ILLUMINATIONS

Wishbone Ash

Prog Related

3.69 | 78 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

BigDaddyAEL1964

Technically, Wishbone Ash were over with Strange Affair (no pun intended). They are Andy Powell Band now, he just holds the rights of the Wishbone Ash brand, and he uses it.

Let's see what he did on this one, track-by-track:

Mountainside: Well, what do we got here! A very promising start for a WA album, after so long! Enjoyable song, close to the WA roots, could this be a sign for things to come?

On Your Own: Riff and groove that reminds me of Time Was from the masterpiece Argus, a good song in general, and again close to the roots. Keep it up Andy!

Top Of The World: Soft rock, could be a Cars song or something. Some nice ideas here and there, but not a special song overall. It's also too long, 6:36 for a radio friendly ballad?

No Joke: Old fashion WA once more! I'm more excited about the aesthetics than the actual quality of the song, but the aesthetics add quality, 'cause these were the aesthetics that marked the greatest period of the WA discography. It takes me back to the 70s, so I like it!

Tales Of The Wise: A ballad for the first 3:25, a jazz rocker 'till 5:25, a peaceful blues workout 'till 7:55, and then it gains a bit of tempo due to the jazzy bass line and expands for a a couple of minutes more, with splendid guitar work. A very - very good composition, worthy of multiple listening, as you discover more stuff every time. Bravo!

Another Time: Gentle song, radio-friendly, with acoustic guitar parts... Huh? Where did those sudden prog-ish bridges came form? That's rather interesting! Special song as a structure, be sure you give it a a listen!

A Thousand Years: Yet another old fashion song, not significant but with a nice feeling.

The Ring: A nice acoustic guitar riff and a pleasant composition overall. I'd really like to listen to it in a hard rock version.

Comfort Zone: Nice grooving song, nothing special though.

Mystery Man: In the AOR spectrum, with very nice bass and some tasty guitar work. The most "radio hit" song of the album.

Wait Out The Storm: A just OK mainstream rocker with nothing significant.

The Crack Of Dawn: The bonus track of the album, an elegant instrumental that sounds like it came from Pilgrimage. Extra nostalgia for fans of the 70s WA like me. So nice!

RATING: Andy Powell Band or not, this is the best WA album in a LONG time! Solid 3,5 stars, very close to Front Page News, better than Just Testing. If you look at the ratings here in ProgArchives you 'll thing it's one of the best albums they ever did, but I strongly believe people overrates this because it was the first quality album they did in many years. If you listen to it straight after the first five albums it's not THAT great, don't overreact guys!

BigDaddyAEL1964 | 3/5 | 2016-10-11

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