NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

No Smoke Without Fire is one of the better Wishbone Ash albums in my opinion. I actually like this about as much as I like the albums that are usually considered to be Wishbone Ash's best, namely the three first ones and There's The Rub. This album rocks, it has very strong melodies and superb guitar work. There are no epic compositions here like Phoenix or Persephone, but the album is more consistent as a whole. Overall, the sound somehow reminds me of Dire Straits! Only a lot better, and harder rocking. The Dire Straits similarity is especially apparent on the song Anger In Harmony, the intro sounds exactly like that band.

The progressive leanings are basically concentrated to the last two tracks which go together as one (here it is apparantly listed as one long track but on my album it is divided into parts 1 and 2). It is a great song, but hardly a prog epic.

A very good melodic hard rock album with some slight progressive touches.