Re-post thoughts from earlier in this thread, now fitting better into the context I was lucky to find the LP in the very early 80's (via import mail-order and not exactly a bargain, IIRC) shortly after I got hopelessly hooked on Wishbone. The sound quality is really excellent, the cover is made of nice, thick cardboard, the artwork may not be mind-boggling but is rather decent with nice band member pix (IMHO), and the thing contains otherwise hard-to-find tracks: IIRC, it was drummer Steve Upton who once (in 1979 or 1980) was asked why the album was not available worldwide. He replied something to the effect it was released via an exclusive deal with Universal/MCA Japan to document their 1978 Japan tour (where they were indeed pretty popular). He added though that the band were planning a regular live album anyway (which would indeed be "Live Dates Vol. II") and that that album would contain all the tracks from the Tokyo album, anyway. That though turned out not true: 1) "You See Red" (with its great Andy solo) remained exclusive to this Japanese album; 2) "Blowin Free" didn't make it to LD II either, though a Feb. 1980 UK live version was released seperately as a single A-side in May 1980; 3) the Tokyo "Jail Bait" was re-used for the flip side of their early 1980 single "Living Proof". A good album though of course too short. Wish someone would dig real deep and unearthed the reels for the two entire shows that the album was made of. The band did "Errors of my Ways" on their 1978 tours with Laurie strangely taking over Andy's solo.... Refer to the version on the "Distillation" box set. Wishbone ahoy! Thmas
It seems the recording live albums in Japan for the Japanese market was pretty common in the mid/late 70's. Santana Lotus was released this way & it took years for it to be available elsewhere (brilliant album by the way) I also recall both Cheap Tricks & Bob Dylan Live At Budokan albums were originally going to be Japan only releases. Deep Purple were pushed into recording Made In Japan by their Japanese label & weren't really interested in releasing it elsewhere The success of the tour, resultant press coverage & pressure from fans lead them to releasing it worldwide. A good move for everyone all round in the end.
Live In Tokyo was a nice album and I was glad when I found a copy but I always wished it was longer and had the complete show. The MK II line up sounds good live. I believe I also have a copy of the bootleg In America And Over Japan. The live version of You See Red was also good to have as it did not appear in a live version on Live Dates 2.
I've never owned Live In Tokyo but I did have a low quality download for a while. Great performance and great sound but way too short. I could never justify buying this as I had live versions of FUBB & Way Of The World on Live Dates II and the other 3 tracks are on the BBC 1978 concert. For me live is where Ash mkII are at their best. Whilst some groups struggle to reproduce their studio material on stage, Wishbone Ash strip the song back to the basics (no banjo's, keyboards or backing singers) turn the guitars up to 11 and sound like they are having a great time. It would be great if the complete shows were included in the new box set - but I would settle for just 1 complete show or a compilation of the best of both nights. I'm hoping we get a good spread of live meterial in this box , especially for tours that are not that well documented. Did they mix up the setlist at all when they toured or was it pretty much the same set for the tour ? If I had to give this one a score it would be 8 - points being docked for being too short
I finally got to hear Live In Tokyo all the way through on a decent system. I was thinking about giving it an 8 (like slipkid & rpc_2_uk docking a point or so for being too short) but the sound is so great the performace is so great it really is a must have. It's available on line but the price is 2 to 3 times what I'd pay. After docking a point I give it a score of 9 out 0f 10
The LP was probably the first "audiophile" record I ever bought. It was for sale in a high-end hi-fi store and it was a must-buy once I heard it, even though it was considerably higher in price than I was used to. The recording and pressing were superb. I tried to get the SHM-CD a year or so ago, but CD-Japan had sold out and I cannot be bothered with the inflated prices on the second-hand market. I make-do with a needle-drop recording, but I know I should try and upgrade to the CD. I might check out the other release if the difference is modest and someone has liberated it. I played both 'Live In Tokyo' and 'Live Dates Volume Two' over the weekend, and the former excels, which may be a surprise to all those who regard the latter very highly. A long time ago I put a message up on a Wishbone Ash related forum, and wondered why this release was only officially available in Japan. I cannot remember the exact response, but the chances of seeing it elsewhere in the world were not favourable. That may also prevent any inclusion in the proposed mega-boxed-set.
