Wishbone Ash Album Reviews

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Wishbone Ash (1970)
Pilgrimage (1971)
Argus (1972)

Wishbone Ash (1970)

7.5

Blind Eye / Lady Whiskey / Errors of My Ways / Queen of Torture / Handy / Phoenix

Yes indeed, Wishbone Ash. Although they’re half-forgotten by now, certainly in the US, where they never made much of an impact (or so it seems), I’ve been very impressed with their early stuff since someone told me that Norwegian band Motorpsycho (currently one of the best bands in Europe, I kid you not) were definitely influenced by Ash and I picked up a few of their albums. Nowadays, you’d call them blues-rock or early ‘70’s hard rock, even though they weren’t as proficient as Deep Purple, heavy as Black Sabbath or innovating as Led Zeppelin. What they do display, however, is an occasionally stunning merger of British folk and blues-powered solos, while the rhythm section of Martin Turner (bass) and Steve Upton (drums) worked excellent as well, the former for making his melodic bass nearly a third lead instrument, the latter for his refreshing jazz accents in a traditionally rudimentary genre (well, until all similar bands suddenly wanted to show their technical prowess). As you might’ve expected with this kind of band, they would move on to create increasingly complex music later on, even coming dangerously close to prog-rock. They certainly would’ve had the chops for that, because I can’t think of any other band of the time that had two such great guitar players. TWO, without a doubt, as they were one of the first bands to use the twin-lead attack (Ted Turner and Andy Powell) that made bands like Thin Lizzy (Gorham/Robertson) and Iron Maiden (Smith/Murray) even more famous than they already were.

The band recorded their first demos only a few months after having found a steady line-up in 1969 and allegedly, it was Purple’s Blackmore who was so blown away by the 19 year-old guitarists, that he brought the band in touch with producer Derek Lawrence. By the end of 1970, Wishbone Ash was conceived, and containing only six songs, two of which longer than 10 minutes, the album was obviously rooted in a jam-era, but still the band’s intricate melodies and quite polished solos guaranteed you’d rarely accuse them of self-indulgence. On the downside, this graceful, lyrical approach to playing/soloing implied they were hardly ever really heavy – you can’t pound your fists to this, nor can you bang your head, like during Purple’s “Speed King” -, but on the positive side, these guys played nearly with a jazz virtuoso’s aplomb, without losing emotion and intensity (meaning they didn’t solely rely on technique). The two short songs (the only ones under six minutes), album opener “Blind Eye” and “Queen of Torture,” are probably the least interesting. “Blind Eye” is completely built on the same recurring start ‘n’ stop-break, while the boogie-piano makes sure they sound like a guitar-oriented version of Chicken Shack. “Queen of Torture” is also propelled by a sturdy boogie rhythm, but it’s particularly interesting to listen to the harmonies of the guitarists and Upton’s tight playing. Also “Lady Whisky” proves the band largely worked with simple, repetitive structures, until the band decide halfway the song to rock out a bit with one of their few “bang your head”-moments. A favorite of mine since the first time I heard it, is the peculiar “Error of My Ways.” During the first minute or so, you’ll presume you’re listening to some sort of Fairport Convention-album, with the Celtic-styled folk vocals. None of the vocalists is particularly impressive, and like the guitars, they perhaps lack a bit “bite”, but together they blend nicely. Anyway, it’s mainly about the guitars here: just watch out for the solo after 2:38 and tell me that isn’t beautiful. I’m not even sure which one of the guitarists plays the main role there – I presume it’s Any Powell -, but I’ve rarely heard such melodically hypnotizing soloing, such a nice combination of fluency and lyricism, and it’s absolutely captivating when Upton reverses the rhythm, accompanied by a rhythm guitarist and a thumping bass.

Both “Handy” and “Phoenix” cross the 10-minute mark. While “Handy” is a great showcase for Turner’s elastic bass playing, Upton’s jazz-inflected drumming (check out his solo after 8 minutes or so and the hard-swinging interlude following it), and both’ guitarists’ neo-psychedelic noodling, album closer “Phoenix” might be the album’s epicentre. A concert favorite throughout their career and a song that would wind up on several (live) albums, it’s probably one of the band’s signature songs, and with good reason. While the vocals – again – sound particularly dated in the meantime, it’s no wonder that John Lennon asked them to play some sessions with him (only Ted agreed). There’s not much of a structure to speak of, as the song thrives on this mysteriously majestic, melancholic atmosphere created by the extended soloing, but halfway the song, the band picks up this boogie rhythm again, rendering the second half a lot more spirited, with even some incendiary, pounding sections (though a later live version recorded in 1972 would eclipse this version), before finally returning to the beginning’s humbleness. Like many sources have it, Wishbone Ash isn’t overwhelmingly innovative, nor very flashy, on first listen, but the band had a subtlety, knack for intricate melodies and a unique approach that set them apart from the start onwards. Hearing them nowadays, the shorter songs aren’t that special, but during the album’s best moments – when it transcends the confines of blues-rock, hard rock, etc, with ease – you’ll wonder why the band’s legacy doesn’t loom any larger.

