Lifeline (Wishbone Ash) (LP 4960 - 4966)

Wishbone Ash  Just Testing (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1980) ***  

Wishbone Ash  Live Dates Volume Two (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1980) ***   

Wishbone Ash  Trance Visionary (CD, Invisible Hands Music, 1998) * 

Wishbone Ash Clan Destiny (CD, Rajon Music, 2006) ** 

Wishbone Ash  The Power of Eternity (CD, Sanctuary Records, 2007) *** 

Wishbone Ash  Millenium Collection (CD, Digimode Entertainment, 1999) **** 

Wishbone Ash  The Collection (CD, Digimode Entertainment, 2003) **** 

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, Chaldon Books and Records, The Warehouse

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Lifeline (Just Testing)

Gear costume: Persephone (Live Dates Volume Two)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: The eighties started as the seventies had ended for Wishbone Ash. Just Testing followed No Smoke Without Fire and showed they had things in common with other hard rock bands like Deep Purple and UFO who turned out a successon of so so albums after a bright start. Post Wishbone 4, the band seemed content to record okay rock records with a couple of good moments on them. These they'd trot out regularly to the dwindling faithful.

Just Testing starts well enough with an AC/DC style boogie - Living Proof and ends with the best moment - Lifeline. Unfortunately, the songs between those two are pretty average rock songs that lack the early Ash dynamics and daring do. 

By the by: For some reason Steve Upton's drumming has morphed from sharp dynamic brilliance on those first three albums to rock mainstream plodding on the post Argus albums. Such a shame.

Live Dates Volume Two was recorded on dates between 1976 and 1980 (during the tour to support Just Testing). The original album was a single one, but my copy is one of the first 25,000, so it has a bonus album of other songs which includes the only song from their first three albums - Time Was (a weak version, sadly).

Generally, the songs are better in a live setting as these are four fine musicians, but they are still not brilliant songs. The highlight is on the bonus album for me, with an excellent version of Persephone.

Trance Visionary is a deeply weird album as it features techno and dance music from Andy Powell and Mike Bennett (a big name in techno apparently). I knew that going in - the title gives itself away and the back of the CD says the band can be heard exploring 'deep, fluid, and at times ethereal drum 'n' bass to industrial post-modernist techno'. I bought it anyway.

It's a laudable experiment but it's not my cup of tea. Nor really is Clan Destiny. Andy is now the only original member left and it's okay, like Just Testing is okay but I need more from Wishbone Ash than okay and average.

The Power of Eternity is much better, thankfully. The musicianship is excellent, although the singing still leaves something to be desired, and the newest guitar foil, Muddy Mannimen, can write some decent songs. 

Highlights on this album are the Hendrix-ian Driving a Wedge and Growing Up. The acoustic interlude songs are a nice breath of fresh air as well. Their best album in a long time.

Millenium Collection is a double CD that features two concerts: the first is from Liverpool in 1976 and the second is from Chicago in 1992.  The Liverpool gig is really good, even the older songs like Warrior are treated well. It's generally superior to Live Dates Volume Two. The Chicago gig is also a great addition. The slightly different arrangements of classic songs like The King Will Come are terrific.

Where do they all belong? There are so many compilations of their work out there but I think The Collection is an excellent introduction to the band. It has a smattering of songs from the first eleven years of the band. 

I don't have any huge desire to add to my Wishbone Ash collection, but if they ever appear in the Little Red Bookshop sale...

What is it about men? (Amy Winehouse) (LP 4748 - 4749)

Amy Winehouse  Frank (CD, Island Records, 2003) ****  

Amy Winehouse  Back to Black (2CD, Island Records, 2006) ****  

Genre: Jazz, RnB, soul, Hip Hop 

Places I remember: Kings Recording (Abu Dhabi)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Back to Black

Gear costume: Tears Dry On Their Own (BTB)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Amy's two studio albums nail her legacy and are both testament to a phenomenal talent. On her debut, Frank, she is in full command of a range of styles. I fully agree with The Times critic who called the album "a staggeringly assured, sit-up-and-listen debut, both commercial and eclectic, accessible and uncompromising".

Second album, Back to Black, creates a lusher/tougher sound that reflects her torrid relationship with her on/off partner, Therefore, it contains themes of guilt, grief, infidelity, heartbreak and trauma. It has more of a pop/soul approach that suits that situation.  

I have the deluxe version of Back to Black - a double CD with 7 studio recordings post Back to Black.

