Wishbone Ash
Band members Related acts
line up 1 (1969-75) - Andy Powell --
guitar, vocals - Ted Turner --
guitars, vocals
line up 2 (1975-81) - Andy Powell --
guitar, vocals
line up 3 (1981) - Andy Powell --
guitar, vocals NEW - John Wetton -- bass (replaced Martin Turner)
line up 4 (1981-83) NEW - Trevor Boulder -- bass (replaced John Wetton) - Andy Powell --
guitar, vocals
Martin Turner (vocals, bass, 1969-80, 1987-91), Andy Powell (guitar, vocals), Ted Turner (guitar, vocals, 1969-74, 1988-94), Steve Upton (drums, 1969-90), Laurie Wisefield (guitar, vocals, 1974-85), Graham Maitland (keyboards, 1976), John Wetton (bass, vocals, 1980-81), Claire Hamill (vocals, 1981), Trevor Bolder (bass, 1981-83), Mervyn "Spam" Spencer (bass, 1983-86), James Crompton (guitar, 1985-88), Andy Pyle (bass, 1986-87, 1991-94), Robbie France (drums, 1990-91), Ray Weston (drums, 1991-94, 1998-2007), Joe Crabtree (drums, 2007-present), Dan C. Gillogly (keyboards, 1992), Roger Filgate (guitar, 1994-98), Tony Kishman (vocals, bass, 1994-98), Mike Sturgis (drums, 1994-98), Mark Birch (guitar, 1998-2001), Ben Granfelt (guitar, 2001-04), Bob Skeat (bass, 1998-present), Muddy Manninen (guitar, 2004-present)
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Genre: rock Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Live Dates Company: C Catalog: C Country/State: G Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+ Comments: double LP; gatefold sleeve Available: 1 Catalog ID: 6128 Price: $20.00
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I own a bunch of there studio albums and will admit to being underwhelmed by most of them. Mind you, there was no denying Wishbone Ash were a talented outfit, rather their strengths just never seem to come through on those studio albums.
"Live
Dates" track listing: 1.)
(side
2)
No surprise -- in concert was the best way to hear Wishbone Ash, because the studio was just too sterile an environment, at least for their hardest-rocking stuff to take off. Anyone really into the group should own this record.
"Live Dates" is the only official album sized recording of the
"Ash-Founder-Generation" to be released during its existing
period.
And it's fantastic to hear the band play those tricky compositions. In 1973 it was state of the art of progressive hard rock. It's a pity they didn't take one concert on this double album but mixed several concerts from the 1973 tour. The tapes have been cutted too harsh and instead of having "Phoenix" doubled as a bonus track it would have been better to put one or two other songs from that period on. Also, I think that the later Ash formation played more elegant than this original line-up. They sounded more modern in the upcoming years. Nevertheless this 2-CD set is worth owning because it's a perfect journey into time. "Live Dates" perfectly preserves the ghost of the early 1970s. P.S. Listen with incense sticks "patchouli style". Charts: 82 [USA] Musicians: bass: Martin Turner drums: Steve Upton guitar: Andy Powell, Ted Turner vocals: Andy Powell, Martin Turner, Ted Turner Producer: Wishbone Ash Engineer: Keith Harwood Mastering: - Cover: HIPGNOSIS, Colin Elgie Photos: Aubrey Powell, Storm Thorgerson, Miles Copeland, Steve Upton, Jill Furmanovsky, Pauline Powell Recording: Croydon - Fairfield Hall (1.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5) ; Newcastle - City Hall (1.2, 1.3); Reading - University (1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.4); Portsmouth - Guildhall (1.6), England, Juni 1973; Memphis, U.S.A. 1972 (1.7) Composers: David Turner - Martin Turner - Andrew Powell - Steve Upton (1.1-1.5; 1.7; 2.1-2.5), Jimmy Reed (1.6) Cover rating: **** HEADLIGHTS: The King Will Come, Warrior, Throw Down the Sword, The Pilgrim, Blowin' Free, Phoenix [Croydon] BACKLIGHTS: Baby What You Want Me to Do
With only 3 studio albums under their belts a double-live album seems a
tad premature, however the performances are excellent with a fine romp
through the hits.