Pilgrimage (1971)

8

Vas Dis / The Pilgrim / Jail Bait / Alone / Lullaby / Valediction / Where Were You Tomorrow

Pilgrimage On their second album, Wishbone Ash still haven’t figured out whether they’re a blues-based boogie-rock band (as witnessed on two of the album’s lengthier songs, “Jail Bait” and the live recorded “Where Were You Tomorrow”) or something else (the other songs), but it’s a fact that these guys were WAY too talented to be just another blooze & booze-band, and I’m not trying to be condescending towards bands like Grand Funk Railroad or Status Quo, who for the most part (no, not always) of their careers kept churning out songs based on the good old, familiar pattern, it’s just that these four musicians are so talented that I don’t get why they’re no longer (or rarely) praised anymore. Both Andy Powell and Ted Turner were guitar players with an awesome technique and capable of delivering some impossibly fluid soloing as well as bottom-heavy chords bashing, while bass player Martin Turner and drummer Steve Upton deserve to be placed among the great rhythm sections of classic rock (yes, that implies very near Moon/Entwistle, Baker/Bruce, etc), as they effortlessly incorporated elements from jazz and folk into their rock mould. The greatest example of their unique fusion is “The Pilgrim.” Even though it starts out as another folk-inflected tune, with a slow build-up and ‘mysterious’ atmosphere, it turns into an entirely different matter after three minutes, when angular guitar accents introduce the twisted rhythm that the bass and drums soon pick up. It’s stuff that hovers somewhere in between prog (awkward time signatures), hard rock, jazz and even folk, with the harmonizing of the musicians betraying their British roots. It’s during songs as this one, songs that are unfortunately the hardest to describe, that the band shows its uniqueness to full effect.

There’s nothing as unusual as this track on Pilgrimage, even though there’s plenty to enjoy. Album opener “Vas Dis,” which also boasts a jazzy rhythm and contrary accents is less spectacular than “The Pilgrim,” but the remarkable thing about it are the scat vocals that mimick the guitar parts. It’s something I’ve heard only a few bands do, but it usually cracks me up, and there’s some great soloing. “Alone” and “Lullaby” are short instrumentals (2:20 and 2:59, punk lengths!!) and while both are really pretty, especially “Lullaby”, because it lives up to its title, it’s hard not to consider them as a sort of ‘elevated filler’. Much better, and an essential album track, is “Valediction,” which shows how great their harmonies could be (and usually were). None of these guys was a particularly great vocalist, but they could create an imposing sense of melancholy by blending their voices. The song’s structure is quite predictable and it never offers any surprises, but it’s a winner by the sheer smoothness of the playing and the unreal atmosphere that’s kept up for more than six minutes. Then there’s the more conventional stuff: “Jail Bait” is a pretty straightforward boogie, featuring mainly a lot of soloing, and essentially the same is true for the 10-minute “Where Were You Tomorrow” which has a fierceness the studio track lacks. It’s performed with style, energy and skill to spare – you know how it goes: fierce rhythms, passionate solo, quiet moment, rise to climax, return to starting point, etc – but it’s just no match for the band’s best stuff, when they transcend the confines of conformity with genre-bending opuses that combine the best from several worlds. That’s also why the album isn’t a masterpiece: there’s some good stuff, but one third of it is standard (but excellently performed!) stuff, while another part is ranked in the vicinity of ‘enjoyable filler’. They’d go on to fully explore their capabilities though, and with great results. In the meantime, about half of Pilgrimage is recommended to anyone with a soft spot for jam-oriented ‘70’s rock. Yeah, I’m looking at you, pothead stoner boy.

