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Rating:
Underrated. The fate of many in England between the '60s and '70s. Yet Wishbone Ash managed to carve out a space for themselves, especially with the release of their third work, "Argus" (1972). Considered by many as the pinnacle of their career, "Argus" is the work that launched them internationally, making them known and whose resonance perhaps "overshadowed" the following album, "Wishbone Four" (1973).
Fourth studio work that reiterates the essential characteristic of the Ash: that of having forged a hyper-guitar rock, essentially based on the exchanges between the two axemen, Ted Turner and Andy Powell (also vocalist). "Wishbone Four" is classic hard rock, indebted to the greats of the genre and to whom Wishbone Ash perhaps pay a "stylistic" subordination, although compared to "giants" like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, the Ash have a decidedly drier and less "baroque" style, with the exception of the already mentioned "Argus," which also from a compositional point of view is probably their most complex work.
The album in question is a work of pure and simple rock, devoid of particular frills and technicalities. It ranges from the solid hard rock of the opening "So Many Things To Say" to the more relaxed rhythms of tracks like "Ballad Of The Beacon", "Sorrel", and the long and melancholic "Everybody Needs A Friend". More lively flair for "No Easy Road" and "Rock 'n' Roll Widow". A work not entirely homogeneous, sometimes also in search of not too sophisticated melodic lines, but that fully fulfills its task.
You can feel the breeze of the innocent rock of the seventies, the less cerebral and "committed" one. Good music, good musicians. 40 minutes of reconciliation with the past.
1. "So Many Things To Say" (5:04)
2. "Ballad Of The Beacon" (5:05)
3. "No Easy Road" (3:48)
4. "Everybody Needs A Friend" (8:23)
5. "Doctor" (5:53)
6. "Sorrel" (5:02)
7. "Sing Out The Song" (4:24)
8. "Rock 'n' Roll Widow" (5:50)
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 Ballad of the Beacon (05:04)
We'll be leaving this town in the morning
Tomorrow we'll be able to see
I've seen enough of the city
And she's had enough out of me
Say if I climbed to the mountains
Would you still follow me there
Steal me away in an echo
The mountains will always be there
I'm turning my sights on the country
I've sold everything that I own
I'm heading away from the bright lights
Looking for where the wind blows
Say if I climbed to the mountains
Would you still follow me there
Steal me away in an echo
The mountains will always be there
03 No Easy Road (03:47)
Rock 'n roll keeps dragging me
Where I don't know and you can't see
Cities keep rolling by and by
Twist my arm and sting my eye
Watch me join the circus
Watch me steal the show
There ain't no easy money
There ain't no easy road
Buy me, pay me, wonder why we
Stumble across the land
Don't fail for me, I can't fail for you
We start to understand
04 Everybody Needs a Friend (08:24)
Trust in me, I'll try to do
Everything to help you that I can
Broken wings can heal and mend again
Don't be afraid to cry your tears out loud
Everybody needs to have a friend
It's only love that I can give
And I give to you the only love I have
When I see you're IN MYSERY
It makes me want to try and understand
Everybody needs a helping hand
If everything should turn around
And it's me who feels so down and out
You could be the kind of company
To share a load and know how bad it feels
Everybody needs to have a friend
05 Doctor (05:53)
Doctor can you help me please
I'm laying on the floor
I need a glass of something
Like you gave me once before
I'll send my little messenger
He'll bring the money to you
He'll slowly make his way back home
There'll be no horror show today my friends
And me we'll be up and get away
If I fill your every need
You won't feel so empty
In my web I'll bet your life
You're dead before you're thirty
Doctor can you help me please
I trust you like my mum
I know that you won't stop me turning
All the whole world on
You know that I'll always come to you
When everything goes wrong
You pick me up, don't let me go down
To the horror show today my friend's
And me we'll be up and get away
06 Sorrel (05:03)
In a garden of the southland
He found her wandering astray
She came to show him of her beauty
That many passersby don't see
Would you be taking in
Such frail-looking lady
The sadness of her lone display
Dressed in yellow fire burning
The corner dweller on the lane
Sorrow was her only feeling
For she could have no living shame
Take good care of time
To sow your own true seed
The summers end will bring your leaving
Then he journeyed for a long ways
She was never in his mind
Came he home to just a memory
For the lady she had died
Take good care of time
To sow your own true seed
The summers end will bring your leaving
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