Los Angeles / give me Norfolk, Virginia / dial one oh four ten oh nine / tell the folks back home th...
Los Angeles / give me Norfolk, Virginia / dial one oh four ten oh nine / tell the folks back home this is the promised land calling / and the poor boy is on / the line
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Wishbone Ash are stalwarts of the UK rock scene, having been around in one form or another since the mid 1960's. They are my dad's favourite ever group and I grew up listening to every record they ever made! In their early 70's peak, of which this is the first in a series of top-notch albums, they were very big, but never quite made it to arena status.
A gig with Deep Purple led to their guitarist, "Smiling" Richie Blackmore recommending the band to the record company MCA, and recording commenced! This, their debut album, released in December 1970, showcased their then unique style - a twin lead guitar attack, courtesy of Andy Powell and Ted Turner. It seems the intention was to have just a classic vox-guitar-bass-drums line up but after honing the sound, the band decided to have two guitarists. Thus was the rock world to became ever more enriched.
The band
for this first album were: Andy Powell (guitars, vocals) Ted Turner (guitars, vocals) Martin Turner (bass, vocals) Steve Upton (drums)
BLIND EYE (3:45) Steve Upton leads the band through a galloping 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 heavy blues romp laced with piano from Procul Harem's keyboardist Matt Fisher. The standard rock lyric about the lady who never listens to a word her man says etc, Upton again takes centre stage with a nice drum breaks throughout.
LADY WHISKEY (6:13) 41 seconds into this, those two twin lead guitars hit you right between the eyes with that beautiful harmony. One of my favourite rock songs, this is a really heavy blues work out that starts out all harmonic before getting deep and meaningful halfway through.....once again Upton holds the band together with steady controlled drumming as the twin guitars take turns alternating between solo and rythym. A brilliant record, you can almost picture the band nodding at each other as they go through the key changes together.
ERRORS OF MY WAYS (6.58) Based on a folk melody, Powell and Martin Turner sing joint vocals, this medium-paced number shows the band's more thoughtful side, alternating between slower passages, singing and blistering axe work from Ted Turner. A lovely finish to this one too. Ted just slows everything down.
QUEEN OF TORTURE (3:26) Another fairly simple standard rocker, taken at breakneck pace on a high G string. Well that's what my dad plays it on, and he's the guitar player, I'm the bassist! The only track on here where the vocals take centre stage.
HANDY (11.36) Yes, eleven minutes and thirty six seconds of this band laying their considerable musical capabilities bare for all to see. A quite astonishing bass solo begins this track, I have never heard a four string sound quite like this before. Starting all slow, and gradually building up to a frantic finale, although there is a bizarre almost barber-shop singing interlude just before the end that should be out of place on an album like this but somehow fits in perfectly. Just lay back and dig it, people.
PHOENIX (10:27) The set piece track on here and one the band still play on tour. It does bear more than a passing resemblence to Purple's "Child In Time", (it even has a snatch of the Blackmore solo from that tune here as a tip of the hat to their mentor), and also the later "Throw Down The Sword" from Argus, but the way the band gracefully and deliberately go through all those chord-time-key changes on the way to a monster finale, led by the flailing drumming of Upton, sets it apart....."phoenix bird, raise your head to the sky"...over those gorgeous twin guitars again....sheer genius.
The Ash would define their sound on 1972's "Argus", one of the very best British rock albums ever made, but you have to plant a seed to see it grow, and on this record they do just that. What strikes me about this album is how tight the band sound, how together they all are on record.
Wishbone Ash still remain a good draw live, they tour Europe and the States regularly, albeit with a much changed line-up (only Powell remains of the original formation).
Still interested? more can be found at www.wishboneash.co.uk or www.usash.com (a US fan site).
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Advantages: Fantastic songs, classic Wishbone Ash guitar work, good variety, clear sound quality. Disadvantages: Some songs carry a more simple and generic 'blues rock' feel...
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