I was talking to Gordon from Heavy Pettin’ just the other day about Argus the Wishbone Ash album that introduced us to this particularly English Rock band and the twin guitars it featured that bands like Thin Lizzy adopted and made their own. From that 1972 Martin Birch produced album only guitarist Andy Powell remains and it’s his guitar that still manages to send the odd shiver down your spine.
We start with a hypnotic riff and a folky vocal of ‘We Stand as One’ before the title track kicks in – it’s a song that is wispier and almost folky in essence but shot with that wonderful guitar sound that is instantly recognisable.
26 studio albums and 51 years in there’s still a wonder to this band and even though fashions have changed considerably in those years and the world has become a colder place it’s interesting to think of kids listening to tracks like the beautifully picked ‘Empty Man’ and wondering where a song like that will lead them? It’s a beautiful track with a lovely refrain, a biting lyric and a gentle soothing countenance.
And it’s that Progressive, Folk-infused Rock that makes this one a little different from recent Bluesier offerings. Sure its gentler on the ear than most I listen to but for me that’s why I’m so taken by it, it sounds like what you imagine Wishbone Ash sound like.
Try tracks like the graceful, slowly unwinding ‘It’s Only You I See’ which may well be the best here; the celebration of the fist 50 years which is ‘Back In The Day’ or the wonderful closer ‘Personal Halloween’ which starts as a crawling Blues with a keyboard bouncing groove before bringing horns into the mix. It’s all very pleasingly cool.
Nice and laid back as we enter the second half of Ash’s Century…
