I dig this tune immensely... And what would Halloween be like without some Witch action? Throw is some fuzzy wah wah guitar and once again count this devil in!!!
The Rattles began their career in the same Hamburg scene where many Liverpool based UK rock groups got their start. They met The Beatles in 1962 and played alongside them on three occasions in Germany; at Munich, Essen and Hamburg. In 1968 they recorded "The Witch", written by Hildebrandt, which was a hit in Germany. The group was forced to split up owing to army service and other reasons and a new line-up formed, although Hildebrandt remained as songwriter and record producer. They enjoyed sustained success in their own country through the 1960s, and recorded a new version of "The Witch" in 1970 which became their only international hit.
"The Witch" went Top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, in addition to hitting the Top 20 in Austria and on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. By April 1971, it had sold over one million copies, with the Rattles becoming the first German group to ever appear in the U.S. charts.
* Achim Reichel - vocals, guitar
* Herbert Hildebrandt - bass
* Hans Joachim Kreuzfeld - guitar
* Reinhard "Dickie" Tarrach - drums
This was the mid 1960s line-up. By the time of "The Witch" they had all left and successively been replaced by other musicians, with Edna Béjarano now being the lead singer.
The Rattles - The Witch
6 comments:
Yeah love this track - and the album's pretty good too.
Single version is better than both the video versions. What year was the single?
tremenda cancion, gracias.
un saludo. jesumba. madrid
Hey great track, videos are great for there time. Here's another track called The Witch by a German band Adam & Eve. It's heavier and spookier. I think you'll like it.
I love this and when I saw the first video for The Witch, I thought wow, that really nails the time and place. I honestly thought it was a guy with a high-pitched voice.
I lived in Germany for a while in the '80s and '90s and that's where I first heard of the Rattles (and the Monks etc).
So, I come to find out the original version WAS a guy, and Edna did the second one.
Alles klar, Herr Kommisar!
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