LIVE DATES

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i have always been rather wary of live albums for obvious reasons: poor sound quality, audience intrusion/singalong, over-indulgent solos etc., and i have very few in my collection, but "live dates" is one of the best live albums you will find, in my opinion almost up there with "made in japan", "live at leeds" and "yessongs". the sound quality is spacious, clear and full, the playing is faultless, this mca double lp contains some brilliant solos and has tracks taken from each of their first four albums. the album was recorded during dates at croydon, newcastle, reading and portsmouth during june 1973 on the rolling stones mobile (..now who else used that?? ). side one disc one kicks straight into "the king will come", "warrior" and "throw down the sword" from "argus". on side two i wish they'd included "errors..." and "handy" instead of "rock'n'roll widow" and "ballad of the beacon", but actually these sound better on this live album than the studio versions, so there you go i suppose. this side ends with the blues song "baby what you want me to do" which includes great blues/slide guitar solos. disc two starts with tight versions of "the pilgrim", boogie- style "blowin' free" and "jailbait" (really cookin' now) and side four has great versions of "lady whiskey" and a beautiful 17 minute long version of "phoenix" from the first lp, other than that track no long improvisations, just excellent renditions of some their best songs. excellent addition!

Live Dates is one of those classic live albums of the 70's that any rock fan must have. It is in the same league with the better known Made In Japan (Deep Purple), Yessongs (Yes), Genesis Live (a pity it is not a double album!), Live And Dangerous (Thin Lizzy), Live At Leeds (The Who) , Strangers In The Night (UFO) and very few others. Unlike many of their peers, Wishbone Ash were really better live than in the studio, as this CD shows all the time. Those guys were outstanding musicians and their performances are spotless, beautiful and, believe it or not, extremely well recorded.

My CD is the single disc version, released in the mid-90's by the Beat Goes On label, which were the very first companies to actually do a fine, respectful, remastering of the original tapes. Their work on this album is up to their fame: crystal clear sound, where you can hear everything, even the guitarrist pickin'on the strings of the guitar on the 17 minute epic Phoenix. The single CD holds the entire double LP in 79:48 running time, quite a feat! The double original CD by MCA has only one song on the second disc, another version of Phoenix, not worth the extra money you had to pay for it. At the time I thought this was very unfair to the fans and I still think so. So look for the BGO version.

The set list is great, picking up songs from their first four LPs. If you ever wanted to know a band that is quite progressive and used no keyboards on their sound, then Wishbone Ash is a good exemple (just hear the 9 minute instrumental track Pilgrim to get a glimpse of how good and progressive they really were). Great guitar solos, licks and duels, fine vocal hamonies and a very strong rhythm section (the bass is so well mixed you can hardly believe) Those guys were very influential for the 80's hard and heavy metal bands (like Iron Maiden, among others), but not only. Their melodic sound is very original and have some classical and british folk leanings that add to their obvious rock'n roll and blues influences (they deliver a great cover of the Jimmy Reed's blues classic Baby Waht You Want Me To Do). Andy Powell is a superb guitarrist, and his slide guitar interventions here and there are quite creative and different from most players.

All in all a classic album recorded when Wishbone Ash was at itsr peak. One of the few live albums that captures the band outdoing their already fine studio perfomances. Everything works here. A must have for any rock fan, prog or not. Five stars, no less.

All revews on this album are good, and it isn't strange: WA is rare band, who's almost all concerts and live recordings are better than studio works!

I saw them first time somewhere at the end of 80's in Vilnius Concert and Sports Hall. OK, there was different band and different music, we all waited for their old blues-rock songs, but got instrumental rock show. But even in that situation, their live music was better, than their last instrumental albums.

Absolutely the same situation with Live Dates album ( OK, just from early their history). After few strong studio albums they released disappointed "Wishbone Ash Four" with few strong songs, uninspired musicanship, low quality produced sound and plenty of fillers in album space.

What after? Yes, this live double LP ( which became double CD later -with just one additional bonus (another live Phoenix version)) put everything in it's places! WA can play good music, but they do it live! Even songs from "Wishbone Ash Four"sounds better during concert. I am not speaking about earlier golden period songs!

Plenty of guitar solos, more focused sound, more energy - that is Live Dates! And more prog sound ( in comparence with their new direction, started from "WA Four").

OK, I can't name their music prog-rock, no way, but at list you will get more instrumental beauty there. As for me, I think that if you want to have just one WA album in your collection, this is that one!