening tinges in a similar style to Aussie contemporaries like the Executives. Despite being released on a major label, the album was clearly sponsored by a wine brand called Sparkling Starwine: their product is all over the front cover and the liner notes are nothing more than an extended advertisement, describing the wine as perfect for ‘gay swinging parties’.

GRADE: C+.

Ruth White (USA): 7 Trumps From The Tarot Cards And Pinions (Limelight LS-86058, 1968)
Avant-Garde
This album of avant-garde electronic music has little in the way of recognisable melodies, but it’s not completely atonal either. The disc consists of two suites – one about the tarot deck and the other the soundtrack to a modern ballet about flight – with a rather hypnotic feel. There are no rock instruments or elements at all, and many listeners will dismiss this as aimless noodling, but it’s interesting and inventive for its era. GRADE: B–.
Ruth White (USA): Flowers Of Evil (Limelight LS-86066, 1969)
Avant-Garde
White’s second album is similar to her first, except that she reads her own translations of Baudelaire’s poetry, in an electronically treated robot-like voice. It’s another intriguing and original piece of work, but the vocals make it faintly ridiculous at the same time. GRADE: C+.
Ruth White (USA): Short Circuits (Angel S-36042, 1970)
Avant-Garde
Ruth White (synthesiser, electronics)
On her third LP, White does a Walter Carlos and performs a number of well-known classical themes on the Moog synthesiser. Not surprisingly, this is the most melodic and musical of her early LPs, though the weirdness level is still quite high. GRADE: C+.

Whiteflag Project (Palestine/Israel): Talk (Jazzis 2002, CD, Israel, 2009)
Rock/Pop/Progressive/World Music
Gani Tamir (joint lead vocals), Katya Cooper (percussion)
Recorded by Israeli and Palestinian musicians attempting to promote unity between their countries, this is a mixed bag of influences. Melodic pop/rock rubs shoulders with Arabic elements whilst touches of rap, reggae, jazz and folk are weaved in; the whole thing could probably just about be classified as prog despite the absence of any extended tracks. Overall, it’s listenable enough, although the backstory tends to overshadow the actual music. GRADE: C+.

Jaki Whitren (UK): Raw But Tender (Epic EPC 65645, with inner, 1973)
Singer/Songwriter
Jaki Whitren (lead vocals, guitar, banjo)
The album is aptly titled, as Whitren offers a procession of gentle but rootsy songs drawing on country blues. She has a fine, versatile voice, sometimes recalling Joan Armatrading (notably on ‘Oh, Little Boy’) and there’s a stellar cast of backing musicians including Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, Albert Lee, Lindsay Cooper, Henry Bartlett, Gordon Huntley and Frank Ricotti. On the downside, there’s nothing truly distinctive here, so it’s not difficult to see why she didn’t break through into the big time. In any case, the best song is also the most heavily arranged: the propulsive ‘But Which Way Do I Go?’, with its inventive use of electric piano. She went on to cut two further albums that I haven’t heard: 1983’s International Times (Living LR1, 1983) and Isis Unveiled (No label, CD, 2007). One ‘Jacki [sic] Whitren’ was credited as a vocalist on Minimum Vital’s La Source; I’m going to assume that this was the same person, although the connection is far from obvious. GRADE: C+.
See also Minimum Vital

Whitsuntide Easter (Holland): Next Time You Play A Wrong Note… Make It A Short One (Pilgrim/Grapevine 109, UK, 1977)
Folk/Rock/Progressive
Nanneke Coumou (joint lead vocals, percussion)
This impressive Dutch band issued by far the most expensive and sought-after album on an otherwise fairly undistinguished British Christian label. The mainly instrumental opener ‘New Earth’ is absolutely outstanding, with some superb flute soloing and deft tempo changes, but the remaining numbers are more song-based (though still with a lot of proggy elements). This album is often compared to Carol Of Harvest, but the vibe is completely different, largely because Whitsuntide Easter used no keyboards and had a very guitar-dominated sound. GRADE: B–.

Who Needs Friends? (UK): Who Needs Friends? (Windrush SRTX 82 CUS 1256, 1982)
Pop/Rock
Julie Egles (occasional vocals), Kim Tonks (occasional vocals), Nikki Williams (occasional vocals)
This school project album is a pleasant example of the genre, with melodic light pop/rock backing, some fifties and show tune edges, and a few folkier moments. Some of the vocals are a touch flat and hesitant, but that simply adds to the charm of this sort of thing. GRADE: C+.

