Albums / Compilations / Members on Other Albums
Compiled and annotated by David Gasten
Please send any additions or corrections to davidgasten ??? yahoo !!! com.
Thanks to the following people for their generous assistance in compiling this discography: Gary Cambra, Fred Gordon of The Dirty Dogs, Spider (Bitch mega-fan who has a giant tattoo of Betsy on his back), Bryan Anderson of Lost and Found Records/Metal Blade Vault, Benny Cardenas of Cleopatra/Dead Line Records, Brian Slagel, Ann Boleyn, Leo Rodriguez, Niklas of Slayercollector.com, Tony "Lord Bones" van Hemert, Jym Harris, Curtis Loew, David di Sabatino, Pam Barlow, and, of course, all the following Bitch members that contributed information: Betsy, Robby (RIP), Dave, Steve G., Jay, Rob, and Dan.
This part of the Bitch Discography lists all of Bitch's official album releases.
You can hear MP3 samples of all of the major releases and purchase the albums on MP3 or CD through the Amazon.com widgets next to the release information. You can also use the Amazon widget to the left under the menu bar to browse the items in this section of the Bitch Discography that are available on CD through Amazon.
Betsy Bitch:
Vocals
Steve Gaines (Anger as Art, Abattoir,
Bloodlust): Guitar
Dan Oliverio (Anger As Art, Abattoir): Guitar
Rob Alaniz (Anger As Art, Evildead, Abattoir, Winterthrall): Drums
All-Star Line Up Mark I:
Betsy Bitch: Vocals
Steve Gaines (Abattoir,
Bloodlust, Anger as Art): Bass
Classic Line Up
(featured on all Bitch releases listed here)
Betsy (aka Betsy Bitch):
Vocals
Robby Settles: Drums
David Carruth: Guitar
(Bass
players varied and are listed on each release;
one line-up also had a second guitar player.)
Independent release, no serial #
Cassette Only
Released 2-18-1982
Track List:
1.
Never Come Home
2. Live For the Whip
3. You’re On Your Own
4. I Think We’re Alone Now
(Lyrics and Music: Richie Cordell and Richard Rosenblatt)
Recorded January/February 1982 at a home studio in
Studio City
Produced by Bitch
Bass
Player: Kevyn Redwine
Enigma/Metal Blade MBR/MBRC-1002 12” vinyl (MBR) and Cassette (MBRC) Released 12-1-1982 180g vinyl, pressing limited to 1400 copies Track List: 2. Never Come Home _______ 3. Damnation Alley 4. He's Gone (Lyrics and Music: Bitch) 5. Live For the Whip (“new version”) |
Unless indicated,
songwriting credits are:
Lyrics and Music: David Carruth
Recorded 1982 at Hit City West, Los Angeles, and Backroom Recorders, Sherman
Oaks (Exact dates unknown)
Produced by Phil
Pecora and Brian Slagel; engineer(s) unknown
Initial producer
for the project: John Wilson
Executive Producer: Brian Slagel
Bass Players: Richard Zusman and Mark
Anthony Webb
Richard
Zusman was the band’s bass player at the time of the recording, but Mark
Anthony Webb replaced Zusman between the recording of the album and the release
of the CD.
According to drummer Robby Settles: “Most of the tracks had Richard
Zusman on bass even though Mark Webb is pictured and featured. There is a
subnote that Zusman played on the EP. When Zusman left we didn't have any
budget to go back and re-record bass tracks.”
The
entire tracklist was repeated on both sides of the cassette.
“Live for the Whip” is subtitled “new version” because the
version on Metal Massacre I (which was released six months prior) came
from their 4-song demo, whereas this one was professionally recorded in the same
sessions with the other album tracks.
The
Molten Metal reissue was released in 2009 to capitalize on the resurgence of
interest in vinyl. The lettering of
the “Damnation Alley” title is black and white on the earliest Metal Blade pressings and on the Molten Metal reissue, whereas it is in bright red on later Metal Blade
pressings (as shown here).
7” 45 RPM vinyl
Released c. March 1983
Track list:
________
"I'm In Love" was recorded on an unknown date in late 1982 or early 1983 at Mystic Studios, Hollywood.
Produced by Doug Moody; engineer unknown.
Bass Player: Mark Anthony Webb
This is a rare
split single released as a companion to Mystic Records’ The Sound of
Hollywood Girls LP. Features “I’m In Love” by Bitch on the A-side and “Nightmares in Daylight” by
Hellion (fronted by Ann Boleyn) on the B-side.
Both songs appeared on The Sound of Hollywood Girls compilation
(see the Compilations page for more information).
Interestingly, they are also the only two heavy metal tracks on that LP; the remainder of the tracks are from female-fronted punk acts.
