WISHBONE ASH

Wishbone Ash shows the band as a fully realised outfit that only needed fine adjusting to the sound that the band would make their own. Driven twin guitar rock with touches of boogie, jamming and progressive rock. Blind Eye, the opener, has always been a favourite of mine and is very spontaneous. Lady Whiskey has a dirty, bassy riff and extended work out. Errors of My Way is quite pastoral and almost folky in comparison and features some lovely twin playing. Queen of Torture isn't melodic enough to hold my attention on too many listens whilst Handy shows fully the talents of Ted Turner and Andy Powell and is often overlooked by fans and has, unfortunately, been missing from live sets for some years. Phoenix is the album's centrepiece as it still is in the band's live shows to this day. Regretably the band never really tried to repeat the songs structure fully.

For what was essentially a bunch of young kids the album shows great maturity and complexity and must be considered as an essential listen to any fan of seventies guitar rock. 4.5 Long live Wishbone Ash.

1. Starting off slower with the 9 minute song "time was" which starts off with vocals that lay back the tune of the song until the guitar solo.

2.Sometime world represents the same formula of great vocals by Andy Powell and the Turner brothers

3. Hearing this on the radio on the way to church one day I was amazed by the paired guitar work by Ted Turner and Andy Powell on the track "Blowin free"

4."The King will come" being my introduction to the album put the thought in my head that Wishbone was a Christian band with the Christian messaging of this track. Once again great guitar work and to mention Martin turners bass.

5. The album slows down with "Leaf and Stream" and features softer vocals by Martin Turner.

6. the song "Warrior" starts off with a Joe Walsh-esque guitar style of playing. The vocals chime in with lyrics with a medieval theme.

7.Coming home one day in the pitch black dark In the car I almost shed a tear to the solo presented in this song. The song starts off with a drum roll into guitar that transitions into beautiful vocals that tie in the first half of the song. The Duet Guitar solo is the staple of this song and possibly of the album. this solo it ends the album perfectly.

Even if this isn't so much of a prog album this album is for appreciated by people who love long guitar solos and vocals that start off a song as it transitions into instrumentation. also I thank the people who like my reviews through the Facebook plugin, I seriously appreciate it.

Excellent addition to any rock music collection (not necessarily prog).

Everything on "Argus" fits together so beautifully and that starts with the title and the evocative cover. The album is named after the mythological figure Argus, the man who kept a close eye on everything with his hundred eyes. On the cover of the album you can see a medieval soldier keeping watch at the top of a large valley. You may wonder what danger he expects and what he wants to do against it with his harpoon. It is an atmospheric image that can also be seen as your personal guard due to the fact that the man has been photographed from the back. The cover carries a certain romanticism in it and that fits well with the mixture of progressive rock, folk and hardrock that the band shows on the album.

On "Argus" it's a back and forth of dreamy acoustic passages and steaming rock full of two-part guitar lines by Andy Powell and Ted Turner, without getting really intense anywhere. The often two- or three-part vocals also have this layering. The one who makes everything strongly connected to the drums of Steve Upton is the phenomenal bassist Martin Turner. For example, this "Argus" is a deluge of subtle sophisticated rock that sounds especially contagiously tasty. Seven songs that each in turn have a place lyrically in the overarching theme 'seeing'.

Opener Time Was has a nostalgic text about looking back on an ended relationship. The more than nine-minute song shows exactly how Wishbone Ash conquers the hearts of many on this album. For fifty years this song continues to have its effect due to its acoustic beginning and a long passage of rock. The subsequent Sometime World has the same structure, but is about looking ahead to the future. It has a steaming glow where the driving bass guitar and the Yes-like vocals stand out. The album continues with the bouncy Blowin' Free which indicates how much variation the compositions have been put down with and also lyrically they always know how to choose a different perspective. Blowin' Free is about the desire for a hopeless love for example.

It is amazing how closely Wishbone Ash with its delicious guitar rock manages to match the look of the cover and then the B-side has yet to start. Two songs, entirely in Ash-style, are magnificent and I don't know if it's because I grew up with them but I think they're classics. I am of course talking about The King Will Come and Throw Down The Sword with a guest role by John Tout (Renaissance) on organ. Hugging to death is fortunately not possible, they continue to resurrect. "Argus" is an above average good album that always reminds me of my fine childhood years. And then that meager bonus track presents itself. No Easy Road, the B-side of the single Blowin' Free, is not even close to stand in the shadow of the soldier on the cover of the masterpiece that "Argus" is.