Recorded during June 1973 in UK in several places.
I'm here to review one of the worst live albums of the seventies - made
truly bad not by the material (two guitar soloists aside, this was no
Thin Lizzy), but by lacklustre performances of the dynamic, majestic,
obsessively paced songs by which the group shall stand or fall for rawk
eternity. Even the 1980, borderline washed out MkII live album takes the
prize - but why, if that's just sham-rock boogie lies?
The guitars are barely tuned, palely reproducing and occasionally faltering at the sterling passages of the winding and arcane tunnels of Argus, indifferently and indistinctly negotiating the early instrumental material, the drums clomp along in a mechanic manner like on Wishbone Four, and Martin Turner and his choirmate Andy Powell are both in bad, whiny voice. Where the band unexpectedly shines are the lesser album tracks - Rock n Roll Widow is not improved but loses nothing of its slothful and fascinating aural vagueness, Ballad of the Beacons is helped by the reedy voices and squelchy guitar tone and explodes in a blissful flurry of rolling solos, and the Everly Brothers cover is so wacked out it could pass for a field recording. But that's all there is to show after two discs of Neil Young hijacking a band of guitar nerds and corrupting them into rich post-hippie obscurantists with nothing to lose but hair. Nah, that never happened, and this album, along with Wishbone Four, is the reason why. AND because their talent preceded their intelligence and their producer was a helluva guy - after all, their three really worthwhile albums were made in the same studio with the same man, who probably didn't allow them to smoke several kilos per day and then try to get that Trout Mask Replica wobble just right. I wish, actually.
Too slick. A couple of nice tracks though.
a decent but not great or even good live recording of Wishbone Ash. Live
Dates has those fucking guitar leads that do all sorts of wonderful
things for my ears, but the vocals are too quiet, which makes me think
"shut up and get to the guitar playing". The singing isn't
great on the studio albums but here it is just dullll.
update: after listening to this a few more times i can't see myself ever choosing it over their studio stuff :\
Still good after all these years
British release on BGO Records 1995. Remastered from the original master
tapes. Same art, expanded notes, no bonus tracks. BTW it rokkkks!!!!!!
If you cannot get out to see this fantastic band (yes they are still
around, yes they still perform), the very least you can do is get a copy
of Live Dates. This is Wishbone Ash at their peak. One thing the album
can't give you however is the absolute excitement that these boys
generated on stage. An incredibly talented band. Do yourself a favor;
look up their website, find out when and where they will be
playing, and go see 'em!
whatever happened to Wishbone Ash ? i really like this album. favourate
track is "the king will come" but "rock and roll
widow" is also much loved. i saw them live in Hammersmith oOdeon
and thought they were great.
Quite a good live album. This is culled from the British tour to promote
the Wishbone Four album. Strangely there are
only two tracks from that album represented here. Side one is the best
with the three tracks from Argus. Side three is
also good 'cause it has "Blowin' Free" on it. I cannot abide
"Baby What You Want Me To Do", you can almost feel the crowd
falling asleep. I think Newcastle was probably the place to be during
that tour. I myself saw them a year after this album at the Liverpool
Empire. Pretty good but unfortunately without Ted Turner.
Besides "Eat A Peach" this is one of
the better live albums out there. "Blowin Free" "Ballad Of The Beacon" "Throw Down The Sword". Awesome guitar playing for a live album with very strong vocals.Ted Turner was a very under rated guitarist.
Brian, what do you think of Wishbone Ash? "Oh, their pretty
good". What's your favorite song by them? "Mmmm, I'm not sure,
I usually only play their albums a couple of times". What album
would you recommend by them? "Live Dates is pretty packed full of
their classy guitar rock sound, although my copy skips really bad for
some reason". That's a bummer. "Yeah."
I really like Wishbone Ash in the studio, especially those excellent
first four albums. But maybe I expected too much with this live
album. Sure, there are plenty of guitar pyrotechnics, it just
seems like there could have been more. It seems like just when a
solo takes off, they end it. The lone exception to that rule is on
"Phoenix" but alas, they take that to the other extreme, and
make the song about 5 minutes longer that it needs to be. This
isn't a bad album by any means, but for me, I'm sticking with the studio
versions.
Unknown rock from the seventies, part 2459....This decade is a real
goldmine for uncovering overlooked goodies. Now Wishbone Ash are another
of that very fine rockgroups that played for a committed fanbase (and
they still do to this day), but never registered with the masses. This
was, finally, a bit of loud rock stuff that intellectual students could
warm up to.
With an era that defined the guitar as the king of instruments in popular music, what then makes Wishbone Ash special? To answer this I simply recommend this very album. It catches the band at their early peak and was recorded at different venues. Not only the sleeve design is fantastic, the performances are, too. Few rock groups of their time could sound that professional on stage. The style of the group changed a lot from the later seventies on, and so Live Dates is the best place to get all the important classics gathered together in often outstanding versions. This is a very melodious sound, elevated by extremely elaborate harmony guitars, always switching elegantly between epic hooks and fiery riffs. The bass deserves special mention, too, because it often joins the intermingled guitars to create a third harmony. Wonderful musicianship with a great desire for perfection and smartness, indeed. Whishbone Ash will probably appeal to hard-rock lovers as well as prog- and classic rock fans, because they have a bit of all of these genres on offer. _Live Dates_ features a total of 11 tracks. So go and pick this one up to enjoy the uplifting celebration of "Blowing Free", the melodious rock of "The King will come", the astonishing preciseness on "The Pilgrim", the slide madness on "Rock'n'Roll Widow" or the cathartic, epic rapture that is "Phoenix". Live albums are usually nice extras in a band's catalogue, but for Wishbone Ash it is their ultimate achievement. Give your air-guitar some new food! Highlights: The King will come, Ballad of the Beacon, Rock'n'Roll Widow, The Pilgrim, Blowing Free. Lowlights:-
One of my first records (ca.1974).Still one of my favorites. It has a
nice live-athmosphere and includes the best songs of Wishbone Ash, like
The king will come, Warrior, Throw down the sword, Jailbait, etc.
buy if you can...
One of the best live albums ever, & my intro to Ash. Killer guitar
play!
First official live album. With epileptic version of Phoenix. Good Ash
is live Ash ! Essential.
I've had the good fortune to have seen Wishbone Ash in this configuration
of musicians several times from arenas to a high school. Every performance
was a bit different but uniformly excellent. Wishbone Ash comes from an
era where it was expected that musicians have chops. The band one upped
their 70's contemporaries by playing several styles of music from blues
based boogie to progressive to folk. Often some jazz was thrown in for
good measure.