The Bitch song, “I’m In Love”, has never been released in digital
format and is quite rare; “Nightmares in Daylight” has been reissued on a
1998 Hellion compilation on New Renaissance Records entitled Up From the
Depths.
Mystic Records, no #
Cassette Only
Unreleased
Track List:
1. It’s Up To Me, It’s Up To You
2. Some Things Never Change (informal title: "You're Mine")
3. I'm In Love
4. Live For The Whip
All songs recorded on an unknown date in late 1982 or early 1983 at Mystic Studios, Hollywood.
Produced by Doug Moody; engineer unknown.
Three songs on this demo, "It's Up to Me, It's Up To You", "Some things Never Change", and "I'm In Love", were rarely (if ever) played live. It is popularly believed that "Some Things Never Change" is entitled "You're Mine", however Betsy has indicated that "Some Things Never Change" is the correct title of the song and that it was never entitled "You're Mine". The version of "Live For the Whip" featured here is a third recording of the song, with the first two being the 4-Song Demo/ Metal Massacre version and the Damnation Alley version respectively.
Although a popular bootleg, due to label complications, it is unclear whether this demo will ever receive a proper release. (Thanks to Tony "Lord Bones" Van Hemert and Jym Harris for their assistance with this one.)
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| Original LP | Cassette with alternate shot from the same photo session. |
12” vinyl (E/MBR) and Cassette (EC) Released 7-1-1983 Reissued by Molten Metal (Italy/UK) as 8013252610516 on 1-26-2009; 180g vinyl, pressing limited to 1400 copies Track list: 1. Right From the Start ________ 6. Heavy Metal Breakdown |
Recorded May/June 1983 at Track Record, Hollywood.
Produced
by Phil Pecora and Brian Slagel; Engineered by Bill Metoyer
Executive Producer: Brian Slagel
The song “Be My Slave” would be remixed for the 1984 Metal Blade compilation
Total Destruction (see entry in Compilations); every
other appearance of “Be My Slave” on other compilations would be of the
original album version. “Riding
in Thunder” was also released on Metal Massacre III, which was released
on the same day as Be My Slave.
The
cassette version of Be My Slave (shown here) features a different photo from the same
photo session and the inclusion of “Live For the Whip” (from Damnation
Alley) at the end of Side 1 as a bonus track.
Be
My Slave became a
particular target of Tipper Gore and the Parents’ Music Resource Center in the
mid-1980’s due to concerns that the record industry was using adult-themed
material to sell records to minors. Mrs.
Gore would show the cover of Be My Slave at many of her PMRC speaking
engagements. Betsy remembers that
Be
My Slave also ended up
playing an integral role in the famous “PMRC Hearing” held before the United
States Senate’s Committee On Commerce, Science, and Transportation on
September 19, 1985. Be My Slave
was shown in a slide show by PMRC consultant David Ling to illustrate the
PMRC’s case. When the slide for
the Be My Slave album cover came up, Mr. Ling stated, “This is Betsy.
She is the lead singer of a band called Bitch. The album is called ‘Be My
Slave.’ It is available in record stores.”
Mr. Ling then read excerpts of the lyrics from “Gimme a Kiss” and “Leatherbound”.
(This appears on page 16 and page 17 of the official transcript of the hearing.)
At
the Congressional hearing, the PRMC submitted for the Committee members’
review a large attachment of written material that featured two further
references to Be My Slave. They
included a typed document entitled “Pornography in Rock Music,” which again
featured excerpts of the lyrics of “Leatherbound,” crediting the band,
album, and song in that order. Another
attachment submitted at the hearing was a copy of an editorial in the Washington
Post by William Raspberry entitled “Filth on the Air” and dated June 19,
1985. It refers to Be My Slave
in the following statement: “[S]urely
the deejays must be aware that ‘Bitch, Be My Slave’ [emphasis added]
is not exactly what parents want their pre-teens to listen to.”
These two further references to Be My Slave appear on page 40 and
page 24 respectively in the official transcript of the hearing.
Because of the PMRC-related backlash, later editions of the LP featured stickers that stated “Warning: Adult Content” (different than the standardized “Tipper Sticker” that says “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics”), which, according to Betsy, helped promote the album even further. The publicity sustained the band through the period of forced inactivity that their management required of them at the time, and rolled over onto their next album, The Bitch is Back.
Metal Blade/Enigma ST/4XT/CDE-73256 12” vinyl (ST), CD (CDE), and Cassette (4XT) Released 3-1-1987 Track list: 1. Do You Want to Rock 5. The Bitch is Back |
|
Lyrics: Betsy; Music: David Carruth, Ron Cordy and Robby Settles
Recorded Dec.
