Widowmaker - Too Late To Cry (1977) + Bonus Track

 (U.K 1975 - 1978)

Widowmaker was formed in late 1975 by ex-Spooky Tooth and Mott The Hoople guitarist Luther Grosvenor, at the time known as Ariel Bender, as a means of recording songs he had written, something he had been unable to do since Mott The Hoople’s recordings were dominated by Ian Hunter penned tunes. Grosvenor was joined by ex-Lindisfarne drummer Paul Nichols and former Mungo Jerry and Chicken Shack bassist Bob Daisley. The trio became of the nucleus of the new band, with Grosvenor handling all the vocals.

The band decided that a lead vocalist would improve the band’s sound and as a result, Steve Ellis, formerly of Love Affair, was added, after his name was given to Grosvenor by Bobby Tench and Roger Chapman. At first Ellis wasn’t excited at the prospect of joining the band, but with some coaxing he took the job. Adding a keyboard was considered by the quartet, but in the end, guitarist Huw Lloyd-Langton completed the original lineup of the quintet, which took the name Widowmaker, although no one in the band can really remember why, and Grosvenor says he never liked the name.

The band’s first gig was a 24 February 1976 appearance on the BBC’s “Old Grey Whistle” when they performed the Grosvenor/Ellis/Nichols penned “On The Road” and the Grosvenor/Ellis composition “Ain’t Telling You Nothing” both of which appeared on the groups debut LP. Catching the eye and ear of Roger Daltrey, Widowmaker opened for The Who at three gigs in May and June of 1976.

1977 Lineup: Paul Nicholls, Huw Lloyd-Langton,
Ariel Bender, Bob Daisley and John Butler 

The band signed with Don Arden’s Jet Records with Arden becoming their manager. Soon the group entered De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley and began work on their self-produced and self-titled debut LP. Among the album’s ten tracks are five which Grosvenor had a part in writing, including the hot rocking “Running Free.” The band was aided by keyboardist Zoot Money, and backing vocals were supplied by Bobby Tench, Roger Chapman, Julie Driscoll and Sam Brown. With Jet making changes in distribution the album made a late appearance in the US and reached only #196 on the Billboard charts, disappointing to the band and certainly not an indication of the quality of material recorded.

Undeterred the band toured with Jet label mates ELO, as well as Uriah Heep and Nazareth. However, musical differences, home sickness and a falling out with manager Arden resulted in Ellis exiting the band. At the recommendation of Lloyd-Langton lead vocals were taken over by John Butler and the band entered Olympic Studio to record its second LP “Too Late To Cry” with Chris Kimsey and the band coproducing. The album, smoother sounding, but lacking the raw sound of the band’s debut reached only #150 on the Billboard charts in the US. Although containing four guitar driven tracks co-written by Grosvenor, the highlights of the album for me, it had a smoother sound, but didn’t rock as hard as the debut and proved to be the final album by the group.

Widowmaker:  US Tour 1978

Widowmaker toured with Ted Nugent, Aerosmith and Mahogany Rush, among others, in support of “Too Late To Cry” but bassist Daisley departed to become part of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. In addition, Grosvenor was unhappy, and although the band’s albums were much better than average and the group could have gone on for another year or two at the least, the members decided to call it a day after their 1978 Tour and Widowmaker was no more. After playing bass with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Daisley went on to play for Ozzy Osbourne, Uriah Heep, and Gary Moore; while Luther Grosvenor eventually went on to reform Spooky Tooth (without Gary Wright). [extracts from Plain And Fancy]

1978 US Tour Advert

Album Review

Initially billed as a supergroup for the late seventies, this tag was always going to be difficult to live up to as none of them exactly had top drawer cv’s. Guitarists Ariel Bender (Luther Grosvenor) and Huw Lloyd Langton had been in Mott The Hoople and Hawkwind respectively, whilst drummer Paul Nichols had been with Lindisfarne. 

Ariel Bender
(aka Luther Grosvenor) 

Bass player Bob Daisley arguably had his glory days to come going on as he did to play with Rainbow, Uriah Heep and Ozzy Osbourne. Original vocalist Steve Ellis had come from the pop rock outfit Love Affair but he didn’t stay around long enough to contribute to this second album and was replaced by Robert Plant wannabe John Butler.

I have never actually heard the debut album so can’t really comment on whether they were going in the right direction or not but ‘Too Late To Cry’ does not sound like an album from a band that were on the verge of setting the world on fire. It’s pretty standard formulaic late seventies rock. Right down to the group photographs, big burly beer drinking blokes all dressed up in sparkly gear stolen from the glam rock wardrobe staring at the camera like cut throats and desperados.

Bob Daisley

The musical content is also fairly predictable. The title track, which opens the album, sounds a little like Thin Lizzy, probably due to the twin guitar sound. It is also one of the better tracks. Other highlights are the Grosvenor penned ‘Here Comes The Queen’ an acoustic Led Zeppelin type track which highlights Butler’s Robert Plant pretentions and ‘The Hustler’ a track which surely has a claim to be the only rock song with a steel drum solo, provided courtesy of Miguel Barradas.

The closing track ‘Sky Blues’ however, is an awesome heavy blues track and is the highlight of the album. Pity they couldn't reproduce this across the whole album.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my near mint vinyl and includes full album artwork and label scans. I purchased this album after hearing the track "Sky Blues" while pursuing the record shelves of Reading Records in Carlton, Melbourne. Of course "Sky Blues" is the best track on the album, with some other standout tracks like "Mean What You Say" and of course the title track "Too Late To Cry". I have also managed to source another session track called "Talk To Me" which never made the album cut, but is included here as a bonus track for your pleasure.

Track List:

01 Too Late To Cry 3:54

02 The Hustler 4:08

03 What A Way To Fall 3:52

04 Here Comes The Queen 4:09

05 Mean What You Say 3:15

06 Something I Can Do Without 4:12

07 Sign The Papers 5:08

08 Pushin' 'N' Pullin' 4:51

09 Sky Blues 5:32

10 Talk To Me (Bonus Track)  4:14

Widowmaker were:

Lead Vocals – John Butler

Bass Guitar – Bob Daisley

Drums – Paul Nichols

Electric Guitar – Ariel Bender (aka Luther Grosvenor), Huw Lloyd-Langton

Harmonica – John Butler

Keyboards – John Butler

Widowmaker Link (245Mb)