WISHBONE ASH - S/T: A Multi-Genre Rock Dynasty Begins
This album represents the birth of a classic rockdynasty, one constructed from a pioneering, influential use of dual-guitararrangements in rock and a sound that offers its own exploratory yet accessiblebrew of hard rock, blues, folk, prog and perhaps a dash of psych.
The first side offers the most easily accessiblematerial: it's dominated by four-on-the-floor rockers like "BlindEye" and "Lady Whiskey" that temper their heaviness witharrangements that weave in little progressive bridges that show off the fluid,melodic quality of their focus on harmonized guitar leads. The rock is offseton this side by "Errors Of My Ways," an electrified folk piece with agroup vocal and unique bridges that shift into waltz-like rhythms caressed bymore of that elegant dual-guitar work.
The second side goes full "underground FM" onthe listener with two epics. The first is "Handy" and weaves togethera number of elements together into a fun little eclectic journey: quick bassand drum solos, a pastoral jam, an uptempo heavy-rock passage and a fun jazzcloser with vocals. The album finale is "Phoenix," a permanentfixture in the group's live set that uses the death-and-resurrection theme ofthe titular creature as the basis for a tension-and-release epic that startsoff in a mellow-psych mode and gently swells with electrified guitars to a fast-boogiefinale that hits like a panzer attack.
The resulting album is a cohesive statement of who the band was at the outset of their long and winding journey through rock history: capable of a variety of moods and compositional lengths while placing a value on musicianship and tightness of group chemistry. It's also a beautiful reminder of a time when anything was possible in the commercial rock marketplace and bands were willing to cruise through the contours of all that beautiful freedom.