This could spell a mess but Wishbone Ash was well grounded and had great style when playing and especially when guitarists Andy Powell and Ted Turner soloed. Live Dates captures the sound and vibe of Wishbone Ash live. The stylistic diversity is quite clear from their take on boogie numbers including Jail Bait, Lady Whiskey and the cover of Baby What You Want Me To Do. These tracks are surrounded by the pop of Blowin' Free, the progressive rock of The Pilgrim, Phoenix, and Warrior along with the quieter English folk of Ballad Of The Beacon. Wishbone Ash turned conventions upside down with Martin Turner's bass often carrying the melody of a song as guitars harmonized and set the rhythmic tone along with drummer Steve Upton. Rather than perform carbon copies of album tracks Wishbone Ash frequently improvises or at the least revises solos and in some cases arrangements. Besides being a great live album it is also a good place to start with Wishbone Ash. Soon after this part of the band's career guitarist Ted Turner left the band and the diversity of styles would become less pronounced. If you want to get an idea of smart rock in the 70's this is a good place to start.of THE top guitar bands in the Europe of the 1970s, although they were and remain barely known in the US. They even became tax exiles and lived in the States at the end of the 70s. This album is one of the very best live albums from the 70s, if not ever, for classic two-guitar rock. This live album reflects the best tracks from their first set of albums with their original lineup complete with Andy Powell on his trademark Gibson Flying V, and Ted Turner with his Stratocaster or Les Paul. People struggle to pigeonhole this band - usually falling back on the "The English Allman Brothers" or similar. Unlike most guitar rock bands in the 70s Wishbone Ash are actually closer to progressive rock than either the blues based Led Zeppelin approach, or the heavy metal Deep Purple or UFO style or the blues-jazz of the Allmans. But they are more straightforward than say Gentle Giant or Jethro Tull. They represent I think a more mystical approach with the emphasis on melodic intertwining guitar leads and certainly, in their early days at least, long instrumentals. Not too loud, not too many guitar histrionics, but plenty of long, beautifully played, guitar lines and leads often with pseudo-mystical lyrics. A sort of less flashy Kansas. Anyway any person who appreciates guitar based bands and classic rock should listen to this album. The first three tracks in particular are absolute Wishbone classics, my favorite part is the stunning and haunting Ted Turner solo on "Lay Down the Sword". Just wonderful clean melodic and powerful lines that will be guaranteed to impress anyone. "Phoenix" and "the Pilgrim" are both long, largely instrumental, tracks full of verve and interest, but not really jams like the Allmans do, nor are they blues based to any significant degree - just great and interesting instrumentals. "Lady Whiskey", and "Jailbait" were crowd favorites and are more typical bluesy rockers - to really enjoy these you have to have been there I think. "Ballad of the Beacon" is an English folk song with a great melody. Their one real bluesy number, the Everly Brothers' "Baby what you want me to do" is an interesting exercise in slide guitar playing and very good it is, even if it is anything but American blues. I must also mention the outstanding rhythm section, particularly Martin
Turner who holds it all together with his very melodic bass lines, lyrics,
and singing. I recommend this album highly, especially as most Americans
have never heard of this wonderful guitar band. This is the best
introduction to their classic first period.know about Live at Leeds, Humble Pie Performance,
5.0
out of 5 stars An
excellent LIVE album,
By
discovered WA in the early 70s and would recommend any of their albums
thru 1980..and this LIVE set is an excellent example of WA mkI for the
sound that was WA....after the original lineup was split....the sound
changed a tad with the switch from Ted Turner to Laurie Wisefield. The
trademark WA sound was still unmistakable. Live Dates was a compilation of Wishbones early albums and contains standards such as "The King Will Come", "Warrior" and probably one of the best guitar songs played out in the classic "Rock & Roll Widow". Listen to Powells flying "V" and Turners magic fingers perform the accented bird sounds as brother Martin (bass) and Steve Upton (drums) keep the beat steady. All the material played here is well written and performed. No filler in this double album (I still have the original vinyl). No doubt that any guitar lover will cherish this recording for years to come. Don't hesitate, it's worth every penny. The material here is better than their studio albums. I've seen them live and they are definitely a live band. This is good music.This album is on my "must have" list. Wishbone Ash is one of the rare bands that (to me) sounded even better live than in the studio. Their songs are melodic and their performance is powerful. They wrote the book on harmony guitar leads.
This review is from: Live
Dates (Audio CD)
This is , as others have noted a tremendous lp. Ash had tremendous talent
and they played well together. Phoenix , The King Will Come , Handy, Lady
Whiskey are
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0
out of 5 stars A
superb, timeless gem from an underrated Guitar Band.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Live
Dates (Audio CD)
The melodic, dual, harmony guitar leads are the hallmark of this band, and
the way they pull them off live is just remarkable. They seem to be one of
those bands that achieves something special in thier live recordings
that's absent from much of their studio work.
