NEW ENGLAND

It's been quite a long time that I do not write any prog review. Well, yeah it's merely classic reason: work ..work and work! Oh not only that ..I was busy organizing "Tales from Yes: An Evening of Yes Music Plus" on April 23, 2009 which to my surprise was a sold-out event. I did not realize that Yes has created strong root in Indonesia. Too bad that they never played any concert in my country.

And now why Wishbone Ash? It's simple ..because I just replayed this "New England" album on my iPod while I did "Bike to Prog" this morning on my way to my office (it's a 22 KM journey). When I reached the office I just realized that I have never written anything about this album. So now I am writing my views about it. I knew this album very long long time ago during the glory days of rock music in the seventies. Of course, this album was not on my priority at that time because it was not too heavy metal as other classic rock bands: Deep Purple with its "Burn", Led Zeppelin with its "Physical Graffiti", Black Sabbath with its "Sabotage" and many more classic albums. Why it was not in my priority? It's because of less distortion on guitar part like other bands who offered heavy riffs and distorted guitar solo. But I knew this "New England" album.

One thing that really amazes me with this album is its sonic production quality which really sounds excellent. This is the main reason whenever I want to play this album in addition to the nice music with twin-guitar format. On this subject, this is the band I remembered first when I knew Iron Maiden for the first time with its double-guitar format as well.

The opening track "Mother Of Pearl" (4:31) show cast a truly vintage hard rock music with its nice-flowing rhythms section, good melody and excellent harmonies in terms of guitars as well as vocal. Again, the excellent sound quality triggers me to put the volume high whenever I play this tune. The twin guitar format in the interlude part is nice. The next track "(In All Of My Dreams) You Rescued Me" (6:13) is a slow piece in which the guitar sound reminds me to Deep Purple's "When A Blind Man Cries" even though it's totally different musically. "Runaway" (3:18) brings the energy back to the hard rock music with great guitar work. "Lorelei" (5:26) tunes the beat in slower tempo with some bluesy touch. The guitar fills are truly stunning. "Outward Bound" (4:51) starts nicely with guitar solo followed by a nice-flowing musical pieces that feature twin-guitar solo. It's a wonderfully crafted instrumental with tight basslines.

"Prelude" (1:13) is a nice bluesy instrumental with nice twin-guitar and opens a nice pathway to the next track "When You Know Love" (5:46) where guitar still plays important role in the music. The vocal line of this song is also very nice. As the title implies about loneliness, this follow-up "Lonely Island" (4:29) is a slow moving music with ambient vocal work combined with excellent guitar fills. "Candlelight" (1:50) concludes the album nicely in a peaceful way using great guitar fills ...It's a very very nice closing, indeed!

Overall, I think this is a very good hard rock album with barely no prog elements at all. The composition, harmonies (of twin-guitar as well as vocal) are both very good. I strongly recommend you to have this album, especially if you do not expect something complex. The twin guitar work by Andy Powell and Laurie Wisefield is really great. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW