Be My Slave/Damnation Alley

Bitch were one of the LA metal bands from the early 80's that had hints of success with a few videos on MTV, but mostly their live shows from the early part of the decade provide the most out of this band. Most known for an appearence on the legendary first Metal Massacre Compilation Vol.1 (alongside Metallica and a rough much more metal take of Tell The World from Ratt) with their trademark song Live For The Whip, if you're looking for standard and traditional balls to the wall no brains metal, Bitch are an obvious go to.Fronted by Betsy and a 3 piece band, they are pretty cliche and dated in this day and age, their brand of sleazy "shocking" metal raised eyebrows around 81/82 with the bondage and S&M lyrics and of course the name in general. This reissue compiles the bands first (and best) album Be My Slave released n 1983, with chestnuts like Right From The Start, the title track, Heavy Metal Breakdown, Leatherbound, and World War III, you get the idea what Bitch are all about pretty easily. They rarely change pace except on some of the better songs like Riding In Thunder, the more groove oriented In Heat and the peusdo ballad Save You From The World, which is hardly a ballad really. Although this is standard of the time lunkheaded heavy metal, here and there the band reveal some talented and catchy riffs. The chorus in Leatherbound in particular as well as the more memorable and grinding rhythms of In Heat and the more mid tempo rocking Riding In Thunder. The CD also attaches the EP 'Damnation Alley' recorded and released in 1982, which features their tradmark tune, Whip along with another more anthemic toned down but memorable rocker called He's Gone. Betsy rarely changed her key, shes a limited singer indeed and that could get annoying for some real quick. Think of her as Pat Benatar on steriods, her leather clad tough chick image works well though.In the end, Bitch werent exactly groundbreaking, but for 82, some of these songs are pretty heavy and trashy, and some could be on par with the legends of the NWOBHM of the time. However they do tend to offer up too much of the same, but if you love classic straight to the point early 80s party metal (early Leppard, Motorhead, Savage, Holocaust, early Motley Crue, Saxon), this is a good pick up for your obscure metal/hard rock collection.

Fans of 45 Grave will definately dig this. Similar, but without the b-movie vibe. If you've never heard 45 grave (CHECK THEM OUT!), then imagine pat benetar singing with KILL EM ALL era Metallica.

good basic metal with a strong LA sound. Very similar to early motley crue but with a bit more s/m and a female vocal. I liked the strong bass playing and the clean guitar sound hinting at blues on speed.

Aside from a sexy, yet very limited female singer with a really annoying voice who liked to prance around in S&M gear on the band's live shows, Bitch really had nothing going on for it, since their painfully generic brand of heavy metal sounded pedestrian and unimaginative even by 1983's laxer standards.In fact, now that I remember, Betsy Weiss wasn't really that hot, but since heavy metal at the time was a proverbial sausage fest, we horny teenage headbangers held on to even the slightest shred of femininity we could get our lustful paws on, regardless of talent.But wait, even all the crass, sexually charged marketing tricks in the book couldn't save this project from commercial failure, to the point that in 1988 the band decided to tone down the S&M image and changed its name to Betsy, trying to re launch its vocalist as a slightly less pretty Lita Ford, with even worse results.The band changed its name back to Bitch in 1989 for a last jab at success, but since the heavy metal buying public demonstrated much more intelligence than it's normally credited for, it would thankfully disband shortly after, thus putting an end to one of our beloved genre's most embarrassing skeletons in the closet.This edition includes the band's previous Damnation Alley EP as a questionable bonus.Unless you're a serious heavy metal historian researching the role of women in heavy metal, avoid this band like the plague.

Bitch = Betsy, Betsy = Bitch. Eigentlich ist bei der Band eh nur die Sängerin Betsy Weiss interessant. Auf dieser CD mit der Bonus EP ist das geniale "Live for the whip" drauf. Und zwar in der version mit der Stöhn-Peitschen-Einlage. Der Metal-Fan kennts/hats eh schon, und der, der es noch nicht hat, sollte zuschlagen. Der Preis ist jedenfalls unschlagbar, auch nicht mit Betsys Peitsche :-)