WISHBONE ASH

Wishbone Ash's debut is an often underrated gem of early progressive rock. I consider it to be one of the best WA album, only slightly inferior to the band's finest "Argus" from 1972. This was extraordinary music when it was produced, especially the two long tracks on side two. They are very progressive. Remember this was 1970. The piece "Handy" goes through a mixture of styles including a kind of psychedelic jazz in its middle with some interesting guitar structures. And "Phoenix" is very ahead of its time. On the first half of the album there's quite a mixtue. The opening "Blind Eye" is stomping boogie with a cool stop-start structure, but it gets even better with "Lady Whiskey". Excellent heavy guitar and bass in this piece. "And with "Errors Of My Ways" the band incorporates their well known folk sound into the music. This is one of the best things about Wishbone Ash on their first five albums in particular. The vocal harmonies are just fantastic, haunting and emotional. This is actually my favourite piece of all. And on this track we're also presented with their unique twin harmonizing lead guitars. The riff here is just, wow! One more thing that is remarkable about this debut, was that the band members were only 19 or 20 years of age at the time and had only being playing together for around a year. It's hard to believe that when listening to the quality in thier playing. Four and a half stars.