Live album scores; Live Dates - 9 Live 'Ep' - 10. ( as long as some contemporaneous albums so not taking any off for shortness) Live in Tokyo - 10 ( excellent performances, not taking anything off for shortness)
We could possibly debate silverhead's rating as he has failed to rate Argus with a 10/10. Slipkid will need to issue him some stern words ! I'm afraid familiarity breeds contempt.Sorry
He gave Four a 9 too, so I will let it go. Speaking of Japan recordings, the bass player in this one is quite excellent:
I'm currently listening to asome live Wishbone Ash that I picked up by cahnce a little while back whilst surfin the net. Supposedly 25th October 1878 BBC Rock Hour Hammersmith Odeon. It appears to be a recording discussed a little while back. It's brilliant in every way, beautifully seperared guitar & vocals & goes a bit of the way to solve the too short issue with Live In Tokyo. I love the contrast of hearing MKII WA playing the MKI material & the later material displayed the way it should have been done in the studio. I can not believe that this materail has not been released for general consumption. Some very fine music was left unheard in that 1977-184 era when guitars were supposed to be Tut Tut. The copy I have however is on 192 bit rate. I've tried to find a better version with no luck. Could anybody please point me in the right direction. FLAC would be excellent.
I'm assuming they were originally released on wax cylinders due to their age! . Would be very interested to hear them.
Whats a 100 years between friends. These live albums are brilliant. I can see what all the fuss is about.
Agreed.The hammersmith odeon show is great quality and performance even with you tube sound quality.Tokyo ain't too bad either.Just a sidenote,looking through Martin Turners tour date page I noted that on 2/2/1974 he states that the support act was no less that Bruce Springsteen.The Allen Theatre,Cleveland,Ohio.Now Martin has no other dates/venues/support verified on that early 1974 u.s. tour according to his list so.i assume the fact that Springsteen supported on that date stuck in his mind or he has verification about the support that date.I wonder if Bruce was support on all their u.s. dates at the beginning of 1974?.Can anybody shed any light on this.
According to Brucebase (Brucebase - 1974 ยป) the show on 1 February 1974 was the Ash / Bruce bill : 1974-02-01 - ALLEN THEATRE, CLEVELAND, OH SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT (4:49) / DOES THIS BUS STOP AT 82ND STREET? (3:34) / WALKING THE DOG (8:01) / ZERO AND BLIND TERRY (6:29) / BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (8:05) / KITTY'S BACK (8:45) / THUNDERCRACK (12:18) / ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) - SHOTGUN (11:03) One show, double bill, with Springsteen and band opening for headliner Wishbone Ash. The above-mentioned eight-song setlist is from a circulating audience recording of fair-good quality and represents Springsteen complete 65-minute performance as the evening's undercard. "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" incorporates the Junior Walker "Shotgun" segment. An announcer can be heard announcing Wishbone Ash by name, positively linking the audio to this show.
Cheers for the quick reply.One date only.That's a new one on me,a support act for only one date.I wonder how that came about?.I also wonder who the support act was for the rest of the dates and why bruce got shoehorned into that date.
Looking down the Brucebase listings there were one off (ot two 0ff) supports throughout his tourin early 1974. So, one would assume just random match ups by the promoters.
It's time for me to get back into the swing of things here so I will do it in abbreviated fashion. "Front Page News": While playing this one for the first time in a long while, I found that even the tracks I was just sort of OK with were much more enjoyable this time around. "Midnight Dancer", "Heart Beat" and "The Day I Found Your Love" all sounded better to me than I remembered them being. "FPN"and "Come In From the Rain" are still standout songs and "Surface to Air" remains one of my favorite WA tracks. "714" is one of WA's oddball numbers but I've always loved it. The other thing that struck me this time was how really good the singing was on this record. Martin's vocals are consistently excellent and the harmonies are just right. Maybe it's the laid back nature of most of the songs, not forcing anyone to sing beyond their comfortable range but they sound great here. Before this re-listen, I would have given it a 5 or 6 but now I have to go 8. "No Smoke Without Fire": For me, this album starts off and finishes very strongly but the middle lags a bit. "You See Red" is a Wishbone standard in my book and "Baby the Angels are Here" is a terrific tune that doesn't get the credit it deserves. The next four songs are decent but no great shakes to my ears. I like "Ships in the Sky" and 'Stand & Deliver" better than the two that follow them but none of the four knock my socks off. Then we come to "The Way of the World, Parts 1 & 2. This song has everything a Wishbone Ash fan could ever want: a great riff to build from, the slow burn melodic guitar lines in part 1, the uptempo workout in part 2, strong vocals, etc. Laurie outdid himself in writing this classic. Again, the vocals on this one are very good. Because of the middle portion of the album being a slight letdown to me, this one gets a 6.5.
Agree. I think the great strength of TWOTW is the simplicity of the songwriting with respect to its vocal parts. The 'Keep the wheels turning' (from part 1) and 'Stormy weather' (from part 2) elements of the song are both short and straightforward and have a nice simple structure and melody. This means that the intricate and varied guitar work really 'does the talking' on this track. The vocal sections are there just to set the scene (part 1) and provide a bit of contrast (part 2). They don't get in the way, so the guitars shine through. A superbly judged song and a massive credit to Laurie Wisefield.
I reckon that of all the original studio albums that I've revisited as a result of this thread, 'Front Page News' has been the most pleasant surprise. I probably hadn't played the album since the early 1980s and sold my vinyl copy (along with my entire vinyl collection) back in 2004. During the intervening years I suppose I had mentally pigeonholed 'Front Page News' as a mediocre, slick, insubstantial, easy-listening collection of songs, not really worthy of revisiting or re-evaluating. To be honest, I think about half the tracks on FPN still broadly fit that description. However, there are five or six songs on the album that I really enjoy: Front page news, Midnight dancer, Surface to air, Come in from the rain and Diamond Jack are all strong compositions with memorable tunes, good vocals and really pleasing, accomplished production. It will always be an album that I have to 'cherry pick' from, but any album with this number of good tracks is a real contender and I shall no longer dismiss it as an 'also ran' in the WA back catalogue!
Well gentlemen, you know when various things are seared in your mind never to be forgotten, like you getting married,your first born,your first hearing of "Locked In".Well,after bob j and milco revisited front page after many years, I took the plunge and after pouring three fingers of Makers Mark I set out to listen to "Locked In" for the first time in forty years. 1/ Rest in peace=pleasant enough start.2/Water in the well=Nondescript.3/Moonshine=Oh dear.4/She was my best friend=Good god, how could Martin Turner write this garbage and think it was good enough to record.That track should have been used against captured Al Qaeda prisoners in Gitmo instead of Megadeth tracks because I would confess to anything rather than hear "She was my best friend" ever again. I'm afraid gentlemen I punched out after that track as I have not got very long left on this earth and I do not want to waste a minute more listening to this garbage."Locked in the vaults and never to see the light of day" would have been a better title. Time to slam on Fubb/Way of the world to get back to Ash reality. P.S.can someone tell me if there is a worse track than "She was my best friend"on the later tracks?.If there is I would be both astonished and pleased that I did not get to it. P.P.S. the makers mark did not dull the pain.
As I'm one of the few who gives "Locked In" a more favorable rating than most people here, I also admit that there's much not to like on the album. At least you tried.
Hey guys we haven't got to the 80's yet. You remember the 80's don't you. when guitars were out synths were in, really daggy clothing, big hair, synth drums, drum machines, synth bass & don't forget those special production effects. This is uncharted WA waters for me but I'm sure there are some suprises coming up. There must be some reason why I didn't listen to those albums in the first place. The 80's were so great that Neil Young didn't release a half decent album for the entire decade although currently he seems to be having a second go at releasing a string of stinkers
Yes, Just like Beck, Bogert, and Appice Live in Japan, this Wishbone Ash in Tokyo album separates the real record collectors from the average listener, or average record buyer. Yes it's a prestige item for a rock collection. Recorded and mixed wonderfully and cut nice and hot it screams "audiophile" record from the first seconds of sound. Live in Japan albums were all the rage, as Priest was unleashed in Japan right around this time as well. I'd keep looking for this to appear as a 24/96kHz flac file out there for download from a stone mint copy of the Japan original, it's likely I can tell you that. 10/10
There are some interesting things from the 80's Wishbone Ash catalog. I'm looking forward to hearing everybody's opinions as we go.
Yes I'm looking forward for what's around the corner. Once we get past Just Testing I'm moving into uncharted waters. Wishbone Ash & I seemed to part company at the same time as Martin.