Argus (1972)

9

Time Was / Sometime World / Blowin’ Free / The King Will Come / Leaf and Stream / Warrior / Throw Down the Sword // Jail Bait / The Pilgrim / Phoenix

Argus While the self-titled debut and Pilgrimage each contained some excellent songs and especially outstanding musicianship, they also suggested that the band could do even better if they turned their strengths into advantage and didn’t rely as much on the mid-tempo boogies many of their contemporaries focused on as well. On Argus, they finally manage to fulfil the promise, leaving out the less interesting material almost altogether and doing what they were best at: combining lush English folk with melodic, guitar-dominated hard rock. Well, maybe ‘hard rock’ is a bit of an exaggeration, as they rarely turned in dirty or heavy performances like Led Zeppelin, but they had a twin guitar attack that must’ve influenced dozens and dozens of hard rock bands. Now that I mentioned Led Zeppelin… the people in that band were arguably even better musicians and (if they wanted) songwriters than those of Wishbone Ash. On top of that, they were also more eclectic, incorporating folk, hard rock, blues, pop, eastern-tinged stuff and funk in their music. Yet, I do enjoy Argus as much as any Led Zeppelin album. It doesn’t contain a track as superbly well-crafted as “Stairway to Heaven,” one as hard-rocking as “Heartbreaker,” or as intense as “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” but it’s more consistent and smarter. Led Zeppelin was absolutely one of the best bands of its era – they had enough talent for three bands – but with that came also a talent for messiness and self-indulgence. Though it’s hard to make a case for the statement that any of their first three or four albums contains a truly bad song, there were always songs that didn’t manage to live up to the incredible high standard of the winners. Wishbone Ash didn’t have these extremes, and on Argus, you basically get one successful track after another, and while they’re not all stellar (“Blowin’ Free” employs that thumping mid-tempo boogie – but to fine results), they’re still quite amazing 32 years later. With its peculiar cover (I’ve rarely seen one that fits the music it conceals this good) and lyrical stress on themes such as war and love and the place of mankind throughout the ages, it’s often regarded as progressive rock (a seven-song conceptual album! YEAH!), and while that’s not far-fetched, the band basically follows the course that was already hinted at before. The key elements – the folk-influence and the melodic nature of the songs and the playing – are intact and even highlighted. More than anything, this is an album for guitar aficionados (or basically, musicians) who’ll drool over the immaculately produced instrumental passages (and the liner notes tell you who’s playing which solo – nifty!) and interplay. The album opens with delicate, acoustic finger-picking and harmonies that would’ve fit on, say, Led Zeppelin III, but after three minutes (yes, this song takes up nearly ten minutes of your precious time) develops into a swift rocker that’s lighter than anything Led Zeppelin ever did, and that’s also the biggest difference with most of their contemporaries. Even though they – like all hard rock bands – dug in the blues history for inspiration, they turned as much to folk. While most guitarists out there seemed to deliver variations on Clapton’s work with Cream, Turner and Powell – like Richard Thompson, for instance – nearly boasted as much virtuosity, but this was devoid of the overpowering dominance of the blues. Instead of the gut-targeting misery of the black music, they managed to infuse many of their songs with a more lyrical, ethereal style that almost seems the lush, direct opposite of raw and dirty emotion. “Leaf and Stream,” written by bass player Martin Turner is also an enchantingly gentle folk number, with lovely guitar parts and suitably fragile vocals. These guys weren’t the greatest of vocalists, but their harmonies fit perfectly in the folk tradition and, come to think of it, these songs really wouldn’t have been any better if they’d been sung by a more powerful, “soulful” voice. These enigmatic slices evoke the moist dreariness of a desolate English landscape, and that’s why these wimpy voices are perfect. Anyway, there’s more great stuff to be found: “The King Will Come” with its rumbling rhythm, does a great job at creating the musical equivalent of its lyrical content (just like the ruffling drums rolls of “Throw Down the Sword”), the extended guitar solo of course being the icing on the cake, just like in “Warrior,” which contains some spectacular guitar playing during its first minute before growing into something more folk-oriented. The album’s unquestionable highlight, however, is “Sometime World,” a simply beautiful song that contains some of the nicest melodies and guitar solos in ‘70s rock. Again, it starts of on a calm note, with a fluent key motif, before reaching a climax after two and a half minutes and then launching into a fantastic section containing a melodic bass solo, vocal harmonies and some of the most majestic solos Turner and Powell (or anyone else, for that matter) ever laid down, several minutes of sheer brilliance. Had the entire album been like this, it would’ve been one of the best albums I’d ever heard, now it’s “merely” the cherry on a delicious cake, an album that lives up to a promise and does so with style and grace, because if there’s one word that’s applied to this album at my place, it must be class.

Note: As a bonus, the remastered edition of Argus also includes the rare promotional EP Live from Memphis, which was recorded around the release date of the album, and contains three tracks that lengthen the album to 77 minutes: the boogie “Jail Bait” and “The Pilgrim” from their second album, as well as a mind-baffling, 17-minute version of the grandiose “Phoenix,” from their debut. Pretty essential.