Ash - John Etheridge

Advantages: Wonderful Christmas CD
Disadvantages: None

...This year, as we do every Christmas, we will bring out our copy of the CD A Medieval Christmas. We will listen to it, I, with a glass of single malt Scotch, my wife with a glass of Sherry and some minced pies and we will settle back and listen to A Medieval Christmas, as the Christmas lights twinkle and the cat and the cockatiel doze. The singing is provided by Pro Cantione Antiqua, which is made up of Charles Brett and Timothy Penrose (they are the countertenors) James Griffiths, Neil Jenkins and Ian Partridge (tenors.) Brian Etheridge and Michael George (basses). The musical accompaniment is provided by the Medieval Wind Ensemble, made up of Peter Davies (recorders, doucaine, bombard and bagpipes, Jonathon Morgan (recorders, doucaine, shawm and sackbut) and Mark Brown (tabor and timbrel. The conductor was Mark Brown. Although... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Lots of Ash
Disadvantages: none

...With the 70's came the live album, and this rates up there with the best of them. Purple had Made in Japan and Yes had Yessongs, and now Ash had their Live Dates. Wishbone Ash had already released four excellent studio recordings, but like many bands in this era, they really came into their own on stage. Like Argus, their third album, no Ash fan should be without this album! All the classic Ash songs are on here: The King Will Come, Blowin' Free, Warrior, Pheonix, Lady Whiskey and many more. If you like guitar and vocal harmonies, then you'll like Ash, and you'll love this album. Wisbone Ash are still playing today, and are still well worth going to see. It's a pity everything after this album went downhill for Ash.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Excellent musicianship, full concert, excellent sound
Disadvantages: No older songs

...There are now more archival live recordings of the Soft Machine in existence than studio albums and British Tour '75 represents one of the more interesting periods of the band's ever changing face. The Soft Machine was, essentially, a blanket name for four distinctly different bands - they started off as a pop/psychedelic combo similar to very early (ie pre-Piper At The Gates of Dawn) Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, then drifted into the higher echelons of prog with their 1970 masterpiece Third, before becoming a fusion outfit (often dubbed Britain's answer to the Mahavishnu Orchestra) and ending their career as a distinctly British jazz band. Recorded at Nottingham University (in 1975, as the title suggests) very shortly after guitarist Allan Holdsworth left the band (to be replaced by John Etheridge), British Tour captures the Softs... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful