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Eccomi di nuovo per parlare di una band di cui non trovo traccia alcuna nel sito... nei primi anni settanta gli Wishbone Ash furono l'unico gruppo hard rock che riuscì a sposare bene il suono delle due chitarre elettriche diventando per l'appunto un autentico marchio di fabbrica.
L'insieme ruota attorno alla figure dei due eccellenti chitarristi, Andy Powell e Ted Turner, e cosa strana rinunciano alla tastiera, elemento a quel tempo fondamentale sia in chiave hard che prog. Fino ad allora l'unico tentativo di avere due solisti era stato tentato qualche anno prima dagli Yardbirds di Jimmy Page e Jeff Beck ed era fallito miseramente. Agli Wishbone Ash la cosa riesce molto meglio, giocano e si muovono su un telaio hard dove inseriscono parecchi riferimenti folk, country e progressivi.
Dopo il debutto omonimo (1970) e "Pilgrimage" (1971) esce "Argus" (1972), disco considerato all'unanimità quale loro migliore.
I brani del disco sono corposi ed equilibrati, un hard diretto e raffinato dove fanno bella presenza magnifiche punte solistiche di tecnica sopraffina e molte situazioni che ritroveremo nel prog-metal di qualche anno a venire. Le sette canzoni sono tutte meritevoli di nota, ma quelle che spiccano maggiormente a mio parere sono l'opener Time Was, traccia acustica che sfocia in un hard graffiante sostenuto da splendide chitarre. Altri picchi sono Blowin Free e Warrior, che diventeranno cavalli di battaglia negli anni a seguire, e la monumentale The King Will Come, capolavoro immenso di hard melodico con le due chitarre soliste che evocano atmosfere epiche.
In conclusione aggiungo che alcune coppie storiche di chitarristi tra cui il duo degli Iron Maiden (Smith-Murray), e Judas Priest (Downing-Tipton), non hanno mai negato di rifarsi alle evoluzioni e agli stili di Powell e Turner, estrapolandone gli aspetti più significativi.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Time Was (09:48)
I've got to rearrange my life,
I've got to rearrange my world.
I miss you, I need you.
I've got to keep my memories aside,
I've got to try to live again.
Time was when there were things around
To be afraid of.
I've got cause, I've even changed my mind
To turn the tables.
Time was when there was no need to stop
And rearrange it.
Now I've got a memory
And I don't want to change it.
And there's a time for waking up
And feeling down,
It's when you have to pick your feet
Up from the ground.
Time was when I had you around -
I was a strong man.
I need you to help make the change
And be a new man.
Takes more than a day and a night
For giving.
It's not so easy just to change your way
Of living.
Time was when there were things around
To bother me.
The crime was, I couldn't start
To change my history.
02 Sometime World (06:59)
I met a man who felt the same way,
That the world had passed him by.
Told to me all his troubles,
That the world had made him cry.
Life had kept him waiting,
Regretting his pain inside.
Had to feel underrated,
And hated, besides.
Life had kept him waiting,
Regretting his shame inside.
Had to feel underrated,
And hated, besides.
Sometime world, pass me by again,
Carry you, carry me, away.
(Repeat twice)
03 Blowin' Free (05:23)
I thought I had a girl
I know, because I seen her.
Her hair was golden brown
Blowin' free like a cornfield.
She was far away
I found it hard to reach her.
She told me "You can try"
But it's impossible to find her.
In my dreams everything was alright.
In your schemes you can only try.
I thought I had a girl
I know, because I seen her.
Her hair was golden brown
Blowin' free like a cornfield.
04 The King Will Come (07:12)
In the fire, the king will come.
Thunder rolls, piper and drum.
Evil sons, overrun,
Count their sins - judgment comes.
The checkerboard of nights and days -
Man will die, man be saved.
The sky will fall, the earth will pray,
When judgment comes to claim its day.
See the word of the prophet
On a stone in his hand.
Poison pen revelation,
Or just a sign in the sand?
The checkerboard of nights and days -
Man will die, man be saved.
The sky will fall, the earth will pray,
When judgment comes to claim its day.
See the word of the prophet
On a stone in his hand.
Poison pen revelation,
Or just a sign in the sand?
05 Leaf and Stream (03:57)
Find myself beside a stream of empty thought,
Like a leaf that's fallen to the ground,
And carried by the flow of water to my dreams
Woken only by your sound.
(Repeat)
Alone I've walked this path for many years,
Listened to the wind that calls my name.
The weeping trees of yesterday look so sad,
Await your breath of spring again.
Far beyond the hills,
Where earth and sky will meet again,
Are shadows like an opening hand.
Control the secrets
That I've yet to find, and wonder at
The light in which they stand.
(Repeat)
06 Warrior (06:03)
I'm leaving to search for something new,
Leaving everything I ever knew.
A hundred years in the sunshine
Hasn't taught me all there is to know.
In the valley, we will gather there,
Helpless in our surrender.
Tomorrow the plow becomes the sword -
Make us stronger in our danger.
Time will pass away,
Time will guard our secret.
I'll return again
To fight another day.
I'd have to be a warrior -
A slave I couldn't be -
A soldier and a conqueror,
Fighting to be free.
(Repeat three times)
07 Throw Down the Sword (05:51)
Throw down the sword,
The fight is done and over,
Neither lost, neither won.
To cast away the fury of the battle
And turn my weary eyes for home.
There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only hoping for an answer.
Throw down the sword,
And leave the glory -
A story time can never change.
To walk the road, the load I have to carry -
A journey's end, a wounded soul.
There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only searching for an answer.
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