1986 - Feb. 1987 at Stagg Street Studios, Van Nuys; Preferred Sound, Woodland
Hills; and Track Record, Hollywood.
Produced by Joseph Romersa
Engineered
by Bill Metoyer
Joseph Romersa and Mick Adrian add additional background vocals throughout the album; Romersa
also adds keyboards on “Storm Raging Up”, “Hot and Heavy”, and
“Skullcrusher”
Stanley “Dad of a Bitch” Weiss plays saxophone on “The Bitch is Back”
Bass Player: Ron Cordy
The Bitch is Back was Bitch’s best-selling album, and according to David Carruth is both David's and Robby Settles' favorite Bitch album. The album was produced by Joseph Romersa, who went to high school with Betsy, and has a spontaneous, live-in-the studio feel, with great Motörhead-style guitar riffs throughout.
The song “The Bitch is Back” is an Elton John cover. Betsy’s dad, big band/jazz saxophonist Stan Weiss, plays the tenor saxophone solo on this song. The sax solo has an intense rock sound that doesn’t betray Weiss’ jazz background at all.
(as “Betsy”)
Metal Blade/Enigma D1/2/4-73318 Track list: |
|
Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Chris Minto
Assistants: Brett Newman, Allen Issacs, and John Hanolon
Mastered by Bernine Grundman
The LP calls sides One and Two “This Side” and “That Side”
respectively; the cassette just calls them “1” and “2”.
1. "Devil Made You Do It" (EPRO-092, 1988)
12" 33 rpm promo single
Side A: "Devil Made You Do It"; repeated on Side B
2. "You'll Never Get Out (of This Love Alive)" (EPRO-117, 1988)
12" 33 rpm promo single
Side A: "You'll Never Get Out (of This Love Alive)"; repeated on Side B
3. "Turn You Inside Out" (EPRO-???, 1988)
12" 33 rpm promo single
Side A: "Turn You Inside Out"; repeated on Side B
The bright pink
sticker on the album shrinkwrap proclaims, “NEW NAME, NEW APPROACH.
Following hot on the heels of THE BITCH IS BACK, Betsy has delivered
a proud, polished and professional hard rock mix.”
With the success of The Bitch is Back, Bitch decided to make a
stab at the big time with a big budget album, outside songwriters, and a
well-known producer, changing the band name from the more taboo “Bitch” to
the non-offensive “Betsy”. The
self-titled Betsy album featured a departure from their traditional heavy metal sound into more
commercial sounding hard rock and AOR.
Producer Chris Minto had previously worked with Kiss, Animotion, Whitesnake, and Patti Labelle, as well as with Bitch’s Metal Blade label mates Armored Saint. Minto had also worked for Pat Benatar, and it was because Betsy’s vocal sound is similar to Pat Benatar’s that Minto took an interest in producing the album. Chris' wife Janet Minto and her longtime friend and co-writer Pam Barlow collaborated on four of the songs, bringing in Bruce Turgon (Warrior, Lou Gramm, Foreigner) and Gary Cambra (The Tubes) to assist further with the songwriting. Janet and Pam would later release an album on MTM Major in Germany entitled Dreaming Ezekiel (1997) under the name Fake ID.
Despite the large
investment that went into the album, the gamble backfired and the album stalled
and sank, possibly because the band was not able to tour to support the album.
Sadly, the band's classic lineup never recovered from the
financial hit they took with the commercial failure of Betsy.
Despite this, the band is still proud of the release and harbor no hard
feelings about the album itself. Betsy
in particular considers Betsy her favorite Bitch album and
still listens to it often.
Metal Blade has
never reissued Betsy, which makes it the most
difficult to find of all the Bitch albums.
“Devil Made You Do It,”“You'll Never Get Out (Of This Love Alive),” and
“Turn You Inside Out” were chosen as singles for radio airplay, and corresponding music videos were recorded for “Turn You Inside Out” and “You'll Never Get Out (Of This Love Alive)”. Both videos received airplay on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball, and Metal
Blade released the "Turn You Inside Out" video on the VHS/LaserDisc compilation Video Meltdown in 1990
(see the Compilations page for more
information).
Metal Blade/Pink Dust/Restless Records 7 72412-2 1. Right From the Start |
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Tracks 1-10: Be
My Slave
Tracks 11-15: Damnation Alley
(see individual entries for recording and production details)
This is a reissue of Bitch’s first two albums on one CD.
In
1989, CD releases and CD reissues were catching on, and Be My
Slave/Damnation Alley came along in during the initial wave of CD
reissues of older titles. I would assume that one of Metal Blade’s motives for
releasing Be My Slave/Damnation Alley when they did was to help recoup the losses the band and
label suffered when the Betsy album stiffed.
