LOCKED IN

In the mid seventies I was ,err,in my mid teens and already had three wishbone ash lps in my collection,Four,Live Dates and Theres The Rub.Somehow about this time I acquired a cassette of Locked In.I still have this today sitting on a shelf in my shed like a morbid curiosity.To be fair the band were going through some tough times.Management and record label problems,gear getting stolen,up staged by Kiss at a major gig etc,but did the record buying public know this at the time?Tom Dowd was the label appointed producer and some of the blame must be directed at him.Its weak,lifeless and has that laid back AOR feel to it. I could say the same about Claptons 'Layla and OALS'.Yes ,I have opened a can of worms there,but I have never like Dowds rock productions and that includes Cream.Locked In has eight tracks with only opener 'Rest in Peace' having only some resemblance to past glories.Laurie Wise field sings lead vocals on half the tracks.Let's just say he should stick to the guitar which he does very well.But main vocalist Martin Turner is struggling particularly on the insipid ballad 'She was my Best Friend 'where he is distinctly off key.But most of all the songwriting is terrible.From a band that was on the verge of brilliance with 'Argus',Locked In is major let down.Things got better with the next album,'New England 'but they lost some ground.But strange as this may seem I reach for Locked In and give it a spin at least once month whereas Argus is lucky to get once every six months.I must be a masochist!