Album Details

• Artist: Wicked Witch
• Album: Chaos 1978-1986
• Label: EM Records
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2008-12-28

This record takes one back to the days of that holy trio: geri curls, leather pants and borderline obscene funk. Wicked Witch was a DC band that both built off of and anticipated, respectively, Funkadelic and Prince. Killer guitars, somehwat reedy synths, and alternately breathy and boasting horny lyrics make "Chaos" a history lesson and hot jam in one package. There are only seven songs, including an instrumental and a previously unreleased remix, but still there is a lot to chew on.

"Fancy Dancer" and "Erratic Behavior" are repesentative of their fast funk, with slicing guitar runs and choppy keyboard counterpoint, with just a touch of some unidentifiable mayhem that separates this from other similar bands of the period (Where are you now, Dazz Band?). "X Rated" from 1983 is a slow dirty machine blues, delivered in a spirit not far from Paisley Park. The oldest track in the set, 1078's "Vera's Back," is at least three years ahead of its time in its mix of both the funky and seedy.

Wicked Whitch was masterminded by one Richard Simms, who sang and played bass on all tracks, and played all instruments on three of the tracks here. His vision saw into the future, and he tried to bring as much of what he revered from the past into this vision. "Chaos" is a time-piece, but it is white hot and sounds like a blueprint for several phases of post-70s funk and soul.

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