SPIDER WOMAN

This single was released in Spain and Germany but not in the U.K. and in the U.S. In Germany, "Spider Woman" was a Hit (Number 13 in the German charts).

For me, "Spider Woman", a song which was composed by Box / Byron / Kerslake / Thain, is one of the best songs from their "The Magician's Birthday" (1972) album, an album which also was dominated by Ken Hensley's songwriting, like in other albums which the band recorded wiht him as a member. It is a rocker song with very good bass guitar parts played by Gary Thain, as slide guitar played by Hensley, and good and backing vocals. The lyrics are not very good, but the song in general is very good.

"Sunrise", composed by Hensley, is also a very good song, and it is the first song in their "The Magician's Birthday" album. But this studio version lacks some of the "power" of the live version that the band included in their "Live January 193" (1973) live album. In my opinion, the band tended to play with a lot of care in the studio, but the live in concert versions of a lot of their songs were better than the original studio versions.