This band, and particularly this album, has it all. Power, melody, harmony, imagination, great guitar work as well as great vocal harmonies. I can't believe this recording is nearly 24 years old! It continues to delight me even now. I can't imagine being without it in my collection!This was the first official and still the best live album Wishbone Ash has put out. It has the best songs from the first four albums. Tunes like "Rock And Roll Widow", "Blowin Free" and others will show you just how powerful this band is. After purchasing this, you will want the first four albums. This is simply a great album.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
My brother surprised me with this album for Christmas back in 1973. I was
16 at the time. Though I had seen the band's records in stores I had never
heard them. Of course this album became an instant favorite (and Larry I
am forever grateful).
4.0
out of 5 stars Live
Dates: Great Live CD that deserved a bigger audience,
Wishbone Ash deserved better, I thought this album would be there breakout
in America and make them a superstar band. I rate this CD 4 1/2 stars. A
great live collection that ranks up their with Humble Pie/Rockin the
Fillmore, and the Allman Brothers Band at the Fillmore East. Live Dates
holds it's own with the above mentioned bands.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0
out of 5 stars EXCELLENT
!!!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Live
Dates (Audio CD)
This album is a must for anyone who was around in the 70's. While deer
hunting once I came upon a dump site w/ many an old album sitting in this
heap. Right on top was the "Live Dates", I thought to myself,
what sacrilege. I can guarantee many hours of listening
After waiting for numerous ship dates (all of which passed) for this item,
Amazon told me that my order must be canceled because they could no longer
supply this item to buyers. So I had to purchase this item from a company
in Japan for a much higher price. It is a fine item though. It does
contain the photo book that was included in the US version of this album,
back in 1973, all reduced in size, and the gatefold artwork is from the UK
version. The sound is wonderful also, but it is on TWO CDs, not one like
the BMG version. I had to purchase this one since I already had LIVE DATES
TWO,(finally available after all these years), both of them make a matched
set.
By
5.0
out of 5 stars Wishbone
ash Live dates,
Live
DatesGreat live recording of a much overlooked dual lead guitar british blues and hard rock band. Saw them recently and they are still better than most of the groups out there today. Andy Powell and Ted Turner recorded some great dual lead guitar riffs on Argus album including their one of many classic albums "Pilgramage". They will be touring in April 2010. Make it a point to see them. RonnieM
Side One
Live Dates
(Audio CD)
Their best tracks live seeing it was recorded a while back, recording live
music has come a long way since then and I feel this was well done for its
time I am playing this through top quality hi fi equipment it sounds
great. They are still out there.
This review is from: Live Dates
(Audio CD)
This is by far the best CD of wishbone ash I have come accross.the version of the King will come is by far the best. I cannot get enough of this CD the guitar work and drumming are out of the top draw.
Simply outstanding. This album has been in my top 5 favorite albums since
it came out in 1974. I have every note of every song memorized. The new CD
edition includes a bonus cut of Phoenix which was not included in the
vinyl version. It's interesting to see the difference between the two
versions.
This album is highly recommended. Listen to it with headphones on for the full effect of the twin lead guitars (Andy Powell on 1 channel and Ted Turner on the other).
4.0
out of 5 stars Great
music. Not so-great sound.,
I love this live set but just wish the CD sounded brighter and richer.
Still highly recommended, but the mastering makes the recording sound a
bit dated.
