WISHBONE ASH
''BLUE HORIZON''
MARCH 18 2014
58:19
1 Take It Back (Ainsley Powell) 05:54
2 Deep Blues (Joe Crabtree, Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen, Andy Powell) 05:25
3 Strange How Things Come Back Around (Roger Filgate) 05:57
4 Being One (Joe Crabtree, Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen, Andy Powell) 05:02
5 Way Down South (Ian Harris, Andy Powell) 06:41
6 Tally Ho! (Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen) 04:42
7 Mary Jane (Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen) 04:34
8 American Century (Joe Crabtree, Andy Powell, Aynsley Powell)05:03
9 Blue Horizon (Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen) 07:42
10 All There Is To Say (Wishbone Ash, Pat McManus, Andy Powell) 07:14
Joe Crabtree/Drums, Guitar, Percussion, Soloist, Vocals (Background)
Tom Greenwood/Organ
Muddy Manninen/Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Pat McManus/Bouzouki, Fiddle
Andy Powell/Guitar, Vocals
Bob Skeat/Bass Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Lucy Underhill/Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Richard Young/Percussion
REVIEW/AMG
by Thom Jurek
***1/2 / *****
After a lengthy legal battle over the Wishbone Ash name with founding vocalist and bassist Martin Turner, guitar/vocalist Andy Powell, the group's only remaining original member, prevailed. As a result, his band sounds totally revitalized on Blue Horizon, WA's 22nd album. Though few punters consider it, this group was one of the great purveyors of classic arena rock's twin-guitar sound or the European sound of the Atlantic (the first was Thin Lizzy). So much so, they won an enormous following in the birthplace of such pyrotechnics, America. Few rock bands of any era have explored as many musical geographies as this lot, from hard electric blues-rock to sword-and-sorcery prog and in the 1990s, even trance! This ten-song set is a reassessment of their core strengths: (mostly) well-written tunes, excellent production, and winding instrumental passages. Though Powell doesn't possess nearly the vocal range as Turner, he is an architect of the band's sound. As such, his shortcomings in front of a microphone aren't as glaring as they might otherwise be. His three partners -- guitarist Muddy Manninem, bassist Bob Skeat, and drummer Joe Crabtree -- are all decent harmony singers, which lets him off the hook a bit. Opener "Take It Back," with its hypnotic drums, intricate staccato guitar patterns, and a guest fiddle by Pat McManus, is a vintage WA jam -- with the drummer taking the lead guitar break in the outro! Fans of the group's blues sound should relish the punchy, stinging boogie in "Deep Blues," the title track, and the steep barroom rowdiness of "Mary Jane." (Yes, these are dumb titles. What century is this?) If these cuts were all that was on offer, the set might have been worth purchasing -- in no small part due to the fine production of Tom Greenwood -- but there's more: the spacy psychedelia of "Being One," the knotty prog of "Tally Ho!," and "Way Down South," which possesses a nice pop hook. "American Century" is an expansive stop-and start instrumental. There are two clunkers: the attempt at grooving guitar funk in "Strange How Things Come Back Around," and closer "All There Is to Say," which tries to meld Celtic music and hard rock but doesn't get there. Those cuts aside, Blue Horizon is much better than fans -- or anyone else -- had a right to expect.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Bruce Eder
During the early- and mid-'70s, Wishbone Ash were among England's most popular hard rock acts. The group's roots dated to the summer of 1966, when drummer Steve Upton formed a band called Empty Vessels with bassist/vocalist Martin Turner and guitarist Glen Turner. Empty Vessels soon changed their name to Tanglewood and moved to London; during a gig at the Country Club in Hampstead, they were seen by would-be rock manager Miles Copeland, who was impressed with the jazz and progressive rock influences within the band and offered to be their manager.
Glen Turner left the band at that point, and an advertisement for a guitarist resulted in the addition of both David Alan "Ted" Turner and Andy Powell, who provided the basis for the sound of the new lineup with intertwining riffs and phrases drawn from both soul and blues, coupled with Martin Turner's melodic bass sound and Upton's jazz-influenced drumming. A new name was called for, and after several suggestions by Copeland that proved unacceptable, "Wishbone Ash" was chosen from two lists of words. The group rehearsed for weeks at Copeland's home, working out an entirely new repertoire, and played their first gig opening for the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. It wasn't too long before they were opening for Deep Purple, where a sound check jam between Powell and Ritchie Blackmore led to a recording contract with the American Decca label.
Their self-titled first album appeared in 1970; Pilgrimage and Argus followed over the next two years, and each showed a major advance in the band's sound. The release of 1973's Wishbone Four reflected a greater maturity to the group, and was their first fully developed album, with songwriting that didn't hide behind a progressive pose but luxuriated in the members' folk music inclinations, without compromising the harder edge of their music. The album also saw the departure of Ted Turner, who was replaced by Laurie Wisefield.
