Wishbone Ash/At the BBC 1970-1988

What does it sound like?:

An 11 CD Wishbone Ash retrospective from 18 years of live performances and sessions at the BBC, you say?

Plus a DVD of OGWT footage from 1971; ’77 and ’80, including outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage?

AND a 72-page hardback book with rare photos, interviews and session documentation?

Flippin’ heck, I say; let me at it.

Those lovely people at Madfish have spent four years putting this together with help from band-members and fans alike and the first thing to say is that I can’t believe that all of this material was still available, given the Beeb’s reputation for re-using their tape stocks. Yet, here we are.

The line-up of the band obviously changed quite a bit during its first 18 years; so we go from the classic line-up of Andy Powell, Ted Turner, Steve Upton and Martin Turner in 1970 through to 1988 when the line-up is, er, exactly the same – except Martin had left for 7 years and come back; and Ted had been gone for 13 years and returned.

In those intervening years, Laurie Wisefield and Jamie Crompton had occupied Ted’s spot while John Wetton, Trevor Bolder, Mervyn Spence and Andy Pyle had kept Martin’s seat warm, as it were.

For an old head like me, part of the fascination here is listening to the different line-ups and how they play the same songs as their predecessors; how the dynamic changes between the guitarists, for instance, and how Steve Upton’s drums glue everything together; he is the most underrated of British drummers from the ‘70’s; jazzy and free-flowing while at the same time powerfully driving the band, hard; a master technician.

Obviously, there are a lot of versions of the same songs; six versions of Phoenix, their epic from the first album; ranging from 12 minutes to nearly 20. Eleven versions of Jail Bait, (4 of them are retakes on the DVD of a 1971 OGWT recording,) ten versions of Blowin’ Free, etc.

However, there is plenty of variety here too. There is a full version of Time Was, from Argus, a rarely-played live song which is just fantastic. There is also a brilliant version of that song’s partner, Sometime World, an even rarer live track which captures the very end of the Mk.1 line-up, before Ted disappeared to America and broke my 17 year-old heart.

As with any 18-year span of a band, some of the material varies in quality and there will be a few of the 109 tracks you might play only once but fear not; there are some unexpected gems here too. A 1977 Glasgow Apollo recording of Come in From the Rain is just terrific with Laurie Wisefield demonstrating that he was more than a match for Andy Powell’s virtuoso playing. In fact that gig, (Glasgow was always a favourite with the band,) is an excellent example of just how good the Mk.2 version of the band was.

Disc 11 is a 1988 gig at Hammy Odeon with the reformed Mk.1 line-up and, when they strike up the old material, the band really cooks. The source material is impeccable, (I’ll quote Colin Harper of this parish who writes on the Super Deluxe website;

“There seems to be anguish on some other forums because the Madfish PR blurb for this set hasn’t specified what the audio sources are. If anyone’s losing sleep over this, be assured that 9 of the 14 1971-72 studio session tracks are from transcription discs and everything from CD2-CD11 is from master sources (tape or transcription disc or a combination of both, as some concerts were sold abroad with X tracks but broadcast in the UK with Y tracks: this box combines everything related to each concert). The only off-airs are the CD1 tracks 1-5 and 9-11, none of which (to my knowledge) were previously circulating. I haven’t heard Pete Reynolds mastering of the set yet, but it’s usually fine – and he had very good sonic material to work with.”

I only had downloads of the 11 CDs to review so cannot attest to the quality of the DVD, the book or the overall package. However, if they are anywhere near as good as the previous stuff from Madfish and SDE, they’ll be superb.

I won’t pretend this will be everyone’s cuppa char and, at £155, it is unlikely to attract any new listeners to one of Britain’s best and most enduring bands. However, for old fan-club members and completists like me, it is not only essential but abso-bloody-lutely obligatory.

What does it all *mean*?

What a shit-hot live band WA was, and continues to be.

Goes well with…

Any of their previous box-sets

Release Date:

28th March 2025

Might suit people who like…

Twin guitars.

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