But regardless of the motive, Be My Slave/Damnation Alley has remained a relatively
consistent seller for Metal Blade for many years.
The front cover of Be My Slave/Damnation Alley features the Be My Slave album artwork with the added caption “Includes ‘Damnation Alley’ EP” on the right hand side. The cover of the 1997 reissue crops this artwork slightly and places it in an irregular red border. Some import copies feature a transparent tray with the words “Classics Series” spelled vertically in the tray spine, and have the front cover cropped further, which eliminates the border but leaves a red bar on the left-hand side of the cover.
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| Autographed CD | Cassette with expanded artwork |
Metal Blade/Enigma 7 73418-2/4 Track list: 1. Walls of Love |
Unless indicated, songwriting credits are:
Lyrics: Betsy; Music: David Carruth, Ron Cordy and Robby Settles
1 recorded at Track Studios, Hollywood, and Preferred
Sound, Woodland Hills, March 1989, assisted by Annette Cismeros, Pete Madgaleno,
and Ken Paulavovich
2 recorded at Stagg Street Studios, Van Nuys, December 1986 and Preferred
Sound, March 1989
3 recorded at Sound City, Van Nuys, assisted by Allen
Issacs and Brett Newman
4 recorded at Stagg Street Studios, December 1986,
assisted by Kevin Beauchamp, and at Preferred Sound, assisted by Scott Campbell,
January 1987
5 recorded at Track Studios, May 1983, and Preferred
Sound, March 1989
6 recorded at Track Record, May 1983
1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
mixed by Bitch and Bill Metoyer at Preferred Sound, March 1989
6 remixed by Bitch at Track Studios
1, 2, and 5 produced by Bitch and Bill Metoyer; engineered by Bill Metoyer
3 produced and engineered by Chris Minto
4 produced by Joseph Romersa; engineered by Bill Metoyer
6 produced by Phil Pecora and Brian Slagel; engineered by Bill Metoyer
Bass Player: Ron
Cordy
A Rose By Any Other Name was intended as a
stopgap EP to help keep the Bitch name active and help pay off debts accrued from
the recording of the Betsy album (see entry for more details).
Rose opens with a new song, “Walls of Love”, which was
recorded by itself for a proposed 1990 album that was to be entitled Bet-Z.
Other than this track, nothing was recorded for the Bet-Z
album, and the project was abandoned.
“Throw Me In” and the instrumental “Crashthepartysmashthecake” were tracks that were started during The Bitch is Back and Be My Slave sessions and completed especially for this EP. The versions of “Sunset Strut”, “Skullcrusher”, and “Make It Real” are intensified remixes of songs from Betsy, The Bitch is Back, and Be My Slave, respectively.
I haven't been able to confirm this, but I am almost 100% certain that Betsy’s vocals were rerecorded for the remix of “Make It Real”. Likewise, both “Make It Real” and “Crashthepartysmashthecake” sound like they have bass parts recorded by Ron Cordy; Mark Anthony Webb, who would have been bass player when the two
Be My Slave-period tracks were recorded originally, is never mentioned in the liner notes.
The cassette
names Side One and Side Two “Disside” and “Datside,” respectively. Because of the shape of cassettes, record companies had to
create alternate rectangular cover artwork for them.
Occasionally, the cassette would end up getting the better or more
complete artwork, and the Rose cassette is an example of this. The
vertical rectangle shape with more roses stretched along the bottom makes the
cassette look like a stone casket lid.
______
Notes
on the 1997 Bitch reissues:
On January 28, 1997, Metal Blade did a second release of Be My Slave/Damnation Alley, The Bitch is Back, and A Rose By Any Other Name on CD. The rereleased versions feature essentially the same album cover artwork and the exact same track listings and mastering as the original albums, only with slightly different layouts for the tray cards and booklets. The layouts feature the then-current “guillotine blade” Metal Blade logo and the computer graphics of the period.
Be My Slave/Damnation Alley and The Bitch is Back feature beautiful picture CD’s based on the album artwork, as well as black-and-white tray cards that are formatted similarly to each other. In the new layouts, the logos for both the band name and the album titles are completely different than the logos on the original releases.
As for A Rose By Any Other Name, the layout of the 1997 reissue is pretty much the same as the original, only the old Enigma-related information is blacked out on the album artwork, and some of the graphics have been slightly improved, e.g. the band photo isn't as dark and the text and background colors on the spine have been adjusted so that they don't “vibrate”. Also, the 1997 Rose CD face features plain text on a black background, whereas the original Rose CD face feautred red text on a silver background, the graffitied “Bitch” logo, and an image of a stemmed rose.
Of the three 1997 reissues, only Be My Slave/Damnation Alley is
currently in print.
Albums / Compilations / Members on Other Albums