Here is a band that started out in 1970, and had a great future ahead of them. Sparing many details, lets just get to the beef of the early years. Andy Powell, guitarist of WA, jams with Ritchie Blackmore during a soundcheck of a 69 Deep Purple concert. Ritchie is so impressed that he gets Wishbone Ash a recording contract. Even though Martin Turner(lead vocals and bass) formed the band, this event gives power to Andy Powell, and that power would eventually lead to him taking control of the band in years to come. 1972, the band releases their most famous album to date, Argus. This album was voted #1 by Melody Maker Magazine, the main UK mag at the time, over Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick, and, yes, Deep Purple's Machine Head. See what you did Ritchie? LOL After the 4th album in 1974, Ted Turner(lead guitarist) decides to leave the band? Why? He says he wants to go to Peru and climb the mountains there, but this is no explanation. Strife was starting to occur between band members, but who was the main cause of this strife? Who else but power hungry Andy Powell. This would become evident later. Laurie Wisefield now joins the band and stays on for ten years. In that process, the band releases many mediocre studio albums. 1981 sees the departure of Martin Turner, the man that formed Wishbone Ash. Andy Powell and the other two members wanted to make him a bass player only, and get a new vocalist in hopes of trying to become as big as they once was. Martin didnt agree, and decided to leave. So here is when Andy Powell finally gained entire control of the band, and how did he handle that? Well, it was what he wanted all along, but future decisions would show that he had no clue in what he was doing. 1981, John Wetton comes in as the new lead singer but he is used only on one song from the album at that time. John Wetton had offered compositions such as Here Come's the Feeling, and others, which he later scored huge hits with Asia, but Andy turned them down. John Wetton would leave the band that same year and subsequentially be in the band Asia and many Wetton songs would go on to unsurpassed greatness. Former Uriah Heep bass player Trevor Bolder would come in but only last one year with the band. Why? Do you start to see the common thread of a leader of a band who has not a clue? The next couple of years saw people coming and going from the band, including the departure of Laurie Wisefield after 11 years with the band. One wonders how he made it that long. 1987 see's the original 4 members return and release an instrumental album. With a positive response to this album, the original 4 release two more albums filled with vocals. Then, Martin Turner is voted out once again. If it didnt work the first time, why would it work the second time? Just another mistake by now leader Andy Powell, who now between him and Martin Turner a fued was starting. Original drummer Steve Upton announces his retirement in '90, and Ted Turner(lead guitarist) leaves the band once again in 94, leaving Andy Powell alone as the only remaining original. Wonder why? See the pattern here? This was Andy's band from the start, even though he was brought in in the beginning as an afterthought, but it was his jamming with Ritchie Blackmore that got them their first recording contract, and from there on, in his mind, it was he who was responsible for any and all of their sucess, and he did whatever he could to gain control of the band. From 1995 until present: Andy gets some other musicians togethr to keep the band going, but there will be more changes over the years. 1995 sees Illuminations, an excellent album harking back to the early years. 2002 sees Bonafide, another excellent album, with a new guitarist in Ben Granfelt. Ben Granfelt was a huge addition to the band, as he was the best guitarist the band ever saw, but guess what, he only lasts one album. Why? Maybe he challenged Andy Powell too much and this made Andy nervous. Only Andy knows himself, and I am sure the real departure of Ben Granfelt we will never know, but again, here was an example of the poor direction Andy Powell was giving the band. Now, the current story. Andy Powell continues Wishbone Ash with another guitarist at his side, and releases 2 albums, first one having 3 good songs, but they are all cover tunes. Second album has maybe one decent song. With me having followed the band all over the US since Ben Granfelt and Bonafide, I can tell you that there has been a steady decline in the musicianship and the songwriting of the band. Now, in this time frame, the band has opened a website and forum. Here is where things get interesting. Martin Turner, former bassist, lead vocal, and founder of the band decides to start his own Wishbone Ash. Andy is now pissed that the founder is trying to steal back the name that Andy stole from him. But since Andy has never officially left the band, and Martin has left three times, actually voted out all three times, through legal action, Andy is allowed to call his band Wishbone Ash, and Martin must use the name Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash. This pisses off Martin to