Whyte Horses (UK): Pop Or Not (No label WHLP001, some with CDR, 2015)
Psychedelic
Julie Margat
Albums refracting late sixties psychedelia – think third album Velvet Underground, French popsike and the frothiest end of Os Mutantes – through a modern indie-pop prism aren’t exactly uncommon, but this one is uncommonly good. Occasionally hinting towards Stereolab, the music here is genuinely blissful, effectively tripped-out and – best of all – utterly lacking in smugness and artifice. The same cannot be said of the bonus mix CDR that came with the first 100 copies of the 300 pressed: filled with snippets of seventies kids’ TV shows, obscure lounge music, East European psychedelia and the likes, it’s more archly hipsterish than a twentysomething with a David Bellamy beard sipping a skinny latte in an artisan coffee bar in Islington. GRADE: B–.

Whyzdom (France): From The Brink Of Infinity (Ascendance ASC23012CD, CD, UK, 2009)
Metal
Telya Mélane (principal vocals)
Vynce Leff’s new band steps forward from his previous project Sensitive To Light, offering epic symphonic metal with a typically European feel. Whilst not exceptional or original, this is nice stuff: richly melodic and dynamic, whilst neither too ostentatious nor too overblown. GRADE: C+.
Whyzdom (France): Blind? (Scarlet SC 226-0, CD, with digipak and booklet, Italy, 2012)
Metal
Elvyne Lorient (lead vocals)
In many ways, this is a far more impressive album, combining a dynamic rock base with epic choirs and orchestrations to resemble a cross between Nightwish and Therion. The big difference, of course, is that Nightwish and Therion were pioneers whereas Whyzdom have little distinctive style – and good as the material here is, they also don’t have the songwriting skills that set Nightwish and Therion apart. GRADE: C+.

Whyzdom (France): Symphony For A Hopeless God (Scarlet SC 275-0, CD, with digipak and booklet, 2015)
Metal
Marie Rouyer (lead vocals)
A symphony indeed, as this continues the epic Nightwish-meets-Therion style of its predecessor. It’s another solid album, with some suitably hefty riffing, but again it all feels rather generic. Oddly, they appear to keep changing their vocalist with each album, in the manner of their seventies countrymen Wapassou. GRADE: C+.

Whyzdom (France): As Time Turns To Dust (Scarlet SC 338-0, CD, with digipak and booklet, Italy, 2018)
Metal/Progressive
Marie Rouyer (lead vocals)
Once again, this is a very well-executed pastiche of late nineties Nightwish or Therion. Once again, the songwriting is of a high standard without equalling that of their inspirations. Once again, I enjoyed the LP but am left with little or nothing to say about it. GRADE: C+.

Whyzdom (France): Alive (No label SM-DVD-01, DVD, with booklet, 2016)

Metal/Progressive

Marie Rouyer (principal vocals)

I was fairly lukewarm about their studio albums, which essentially offered rather pompous pastiches of Therion and Nightwish, without either band’s knack for great hooks. My opinion hasn’t changed, but there’s no argument that they’re an exciting band live or that this is an excellently filmed DVD. GRADE: B–.

Wicked Minds (Italy): Visioni, Deliri E Illusioni (Black Widow BWRCD 136-2, CD, 2011)
Rock/Progressive
Monica Sardella (joint lead vocals), Sophya Baccini (occasional vocals)
This collection of cover versions of material by early seventies Italian bands recaptures the vibe of the era perfectly – Anglocentric reference points for the sound could include Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Atomic Rooster et al. With its assertive rhythm section, frequent fuzz guitar, Hammond organ and (sampled) Mellotron, this is retro rock at its best and should delight lovers of the era. Band member Monica Sardella fronts three of the 13 songs and guest Sophya Baccini two, once again proving that she has an excellent voice as long as she’s not performing in Presence. GRADE: B–.
See also Electric Swan, Presence

Widow’s Weeds (UK): Revenant (Reverb Worship RW 449, CDR, with DVD case, insert and postcard, 2021)
Folk/Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Daughters Of Grief
This folk-horror album is varied and eerie, with everything from Ligeti-like elements to haunting traditional folk songs and passages of electronic and neoclassical music. Apparently it was compiled from outtakes, offcuts and contributions to compilations, but it manages to sound remarkably cohesive for all that, and whilst it’s somewhat ponderous – which is par for the course for this kind of stuff – it’s frequently stunning. GRADE: B–.