Sometime World: An MCA Travelogue [Original recording remastered]

Many Wishbone Ash fans will feel they've had to wait the guts of 30 years for a half-decent CD remaster of their favourite British band's huge back-catalogue. Well at last - it's here - and "...MCA Travelogue" is a humdinger, it really is.

"Sometime World" takes its name from the 2nd track on Side 1 of their most beloved album "Argus" and features newly remastered songs from 12 LPs - 26 tracks across two fully-featured CDs. Proceedings open with their rare 1970 debut album "Wishbone Ash" and carry on right through to 1981's "Number The Brave" - the only LP exclusion being any tracks from 1980's "Live Dates Volume 2".

Released Monday 31 May 2010 on Island/Universal 5326131, "Sometime World - An MCA Travelogue" breaks down as follows (full album versions used)...

Disc 1 (79:55 minutes):
1. Blind Eye
2. Error Of My Ways
3. Phoenix
4. Vas Dis
5. The Pilgrim
6. Jail Bait
7. Sometime World
8. Blowin' Free
9. Warrior
10. Throw Down The Sword
11. Everybody Needs A Friend
12. The King Will Come [Live]

1 to 3 from "Wishbone Ash", December 1970 UK LP on MCA Records MKPS 2014
4 to 6 from "Pilgrimage", September 1971 UK LP on MCA Records MDKS 8004
7 to 10 from "Argus", April 1972 UK LP on MCA Records MDKS 8006
11 from "Wishbone Four", December 1973 UK LP on MCA Records MDKS 8011
12 from "Live Dates", December 1973 UK 2LP Live Set on MCA Records ULD 1-2

Disc 2 (79:06 minutes):
1. Persephone
2. F.U.B.B.
3. Moonshine
4. Mother Of Pearl
5. Lorelei
6. Front Page News
7. Goodbye Baby Hello Friend
8. Come In From The Rain
9. You See Red
10. The Way Of The World (Parts 1 & 2)
11. Living Proof
12. Lifeline
13. That's That
14. Open Road

1 and 2 from "There's The Rub", November 1974 UK LP on MCA Records MCF 2585
3 from "Locked In". March 1976 UK LP on MCA Records MCF 2750
4 and 5 from "New England", November 1976 UK LP on MCA Records MCG 3523
6 to 8 from "Front Page News", October 1977 UK LP on MCA Records MCG 3524
9 and 10 from "No Smoke Without Fire", October 1978 UK LP on MCA Records MCG 3528
11 and 12 from "Just Testing", January 1980 UK LP on MCA Records MCF 3052
13 and 14 from "Number The Brave", April 1981 UK LP on MCA Records MCF 3013

The 16-page booklet features an album-by-album appraisal by DAVE LING of "Classic Rock" and "Metal Hammer" magazines, various line-up photos and a pictorial discography of the albums featured. And the release has clearly been made with band involvement (40th anniversary). But the big news is the sound...

Remastered by ANDY PEARCE, the sound is stupendous - at last these tracks are breathing - and to use that old cliché "they're live and in your living room". The instruments are wonderfully clear and full, each track a ballsy revelation. I've waited decades to hear the wicked "Front Page News" album from 1977 with Laurie Wisefield's awesome guitar playing in decent sound (ex CBS act "Home") - and here it is. There is hiss on the earlier albums, but it's neither compressed down nor trebled up - and as you listen to each song - you can't help but feel that real care went into the working of every song. They are as they were - just sounding new - like a visit from an old friend...

Track choices - this may irritate some - "Time Was" is the fabulous opening track on "Argus" and virtually defined their 'sound' for 4 decades to come, but it's missing. And speaking of that fab 3rd album - with the 2005 Erick Labson remaster and 2009 Paschal Byrne 2CD Deluxe Edition remaster (both wonderful), do we really need 4 more versions from that same LP? Those inclusions mean that the massively underrated "Wishbone Four" has only one track featured (albeit a really good one), while I would also loved to have heard the brilliantly funky "Outward Bound" from "New England" too. Having said that, it's quietly satisfying to hear that Disc 2 is just as good as Disc 1 (and in some cases better - "Lorelei", "Come In From The Rain" and "You See Red").

So there you have it - if this is a taster for the individual album remasters to come - then it works. Fans will absolutely love the new and superlative remastered sound quality, while newcomers will dig some classic twin-guitar rock with tunes.

