Wishbone Ash: COAT OF ARMS
From a band that has 24 studio albums to date, plus 10 live albums and a few compilations, Coat of Arms is their first studio album in six years. After 50 years you might expect that the Wishbone Style is fixed; it isn’t, and where with a new band you might expect the need to establish a sound, the band here show that their sound loans itself to multiple styles whilst maintaining the band’s character. Coat of Arms is classic Ash, all driving guitars and confident musicianship. The relative new boy, Marc Abrahams, is more than a match for Andy Powell, and ascribed in their press release as bringing youthfulness to the band. The writing team may have changed over the years, but the strength of the writing has not. The sound quality of "Coat of Arms" is really amazing. It sounds modern, clean and with everything defined, but there's a feeling of a "rehearsal-like" recording, something organic, filling the songs.
Tracklist:
1.We Stand As One 2.Coat Of Arms 3.Empty Man 4.Floreana 5.Drive 6.It's Only You I See 7.Too Cool For AC 8.Back In The Day 9.Deja Vu 10.When The Love Is Shared 11.Personal Halloween
Lineup:
Andy Powell - guitars, mandolin, vocals & backing vocals, Mark Abrahams - guitars, Bob Seat - bass, Joe Crabtree - drums