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Genre: rock Rating: 3 stars *** Title: Hot Ash Company: MCA Catalog: MCA-5283 Country/State: UK Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+ Comments: minor cut out notch lower edge Available: 1 Catalog ID: 6299 Price: $10.00
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I'm not sure what MCA marketing was thinking about when they decided to raid the vaults for another Wishbone Ash live set. Pulling together eight tracks from across the band's mid-to-late 1970s career didn't seem like a particular smart marketing move and certainly didn't deserve much in the way of creativity ... Oh, for a moment I forgot this was an MCA product. That explains most of the marketing (or lack thereof). I actually remember picking this set up for the weird cover art. I couldn't figure out why the image was so ill-focused. Only later did it dawn on me this was one of those 3-D pictures (no you didn't get 3-D glasses with the album.). I also remember the first time I heard the set thinking the fans were yelling "we want ass ...). So much for first impressions. At least to my ears quite a few of the performances sounded so polished I was left to wonder whether they'd been subjected to considerable post-production work. Tracks like 'Blowin' Free', 'Living Proof' and 'Goodbye Baby Hello Friend' literally sounded like studio material with very little in the way of in-concert rawness.
- Originally featured on 1972's "Argus", as mentioned above, I have no idea how much post-production work went into the set, but judging by the smoothness and overall caliber of this version, it sure sounded like their in-concert version underwent some at least some studio polishing. Regardless, the song served as a wonderful introduction to their classic twin lead guitar repertoire. YouTube has a nice 1973 era concert performance of the track at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeY9IRnVmk8 rating: **** stars - 'Living Proof' came from Wishbone Ash mark II and the album "Just Testing" LP. Anyone critical of the band's early-1980s repertoire should probably re-evaluate their position after hearing this one, A fantastic mixture of the band's hard rock guitars, surprisingly catchy vocals, and a great Martin Turner bass line, this one must have been nirvana to hear in a live setting. rating: **** stars - People end to overlook the fact these guys were capable of more than mind numbing hard rock and 'Goodbye Baby Hello Friend' serves as the perfect example of just how commercial and radio friendly they could be. rating: **** stars - The first disappointment and the first track that really sounded like it was recorded live, 'Bad Weather Blues' was a pedestrian, seemingly endless blues-rocker. The song was originally recorded for inclusion on 1975's "Locked In", but didn't make the final cut (big surprise). MCA subsequently released a limited edition, extended live version of the song coupled with the song 'You See Red.' This version was apparently recorded at a 1977 concert in Sheffield, England. rating: ** stars - Supposedly inspired by a female friend/heroin addict the Turner brothers knew, I think 'Doctor' came off of 1973's "Wishbone Ash". Abandoning their progressive leanings, this one found the band cruising along with a conventional rock feel. Have to admit the lyric was quite disturbing ... Clearly recorded at a concert, this one doesn't seem to have had much in the way or post-production help and it sounded all the better for that. rating: *** stars - Classic Ash ... to my ears 'Way of the World' served to highlight just how melodic the band's twin led guitar line up could be. Starting out with one of their nicest melodies, the dark and haunting song morphed into an equally impressive rocker with some great lead guitar moves. It's one of my favorite Wishbone performances. rating: **** stars - The album's shorted performance, 'Helpless' was also he most pedestrian number. Forgettable. rating: ** stars - Pulled from "Wishbone Four", 'No Easy Road' showed the band in prime boogie-rock mode. The life-is-tough-on-the-road lyric may not have been the most original thing you've ever heard and the song may have sounded a bit like a good Foghat performance, but that's not a bad thing. Besides, the lead guitar was wonderful. rating: *** stars
Not a bad place to start if you're mildly curious about the band. They also deserved some credit for bucking the double live set trend and opting to release a single set concert documentary. (I know they'd already covered the double live set with 1974's "Live Dates".) The cover featured an interesting 3-D cover (no you didn't get 3-D glasses with the album) and given the limited promotion support the collection received (to say nothing of the fact it was yet another live set), it actually sold fairly well, peaking at # 192 on the US charts.
"Hot
Ash" track listing: 1.) Blowin'
Free (Andy Powell - Martin
Turner - Ted Turner -
Steve Upton) - 6:17
(side
2)
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