• Voto:
Sottovalutati. Il destino di tanti nell'Inghilterra a cavallo tra gli anni '60 e '70. Eppure i Wishbone Ash hanno saputo ritagliarsi un loro spazio, soprattutto con la pubblicazione del loro terzo lavoro, "Argus" (1972). Da molti considerato come l'apice della loro carriera, "Argus" è il lavoro che li ha lanciati internazionalmente, con il quale si sono fatti conoscere e la cui cassa di risonanza ha forse "oscurato" l'album successivo, "Wishbone Four" (1973).
Quarto lavoro in studio che ripropone la caratteristica essenziale degli Ash: quella di aver forgiato un rock iper-chitarristico, essenzialmente basato sugli scambi tra i due axeman, Ted Turner e Andy Powell (anche vocalist). "Wishbone Four" è hard rock classico, debitore ai grandi del genere e a cui i Wishbone Ash pagano forse la "subordinazione" stilistica, anche se rispetto a "ciclopi" come Led Zeppelin e Deep Purple, gli Ash hanno uno stile decisamente più asciutto e meno "barocco", fatta eccezione per il già citato "Argus", che anche da un punto di vista compositivo è probabilmente la loro opera più complessa.
Il disco in questione è un'opera di puro e semplice rock, privo di particolari orpelli e tecnicismi. Si passa dal solido hard rock dell'iniziale "So Many Things To Say" ai ritmi più dilatati di pezzi come "Ballad Of The Beacon", "Sorrel" e della lunga e malinconica "Everybody Needs A Friend". Piglio più frizzante per "No Easy Road" e "Rock 'n' Roll Widow". Un lavoro non del tutto omogeneo, a volte alla ricerca anche di linee melodiche non troppo ricercate, ma che svolge appieno il suo compito.
Si respira l'aria del rock innocente dei seventies, quello meno cervellotico e "impegnato". Buona musica, bravi musicisti. 40 minuti di riappacificazione con il passato.
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)
Elenco tracce testi e 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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