Where do they all belong? She would flame out five years after Back to Black. Poor Amy. What a tragic ending to a short life.

Phoenix (Wishbone Ash) (LP 4953 - 4959)

Wishbone Ash  Wishbone Ash (Vinyl and CD, MCA Records, 1970) *****  

Wishbone Ash  Pilgrimage (Vinyl and CD, MCA Records, 1971) ***** 

Wishbone Ash  Argus (Vinyl and CD, MCA Records, 1972) ***** 

Wishbone Ash  Wishbone Four (Vinyl and CD, MCA Records, 1973) **** 

Wishbone Ash  Live Dates (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1973) **** 

Wishbone Ash  There's the Rub (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1974) *** 

Wishbone Ash  No Smoke Without Fire (Vinyl, MCA Records, 1978) *** 

Genre: Rock, blues rock, prog rock

Places I remember: RCA Music club, Real Groovy Records, The Warehouse

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Queen of Torture (Wishbone Ash)

Gear costume: Vas Dis, Jail Bait (Pilgrimage), Warrior (Argus)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: I spent a lot of the early seventies listening to those first three Wishbone Ash albums, especially Argus. Sounds had rated it the best album of 1972 so I ordered a copy from the RCA Record Club. When it came, I listened to it closely - especially those twin lead guitars. I was hooked.

Looking at my collection of Wishbone Ash albums, I've realised that I didn't stop with those early seventies ones, so I'll divide their work into two posts - the seventies albums and the rest.

The band for these early seventies albums was: Andy Powell - lead guitar; Ted Turner - lead guitar, vocals; Martin Turner - bass, lead vocals; Steve Upton - drums. Each are superb musicians. The criticism about the singing has always seemed churlish to me. I love the combined vocals of the Turners and Powell.

After Argus, my next stop was their debut and then Pilgrimage - both are also five-star classics, no bother! The two songs on side two of the debut launched them as a prog rock beast of a band. These three albums have a definite progressive feel, which I love. 

Argus had a cohesive theme that appeared to concern a pastoral and warring medieval England, and it also had that iconic cover which I used to stare at for an hour while it played. All up Argus was the band at the peak of their powers.

Wishbone Four I did avoid for a while as reviews at the time implied it was a more basic rock album to the first three. That's certainly the impression gained from the cover which is the first to feature the group members.

Gone are the medieval themes and the songs about warriors, kings, swords, pilgrims, and there is no phoenix. Nor are there any lengthy guitar wig outs on Wishbone Four. Instead, the album was harder rocking while still retaining some folk-rock elements. It remains a really good companion to the first three.

Live Dates is a double live album, also from 1973. It's great, in that it concentrates on songs from each of the first four albums. My predilection for Argus and younger material means I enjoy those songs the most. 

It was also the last appearance for Ted Turner, who left the band at this point. For their next studio album, There's The Rub, he was replaced by Laurie Wisefield on guitar.

As well as that change, the album was recorded in America with an American producer Bill Szymczyk who gave the band a smoother, slicker sound. That change in direction meant some of the older fans of the band decided this wasn't for them - I was one of them. 

The brilliant songs of the past just weren't there on There's the Rub. The closest one to them, and the highlight of the album was Persephone - a slowish bluesy song with some beautiful guitar interplay between Powell and Wisefield.

My collection gets rather patchy after There's the Rub, so their final album I have from the seventies is 1978's No Smoke Without Fire, It saw Laurie Wisefield emerge as the principal songwriter.

The problem is that although Laurie is a good guitarist he is an average songwriter and an average singer, so these albums that he dominates are...average. 

Although it starts with a good track, You See Red, the songs lack the inspiration and progressive nature of those first three albums.

 

Where do they all belong? The eighties onwards are next.

Rock & roll people (Johnny Winter) (LP 4950 - 4952)

Johnny Winter  Saints & Sinners (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1974) ***  

Johnny Winter  John Dawson Winter III (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1974) ****  

Johnny Winter  Captured Live (Vinyl, Avan Guard Records, 1976) ***  

Genre: Blues rock 

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records, George Courts music bar, Amoeba Music (Hollywood)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Rock & Roll People (John Dawson Winter III)

Gear costume: Riot in Cell Block #9 (Saints & Sinners), Raised On Rock (JDW III) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: I bought John Dawson Winter III for John Lennon's song Rock & Roll People (John's original turned up on bootlegs and the Menlove Avenue compilation but Johnny Winter's version was the first one released). Anyway, I bought the album and then LOVED it. All those terrific guitars. Lordy Lord!

