"Lazy Bones!!"

If you, like me, went all bat-shit looney for that Chrissy Zebby Tembo album I posted a while back, then you will absolutely love Witch, who like Chrissy Zebby Tembo, hailed from Zambia. Witch released just one album, Lazy Bones, in 1975. It is a work of sheer genius. Witch played the same sort of wah-wah psych as Mr. Zebby Tembo but with a bit more darkness. Check out the opening track, "Black Tears." It starts out rather melancholy and builds into a chugging, almost Sabbath-inspired shuffle before finishing with a doomy end. Lazy Bones!! sounds as if it was recorded live to 2-track with the vocals and some acoustic guitar added later. The spartan production only makes the album more heartfelt and endearing. The drum fills and vocals at times overload the mics. You can almost hear the suffocating heat of whatever slap dash Zambian studio they were in, playing their hearts out. Witch had great songs, and a pair of brilliant guitar players in Chris Mbewe and John Muma. Mbewe also is responsible for the casual vocals that further sweeten the whole affair. I really can't do this justice with mere words, it's sad, joyous, reflective, hopeful, playful, mournful, enchanting, winsome, gloomy, it's all these things and more. Just get it already!!

Here