294) Web — “Love You”
In ’70, Web released I Spider, its third and final album. New singer Dave Lawson (who, earlier in life, took piano lessons with Stan Tracey, the “godfather of British jazz” (Dave Lawson liner notes to the CD reissue of I Spider)) wrote all the material, “transform[ing] Web into a jazz-rock outfit with progressive rock and blues leanings” (Geoffrey Feakes, therockasteria.blogspot.com/2017/12/web-i-spider-1970-71-uk-exceptional) and giving the album a “heavy and menacing” atmosphere (Vernon Joynson, Tapestry of Delights Revisited). Maybe because they rehearsed in a monastery and a nunnery (Dave Lawson)? Jo-Ann Greene says in All Music Guide that “[m]oving strongly into progressive rock, the band strode far afield from the psychedelic meanderings they’d undertaken on their last set . . . .”
After the release of the album, Web promptly morphed into Samurai, “prompted by a lack of finance and also frustration over their name constantly being misspelt on billings.” (Feakes) Sometimes “Webb,” sometimes “The Webb.” (Dave Lawson). The band broke up because its name was being misspelt?! It should have been called The Wuss. Thank God the band members hadn’t named themselves Lynyrd Skynyrd!
As to “Love You,” a relentless barn burner, Greene states that ‘[d]ramatic shifts in dynamic . . . drive [the song, a] showcase for horn player Tom Harris, with John Eaton’s vicious, buzzing bassline powering the whole second half of the piece and providing furious encouragement to Tony Edwards’ fuzz-drenched guitar.”
Brace for the Obscure (60s rock)! / Off the Charts: 60s Rock Revelations 