Originally posted on www.progenrock.com

As long haired music was so hard to get to listen to back in 1974 (you young uns have no idea!) there was a Radio 1 rock show fronted for a time by a guy called Michael Whale and he used FUBB from this album as his 'talk over' tape. Of course you had to ask your mates has anyone any idea what/who that is and eventually I found out. Yes I had heard of Wishbone Ash and had a friends copy of Live Dates on tape but this was my first purchase...oh ffs 49 years ago???...and since then have added everything up to Number The Brave plus 70's live archive releases. But this remains my favourite.

I now know that a guitar player had left and Laurie Wisefield (best guitarist they ever had) was new in from the band Home...who also supplied AC/DC with their long term bass player too. Maybe this was why this feels fresh and full of energy and moves on from the blues based influences of the first 2 albums and the folkier feel of Argus. They were never blessed with a stand out singer but the harmonies work well on the opening track Silver Shoes. Lyrically it always reminds me of the film Sunset Boulevard but it has a good guitar melody line and plenty of air/space which 2 guitar rifferama bands didn't seem to have but a guitar/keys line up did. Don't Come Back is very riff based and I nominate for 'the most riffs used in an outro' award and the next prog oscars! Persephone has been one of my all time favourite tracks and might sneak on to my desert island ten. I used to think it was because I had a 'from a distance' crush on a drop dead gorgeous hippie chick called Stephanie (you can see what I did in my head with the lyrics huh?) but when had grown out of it (ok ok you never do....!) the song still has an atmosphere...and cue echo on the guitars...and minor chord melancholy that works to this very day. Lady Jay nods back to Argus , which is no bad thing, but this was a band determined to move on and the beast that is FUBB strides into view. Epics should be about dynamics but the slow burn build of this is almost tantric. The bass leads and the restrained but haunting guitar harmony takes us deep into that place where rather than chuck the kitchen sink at it, we get the taps...and the plug...and maybe the washing up bowl first before the lope turns into a gallop (well you weren't the first were you Iron Maiden..) and the actual sink itself shows up. And praise the lord...no vocals!! The earlier mentioned dj only used the lope part as his talk over track btw so it came as a welcomed surprise to hear it go full on heavy when I finally bought the album.

So the tricky bit of a rating. No I can't give it a 5 even with 2 of my all time favourite tracks on it yet a 4 seems tight fisted. So it is 4.5+ but sticking with the criteria.....a 4 it has to be.

4. The King Will Come beautiful crescendic intro with Andy and Ted, yes this trademark which will be emulated; on the Judas Priest, on the Iron Maiden, on the Thin Lizzy, groups above all hard ultimately, was Wishbone Ash one of the fathers of hard rock in fact? The solo is stunning, the purity of the time when we still played with only 10 fingers; Camel tune, Boston rhythm, yes innovators 5. Leaf and Stream guitar arpeggio on soft vocals, a bucolic ballad like Led Zeppelin was able to release with 'The battle of evermore' for example; the melody flows without interruption and it is good to have a peaceful air 6. Warrior with this guitar that tears off your right ear... A strong tune, not heavy, a gripping tune, on the verge of hard, yes for me Wishbone Ash is indeed one of the fathers of hard; a musical touch that I will find later on Deep Purple, when the latency of the air simply gives rise to a sound. The ambient, progressive finale is transmitted on 7. Throw Down the Sword yes, you have the two titles linked together and almost 12 minutes without interruption; a minute of rise for a folk tune then the piece that turns my head the most with the guitar association which splits into a solo for two without interruption, one of those that every proguous fan, metallic or otherwise must have secretly playing on his Fender neck or his broomstick... Huge finale indeed. In short, a UFO before its time!

Miles Copeland produced a number of these instrumental albums on his No Speak label. The music is generally not prog, but instrumental rock, with most tracks in the 3-4 minute range. There's many surf rock motifs backed by funky, 80s style rhythms. Poor Steve Upton was playing four on the floor for much of the first half of the album, and he can do so much more. But that was the 80s, wasn't it?

The second half of the album is more Wishbone Ash-y, more 70s. Tunes like The Spirit Flies Free and Something's Happening in Room 602 are recognisably WA tunes. Johnny Left Home Without It is probably the most proggy track, with some tasty textures and variations. Real Guitars Have Wings brings back the band's famous twin guitar harmonies.

All that is here, and is backing a great set of songs. Anything else? Oh yes, Andy Powell is here and sings just great