WISHBONE FOUR

Contrary to most people in here, I always found Wishbone Four to be an excellent LP. It was the first Wishbone Ash album I bought and I nearly wore it out after so many listenings at the time. I can understand it is not as groundbreaking or progressive as Argus, their truly masterpiece. Still, I love it then and when I recently got it on CD I found out my original feelings remain intact. Granted: the production sucks, but that´s a minor problem. The songwriting is top notch, even if the progressive and folk elements are toned down. But, as far as I know, they were never a ´real´ prog band. They were never symphonic rock, nor claimed to be anything like that. They were progressive in the original term: they created a new sound, expanded their original blues rock to an extend few bands did. In that way they were very progressive.

Of the song here there are few controversities: Ballad Of The Beacon and Rock´n Roll Widow are regarded as classics and rightly so. The former was always a favorite of mine. Progheads also praised Everybody Needs a Friend. Now I do too, but it is one of those tracks that can be more fully appreciated on the CD format (and, besides, there is a mellotron on that). Sorrel is a forgotten gem (great harmony vocals!). Of the other stuff, I like them all, even if their rocking side is not as appreciated as their softer material. I disagree: to me, No Easy Road is a fine uptempo rocker that have a nice uplifiting quality on me every time I listen to it (brass arragement and all).

Conclusion: while not nearly as well crafted and novelty as Argus, Wishbone Four still manages to deliver great twin guitar leads, fine songs and impeccable perfomances. If only the production was a little better, maybe this CD would not get so much flak from reviewers here. Rating: something between 3.5 and 4 stars, but I´ll round up to four for personal reasons and maybe to compensate the unfair criticism it got from some.