And about bloody time too.

Recommended.

PS: fans should note that 19 May 2010 saw the CD reissue of 13 classic Wishbone Ash albums in Japan - from "Wishbone Ash" to "Number The Brave" (included the 2disc set "Live Dates Volume 2"). All feature new 2010 remastering, 5" Mini LP card repro sleeves (textured covers, gatefolds and inserts where applicable) and are on the superior SHM-CD format (Super High Materials - compatible with all CD players). They're available to order through the excellent cdjapan website

This is an excellent 2 cd set from Wishbone Ash who appear to be one of Britains best kept secrets,destined like Hawkwind/Uriah Heep to play second fiddle to the likes of Zep/Sabbath & Purple,this is a wonderful place to start.

Disc 1 covers the Ted Turner era from the debut thru to live dates(1970-73) and shows the early folkier,progressive leanings,highlights being the epics 'Phoenix ' and 'Pilgrim', how many southern bands did those two influence i wonder,early classics include 'Error of my Ways' and 'jailbait' while their best known album Argus gets 4 tracks including the superb title track of this compilation and the fantastic 'Blowin Free',Live dates is represented with another Argus fav 'The King Will Come'.All in all its as good a selection of early Ash as you'll get,personally i think Wishbone 4 has been under represented,i would have swopped 'vas dis' and 'blind eye' for the likes of R n R Widow/Sorrell/Ballad of the Beacon,still cant have everything,everyone will have their own personal favourites.

Disc 2 covers the Laurie Wisefield era (1974-81) and again each album is represented from 74's There's The Rub thru 81's No The Brave( with the exception inexplicably of Live Dates 2).This era ssaw the band become more aor/fm at times but despite what some people will tell you they still rocked and disc 2 can be arguably described as even better than disc 1.

Highlights are many the simply spine chilling solos on the likes of 'Persephone,Lorelie,Living Proof etc,the hit single that never was'Goodbye Baby...,the jaw dropping musicianship on epics like 'FUBB','Way of the World' and the magnificent 'Lifeline' all showing that the band could rock like the best of them.

So why should you buy,well die hards will know that there have been many compilations,the best certainly the box set 'Distillation' released some years back
so what will entice you to shell out again,well the track listing is superb by and large, the revelation however is the SOUND,i couldnt agree more with the previous reviewer the remastering job done here is magnificent,the guitars of messrs Powell,Turner and Wisfield soar out of the speakers while Martin Turners bass and vocals touch your soul all underpinned by the clear concise drumming of Steve Upton.This is the best sound of any Wishbone cd i've heard and if its a precurser to the catalog being revamped and reissued then great.

The packaging on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired,the band's history is given a cursory run thru by respected journalist Dave Ling , i would have expected better,less pictures and more detail would have been welcomed,the pictorial discography reffered to in the previous review is a TINY pathetic grouping of pictures crammed together in approximately a quarter of one page,hardly worth the effort,pretty shabby,had the disc not been so reasonably priced i may have docked a star,maybe the likes of Skynyrd/Purple and Hawkwind's remasters etc have raised expectations unfairly for all remasters packages.

Buy now and enhance your listening pleasure this music deserves to be cherished.

I've always really liked Wishbone Ash but listening to this years later I'm struck by just how very classy they really were. This was intelligent, melodic, harmonic, thinking person's rock music, with a deep and significant English feel to the songs and lyrics and marvellous musicianship all round. There is some stinging guitar playing, full of invention and ideas and you can really hear Martin Turner's superb bass-work and Steve Upton's great drumming on these remasters. On disc one the writing and playing is nothing less than inspired, and lifts them higher than all but the very best of their era. This is great music in any genre and transcends the boundaries that we think of as rock. If disc two doesn't quite match the compositional originality and quality of disc one then the playing certainly does and not many bands can boast this sort of level of ability. You can also only imagine how many other bands that must have copied their style, and their influence on European rock in its most fertile and interesting years. Therefore it is one of rock history's great injustices that this band have been largely overlooked since their early seventies heyday, while lesser bands who never scaled these heights of creativity are accorded more respect and continued success for a thinner volume of work. I can think of a few huge name bands who never made music quite this good. Hopefully this wonderful compilation may go some way to remind us just what remarkable quality they were - and to some extent still are - and perhaps one day they'll be recognised for their magnificent contribution to English rock music.