WISHBONE ASH

In 1966, brothers Glenn and Martin Turner met Steve Upton and decided to form a band named Empty Vessels. The name didn't last too long and soon became Tanglewood. Then the trio left his hometown, Exeter, in England, and decided depart to London. The group was almost giving up when they were surprisingly invited to opening a show of The Yardbirds. Meanwhile, the guitarist Glenn Turner decided to return to Exeter. However, the remaining pair continued in London. To continue with their project, the group needed to recruit another new guitarist and than, they decided to hear some candidates. During the hearings, the two remaining musicians liked of two of them, David Ted Turner and Andy Powell. They decided not to hire a keyboardist and stayed with the two guitarists. At that moment they felt the necessity of changing the name, one that needed not the labels. So, in 1970 began the career of Wishbone Ash.

'Wishbone Ash' is the debut studio album of Wishbone Ash and was released in 1970. This is a solid debut album from a great English band that covers a wide variety of music from blues to a hint of English country even hard rock. Their debut is solid hard rock with both blues and boogie mixed in it. It's hard to think that this album came out in 1970, especially when you look at how influential it was. If you listen to this and then put on an Iron Maiden's album, it's clear that Iron Maiden took a lot of influences from these guys. Wishbone Ash was probably the first band to both twin-guitar riffs, although Judas Priest was also a contemporary that did the same thing. Even with only six songs here, the album is generally flawless, and a brilliant combination of hard rock, blues-rock, folk and progressive rock too. Amazing musicianship throughout, everything from the guitar, bass and drums is always exciting and interesting. The vocals are also top-notch here, with the band singing about such mystical things that were common amongst the 70's metal/rock.

The line up on 'Wishbone Ash' is Andy Powell (vocals and guitar), Ted Turner (vocals and guitar), Martin Turner (vocals and bass) and Steve Upton (drums).

'Wishbone Ash' has six tracks. All songs were composed by Andy Powell, Martin Turner, Ted Turner and Steve Upton. The first track 'Blind Eye' is the first song we can hear on a Wishbone Ash's album. For a band based on guitar sound and without keyboards the least I can say is that is absolutely unexpected the nice piano sound on this song. It's a song with a blues approach and where the twin guitars sound great. This is a very interesting song. The second track 'Lady Whisky' is a rock'n'roll song with a very heavy sound. This song sounds more to the classic Wishbone Ash's sound with great twin guitar solos and also with a very interesting percussion section by Steve Upton. This is a very good song too. The third track 'Errors Of My Ways' is a very emotional and beautiful song. This is a song in the style of an electric ballad very well performed and, once more, it has fantastic guitar works. We may say that the songs on the album appear in a kind of growing and this is, without any doubt, the best, the most complex and the more progressive song of the album, until now. The fourth track 'Queen Of Torture' is another rock song with a heavy sound. It's a little repetitive, and at my taste, it's probably one of the less attractives on the album, despite has nice guitar works too. This is a good track but with nothing special. The fifth track 'Handy' is one of the lengthiest songs on the album, with the last track 'Phoenix'. It's also one of the best, complex and more progressive songs on the album with 'Phoenix' and 'Errors Of My Ways'. The song starts with good guitar works and bass guitar works in a very calm and peaceful begin on the song. We can also hear on the song a very good drum solo, so typical of the albums of the 70's, especially in live albums. Definitely, this is a very good progressive song. The sixth and last track 'Phoenix' is my favourite song on the album. It opens with guitars, bass and drums. This is the most creative and progressive song on the album with some absolutely fantastic solo guitar sections, which would be the band's trademark. This song reminds to us their great masterpiece 'Argus'. This is really a fantastic and brilliant piece of music, one of the best ever recorded by the group.

Conclusion: 'Wishbone Ash' is with 'Argus' the only two albums I have from the group, until now, and they're also the only musical works that I know of them until today. 'Wishbone Ash' is, in my humble opinion, a great album and a fantastic debut album of the group. Of course it isn't 'Argus' but it's, nevertheless, a fantastic album to any rock lover and also for those who like great guitar sounds. I know that some prog heads don't like to consider Wishbone Ash as a truly progressive band. That is mainly due to their style of music and also because they don't use any keyboards on their music. I respect their point of view but I don't agree totally with them. It's true that Wishbone Ash isn't totally a progressive rock band but it's also true that they have some songs very progressive, such as 'Phoenix' on this album, and 'The King Will Come' and 'Warrior' on 'Argus'. So, I think it's totally fair to consider them as a prog related band.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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