I backtracked a bit and got a copy of Saints & Sinners as a result and that's also good for its mix of a few original songs with covers of Chuck Berry, The Stones, Leiber & Stoller, Van Morrison, and others. Riot in Cell Block #9 is a hoot, as is the frenetic version of Boney Moroney.

John Dawson Winter III was his seventh studio album and his second of 1974. It seemed to have the theme running through it - self-consciously celebrating rock music. Raised On Rock sums him (and me) up. His guitar playing seems looser to me and the production cleaner. He also sounds like he's having a lot of fun! 

I bought Captured Live for the live version of Rock & People, but then LOVED it! Especially side one's shorter punchier songs (side 2 has two lengthy guitar wig outs), so all up - Johnny delivers live at three Californian venues with his band of brothers.

Where do they all belong? Wishbone Ash is up next.

Ready for love (Mario Winans) (LP 4747)

Mario Winans  Hurt No More (CD, Universal Records, 2004) ***  

Genre: Smoooth RnB, soul, Hip Hop 

Places I remember: Al Ain mall music shop

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Don't Wanna Know

Gear costume: This Is the Thanks I Get

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Mario made two studio albums - this one is his second and last. I came upon it completely by accident.

I was visiting a music store in the Al Ain mall and this CD was playing while I was browsing. It was a perfect fit for the relaxed Al Ain vibe - so I grabbed a copy!

I have played it a few times over the last dozen years (we returned to NZ in 2012). It takes me back to that middle eastern experience with a bunch of great characters as work colleagues - Deano, Colin, John and Barbie. Driving to Al Foah with this music was a treat.

Where do they all belong? A cool reminder of some great times in Al Ain.

Smile (The Peddlers) (LP 4941 - 4946)

The Peddlers  Freewheelers (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1967) * 

The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett  Woman Woman (Vinyl, CBS Records, 1968) *** 

Tomita  Snowflakes Are Dancing (Vinyl, RCA Red Seal Records, 1974) ***

Triumvirat  Illusions On A Double Dimple (Vinyl, Harvest Records, 1974) ****

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Performs the Best Known Works of Rick Wakeman (Vinyl, A&M Records, 1978) ***

Joe Walsh  The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get (Vinyl, ABC Records, 1973) ***

Genre: Jazz, pop, electronica, prog rock, rock.

Places I remember: Brian Smith Collection, The Little Red Bookshop, JB Hi Fi, Vinyl Room, Vinyl Vault Plus

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Midnight Moodies (Joe Walsh)

Gear costume: Days Gone By (Joe Walsh) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: The Peddlers! If there was a band and a sound I hated more when I was growing up, I can't think of it.

Roy Phillips' organ style and his vocals just gave me conniptions as a ten-year-old, but dad (and plenty of other Kiwis) loved this band. I have to say, time has mellowed my impressions a bit, but this is still music that I struggle to connect with. There is still an internal shudder or two as Roy and his trio do their thing.

When he passed away, I threw The Peddlers' albums out, but I have hung onto The Peddlers second album (Freewheelers) from my father-in-law's collection because it is a reminder of my dad's tastes. Someone else can throw it away when my collection outdates me.  

The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett had a hit with Woman Woman in 1968 and the resulting debut album with the same name. I also remember hearing their version of Kentucky Woman and To Love Somebody on the radio in the late sixties. Both are on this album, which generally hangs together well. Gary is the lead vocalist, and he's good on these songs, but I'm not sure why he got a mention in the band's name. He's not that special!

Tomita's second album of electronica is called Snowflakes Are Dancing. Tomita's thing is to record modern versions of classical composers' work. For this one it's his arrangements of Claude Debussy's 'tone paintings', performed on a Moog synthesizer and a Mellotron.

Although I do love Debussy's work, a mooged up interpretation's not really my thing, but I heard an excerpt on a sampler in the seventies and the sound seemed exotic. It stuck with me over the years, so I decided to keep my father-in-law's copy from his collection. 

His tastes are similar to my dad's - The Peddlers, moog hits, Dave Brubeck and other jazz artists. He's younger than my dad so the big band era wasn't for him, as it was for my parents. He went to The Beatles' concert in Dunedin, which my parents never would have done. I'll look after albums like this for him.

German prog rockers, Triumvirat and their third album Spartacus received a four star review from me a while back (here). Illusions on a Double Dimple was their album before Spartacus, released in 1974. The Emerson Lake & Palmer comparisons are valid again, but Triumvirat are definitely plowing their own field.  