a degree, because who ever heard of Martin Turner?Martin knew he had to have the name Wishbone Ash somewhere, or else people would say who? So, now there are two Wishbone Ash's. In the past couple of years, Martin has said he would release some new material, but so far, he has only released two cd's, both live music from the early Wishbone Ash catalog, and each cd being priced at 25 dollars a piece, a high price for any band, let alone someone nobody has ever heard of. This being said, it isnt a surprise that the sales of his cd's have been mediocre at best, and the music itself is not very good. His vocals were always in question in the beginning, and they are still today. As for Andy Powell and Wishbone Ash, I was a member of their forum at www.wishboneash.com, as I was also a member of Martin's forum at www.wishboneash.co.uk I have always been a devoted member of the Andy Powell side of things, as I never liked Martin much, especially his vocals, and especially live. I mean, anyone can be made to sound good in the studio, but live is the test, and Martin sucked. These very thoughts I had expressed at times on Andy's forums, and when saw by the other side, I was then banned by their website. No big deal to me. But here is where things got ridiculous for me. I became a voice for Andy and against Martin. I was just speaking my mind at the time, and before I realised it, I became a pawn in the fued between the two sites. I realised it when the moderator of Andy's site, a Mr Leon Tsillis asked me to publically trash a video Martin had released on youtube. When I told Leon I wasnt his pawn and that I didnt want to get involved in the fued between the two sites, and that I would only speak my mind of what I thought, and not what they wanted me to say, well, that was the beginning of the end for me on that forum. I was banned. I was allowed to return recently, but when I stated that I had seen a steady decline in the band over the past few years since Ben Granfelt had left, I was banned once again. This is an opinion shared by many, but any negative word against the band, and you are gone, so many who find they cant live without being a member of that forum will not speak up for fear of being banned. So, there it is, a story of a band who got divided by the force of power, and the hatred it fueled between two members, and the subsequent monitoring of website forums where either you praise the band, or you are banned. I am a member of other band forums, and they always allow constructive criticsm. Thats what forums are for, to see what your fans think, wether good or bad, so that the band itself can get an idea of what they should do or not do in the future. But when you have a power struggle between two opposing factions, just make sure you dont get caught on one side or the other.
It's great looking back at the looooong story of one of the biggest prog/rock bands in rock history!! My fave album............
Ok, another part of the story, or maybe some of the same. I am watching Ben Granfelt live, when he opened for the 30th anniversary of Wishbone Ash, that would make it the year 2000.Now, Wishbone Ash and Andy was lookin for a new guitarist, and Ben fit the bill when Andy saw him open for the band. Wishbone Ash in the next couple of years put out Bonafide(2005), their best album to date, rivaling the old 72 Argus album. Problem? While on tour, Andy found out that Ben Granfelt was a better guitarist than him. I witnessed this on a few occasions. Well, Andy felt threatened by this. Let me tell you, any time Andy feels threatened that anyone else might take his place as number 1 in the band, then that person is gone. This is why Wishbone Ash will never get back to the stardom they deserve. It really is a sorry scenario, but it is the way Andy runs the band. Andy got rid of Ben Granfelt after one album and one tour. You will hear different reasons for this split, but the true fact was that Ben was just too good and he threatened Andy. Andy subsequently got Muddy Maninen, a fair player, and a prodigy of Ben since they were in the same band together, The Mudslingers, but Muddy was in no way close to a Ben. Therefore, Andy never felt threatened by Muddy, and as is evident, the bands next two cd's have dropped in songwriting and playing. Andy is once again not threatened, but the band as a whole suffers once again from the stooooopid changes Andy has made. Kinda like when he gave up Jon Wetton back in the 80's, where he only let him sing one song on a album, and then got rid of him, and the next couple of years Jon Wetton hit the big time with all the songs he had written, and made them Asia songs, their first album, which could have been Wishbone Ash songs. Yes, this is just two or three examples of how Andy Powell, the leader of a fine band, has just screwed up royally, in keeping a fine band from becoming a top 40 band, or a top scoring hit, or whatever you want to call it. Fact is, anyone that threatens Andy will be gone, and Andy doesnt have what it takes to be a leader, so WIshbone Ash will always be a follower, and not a leader, due to the ignorance and insecureance of one Andy Powell.