Locked In and New England followed; Martin Turner departed after 1979's Just Testing, to be replaced by ex-King Crimson bassist/singer John Wetton. Wishbone Ash soldiered on through the 1980s, and in 1986 even got back with Copeland, by now a major player in the recording industry by virtue of his management of the Police and his founding of I.R.S. Records. Wishbone Ash's history came full circle with the reunion of Powell, Upton, Ted Turner, and Martin Turner, and the recording of three albums for I.R.S.. They remained a working band into the 1990s, led by Andy Powell and Ted Turner and touring and recording regularly.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
''BLUE HORIZON''
MARCH 18 2014
58:19
1 Take It Back (Ainsley Powell) 05:54
2 Deep Blues (Joe Crabtree, Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen, Andy Powell) 05:25
3 Strange How Things Come Back Around (Roger Filgate) 05:57
4 Being One (Joe Crabtree, Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen, Andy Powell) 05:02
5 Way Down South (Ian Harris, Andy Powell) 06:41
6 Tally Ho! (Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen) 04:42
7 Mary Jane (Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen) 04:34
8 American Century (Joe Crabtree, Andy Powell, Aynsley Powell)05:03
9 Blue Horizon (Ian Harris, Muddy Manninen) 07:42
10 All There Is To Say (Wishbone Ash, Pat McManus, Andy Powell) 07:14
Joe Crabtree/Drums, Guitar, Percussion, Soloist, Vocals (Background)
Tom Greenwood/Organ
Muddy Manninen/Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Pat McManus/Bouzouki, Fiddle
Andy Powell/Guitar, Vocals
Bob Skeat/Bass Guitar, Vocals (Background)
Lucy Underhill/Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Richard Young/Percussion
REVIEW/AMG
by Thom Jurek
***1/2 / *****
After a lengthy legal battle over the Wishbone Ash name with founding vocalist and bassist Martin Turner, guitar/vocalist Andy Powell, the group's only remaining original member, prevailed. As a result, his band sounds totally revitalized on Blue Horizon, WA's 22nd album. Though few punters consider it, this group was one of the great purveyors of classic arena rock's twin-guitar sound or the European sound of the Atlantic (the first was Thin Lizzy). So much so, they won an enormous following in the birthplace of such pyrotechnics, America. Few rock bands of any era have explored as many musical geographies as this lot, from hard electric blues-rock to sword-and-sorcery prog and in the 1990s, even trance! This ten-song set is a reassessment of their core strengths: (mostly) well-written tunes, excellent production, and winding instrumental passages. Though Powell doesn't possess nearly the vocal range as Turner, he is an architect of the band's sound. As such, his shortcomings in front of a microphone aren't as glaring as they might otherwise be. His three partners -- guitarist Muddy Manninem, bassist Bob Skeat, and drummer Joe Crabtree -- are all decent harmony singers, which lets him off the hook a bit. Opener "Take It Back," with its hypnotic drums, intricate staccato guitar patterns, and a guest fiddle by Pat McManus, is a vintage WA jam -- with the drummer taking the lead guitar break in the outro! Fans of the group's blues sound should relish the punchy, stinging boogie in "Deep Blues," the title track, and the steep barroom rowdiness of "Mary Jane." (Yes, these are dumb titles. What century is this?) If these cuts were all that was on offer, the set might have been worth purchasing -- in no small part due to the fine production of Tom Greenwood -- but there's more: the spacy psychedelia of "Being One," the knotty prog of "Tally Ho!," and "Way Down South," which possesses a nice pop hook. "American Century" is an expansive stop-and start instrumental. There are two clunkers: the attempt at grooving guitar funk in "Strange How Things Come Back Around," and closer "All There Is to Say," which tries to meld Celtic music and hard rock but doesn't get there. Those cuts aside, Blue Horizon is much better than fans -- or anyone else -- had a right to expect.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Bruce Eder
During the early- and mid-'70s, Wishbone Ash were among England's most popular hard rock acts. The group's roots dated to the summer of 1966, when drummer Steve Upton formed a band called Empty Vessels with bassist/vocalist Martin Turner and guitarist Glen Turner. Empty Vessels soon changed their name to Tanglewood and moved to London; during a gig at the Country Club in Hampstead, they were seen by would-be rock manager Miles Copeland, who was impressed with the jazz and progressive rock influences within the band and offered to be their manager.
Glen Turner left the band at that point, and an advertisement for a guitarist resulted in the addition of both David Alan "Ted" Turner and Andy Powell, who provided the basis for the sound of the new lineup with intertwining riffs and phrases drawn from both soul and blues, coupled with Martin Turner's melodic bass sound and Upton's jazz-influenced drumming. A new name was called for, and after several suggestions by Copeland that proved unacceptable, "Wishbone Ash" was chosen from two lists of words. The group rehearsed for weeks at Copeland's home, working out an entirely new repertoire, and played their first gig opening for the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. It wasn't too long before they were opening for Deep Purple, where a sound check jam between Powell and Ritchie Blackmore led to a recording contract with the American Decca label.
Their self-titled first album appeared in 1970; Pilgrimage and Argus followed over the next two years, and each showed a major advance in the band's sound. The release of 1973's Wishbone Four reflected a greater maturity to the group, and was their first fully developed album, with songwriting that didn't hide behind a progressive pose but luxuriated in the members' folk music inclinations, without compromising the harder edge of their music. The album also saw the departure of Ted Turner, who was replaced by Laurie Wisefield.
Locked In and New England followed; Martin Turner departed after 1979's Just Testing, to be replaced by ex-King Crimson bassist/singer John Wetton. Wishbone Ash soldiered on through the 1980s, and in 1986 even got back with Copeland, by now a major player in the recording industry by virtue of his management of the Police and his founding of I.R.S. Records. Wishbone Ash's history came full circle with the reunion of Powell, Upton, Ted Turner, and Martin Turner, and the recording of three albums for I.R.S.. They remained a working band into the 1990s, led by Andy Powell and Ted Turner and touring and recording regularly.
WEBSITE
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