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra take on the early Rick Wakeman albums, which happen to be my favourites, and they make a reasonable fist of it. The Little Red Bookshop was late opening up so I wandered into a secondhand furniture store to kill some time. This album was amongst all the Roger Whitaker and Nana Mouskouri albums. A good find for $5.

Actually, I don't tend to like this sort of thing - a classical orchestra doing rock songs is often just wrong, but Rick's work is absolutely suited to this approach (indeed he uses an orchestra when he can afford one). Great to hear these songs given the heft of a big orchestra!

The Joe Walsh album is a difficult one - great cover, great titles but an uneven selection of styles. I used to own a copy back in the seventies but sold it because only Meadows and Rocky Mountain Way fulfilled my idea of what Joe Walsh was about - hard rock riffing. These days I can enjoy the whole album and marvel at the sound created by Barnstorm.

Where do they all belong? Back to the regular countdown for the next post, starting it off with Mario Winans.

Nature's way (Stray) (LP 4936 - 4940)

Stray  Suicide (Vinyl, Transatlantic Records, 1971) ****  

Suzanne  Suzanne (Vinyl, Philips Records, 1971) ***  

The Dillards  Copperfields (Vinyl, Elektra Records, 1970) **** 

The Doobie Brothers  The Doobie Brothers (Vinyl, Warner Bros. Records, 1971) ****

The Hollies  Would You Believe? (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1966) ***

Genre: Rock, prog rock, pop, NZ music

Places I remember: Brian Smith Collection, The Little Red Bookshop, JB Hi Fi, Vinyl Room, Vinyl Vault Plus 

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Nobody (The Doobie Brothers)

Gear costume: Feelin' Down Further (The Doobie Brothers) 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8

Active compensatory factors: Stray were a band of four blokes from London, active in the seventies with a solid emphasis on guitars, with some mellotron on the side. That said, they had quite an original and multi-faceted sound. 

Suicide (dumb title) was their second and it's a great combination of quieter proggy songs and harder edged riff-a-rama hard rock.

Suzanne was the title of Suzanne Lynch's first solo album. The aim was clearly 'all around entertainer' so there are a lot of bases covered on the album - not all to my taste. She is so great as a pop/ rock singer but instead she's given quite a lot of middle-of-the-road material. Whatever the case, Suzanne's distinctive vocals still elevate everything thrown at her. I just wish they'd given her a proper pop/rock band as back up, as they did with Dinah Lee.

The highlights are the pop moments like Yesterday When I was Young and the big belting showband treatment for Goodbye - think Cilla Black (Mary Hopkins still owns the best version of this Paul McCartney song). 

The Dillards' Copperfields album was their fifth. It combines elements of bluegrass, rock, folk and country music to create an Americana album before it was called Americana. They even have a pop at Yesterday (an acapella version). It's very clear that various members of The Eagles were listening closely to those Dillard vocal harmonies. The legacy of many other bands, and people like John Denver, can be traced back to The Dillards as well. Not to mention The Hamilton County Bluegrass Band - one of my favourite bands of all time.

The Doobie Brothers first album came out in 1971 and the sound is right there from the first song on side one - Nobody, onwards. Nobody was released as a single but didn't do much, nor did the album, which is a bit of a mystery. I guess it took folk a while to wake up to the relaxed country rock vibe the band was putting down. 

Tom Johnson and Patrick Simmons have those great harmony vocals locked in already! Crazy that no one was listening in 1971, but then the world eventually caught up.

The Hollies' Would You Believe? was their fourth album, released in 1966. It was released in the US in a variety of other formats, which can drive a collector crazy. These tend to be bastardised versions where B sides and singles are added willy nilly to some tracks from Would You Believe?

Thus: in the US it became either Beat Group! or Bus Stop or I Can't Let Go/Look Through Any Window in Canada. Each with a different track listing. All up, I'll stick with the original UK one - Would You Believe? 

This is a New Zealand pressing and I was happy to pay Vinyl Vault Plus $50 for it, as I've been after a clean copy of it for ages. Musically, it's not a particularly strong set, which is one reason that studio execs decided it needed supplementary hits to sell it. AllMusic selects three highlights -  'the surprisingly tough folk-rockers' Hard, Hard Year and I've Got a Way of My Own, plus 'the ultra-catchy' Don't You Even Care. 

Where do they all belong? One final batch of catch-up albums to go before I get back on track with a return to the W's.