Ash 1977

Classic Ash is a compilation album by the hard rock band Wishbone Ash. It was released in 1977 on MCA Records. It was not issued in the U.S. Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included Wishbone Ash (1970), Pilgrimage (1971), Argus (1972), Wishbone Four (1973), There's the Rub (1974), and New England (1976). Wishbone Ash are noted for their extensive use of the harmony twin lead guitar format which had been attracting electric blues bands since Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page had played together in the Yardbirds in 1966. Their contributions helped Andy Powell and Ted Turner to be voted "Two of the Ten Most Important Guitarists in Rock History" (Traffic magazine 1989), and to appear in the "Top 20 Guitarists of All Time" (Rolling Stone).

Front Page News is the eighth album by rock band Wishbone Ash. It is mostly made up of slower, breezy soft rock ballads with lush vocal harmonies. This style is in marked contrast to the earlier albums such as Argus, but there were several tracks of this idiom on their immediately preceding studio albums, Locked In and New England. It peaked at No. 31 in the UK Albums Chart. Their following album, No Smoke Without Fire, moves back to a heavier style. U.S. distribution had switched back to MCA Records.

The '70s were a fertile period for Manuel Göttsching. Having pioneered the kosmische guitar freakout with Ash Ra Tempel, he had embarked on a new phase by mid-decade. Inspired by minimalist composers Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, Göttsching traded musical visions of outer space for trance-inducing meditations on inner space. Between 1974 and 1977, Göttsching pursued this new aesthetic on Inventions for Electric Guitar, Le Berceau de Cristal, New Age of Earth, and Blackouts, immersing himself in an electronic environment that often fused his signature guitar work with sequencers and synths. Although not released until 1991, Dream & Desire was recorded in 1977. Its ambient and proto-techno explorations hold up reasonably well alongside Göttsching's previously released recordings from the mid-'70s, and also resonate favorably with the work of like-minded contemporaries such as Edgar Froese, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream…

Heldon's real excellence as a band is dramatically demonstrated with this fine recording. A dashing young left-wing intellectual, Richard Pinhas was something of a cult figure in his native France, or at least had the potential to be one, but he wisely rejected the role of rock & roll guitar hero with backing band, in favor of something much more interesting and radical. Patrick Gauthier on moog and Francois Auger on percussion had played with Pinhas on and off for the previous several years, and at this point they had developed into a solid sympathetic unit with a strongly rhythmic orientation. The intricate interlocking rhythms, created by percussion and several synthesizers, have a proto-techno quality at times, and suggest both the German group Can and, on at least one piece, early Ash Ra Tempel…

Wishbone Ash, one of Britain's most enduring and best-loved rock acts, are to release a comprehensive deluxe 30 CD box set, The Vintage Years, through Madfish. Loaded with rarities, memorabilia, a new interview and a lavish 156-page hardback book, a third of this new collection features previously unheard & unreleased material. The contents of The Vintage Years box set include: Brand new cover artwork designed by Colin Elgie, the original designer behind the award-winning Live Dates sleeve artwork. All 16 studio albums, featuring bonus material including rare album outtakes, B-sides and 12 previously unreleased studio tracks, presented in mini-gatefold sleeves.

Wishbone Ash, one of Britain's most enduring and best-loved rock acts, are to release a comprehensive deluxe 30 CD box set, The Vintage Years, through Madfish. Loaded with rarities, memorabilia, a new interview and a lavish 156-page hardback book, a third of this new collection features previously unheard & unreleased material. The contents of The Vintage Years box set include: Brand new cover artwork designed by Colin Elgie, the original designer behind the award-winning Live Dates sleeve artwork. All 16 studio albums, featuring bonus material including rare album outtakes, B-sides and 12 previously unreleased studio tracks, presented in mini-gatefold sleeves. Three of the 16 albums are currently out of print on CD from I. R. S. : Nouveau Calls, Here to Hear and Strange Affair.

Formed in 1970, Grobschnitt was one of the best German band from the mid-Seventies. All of the members of the band adopted pseudonyms, namely "Eroc", "Mist", "Wildschwein", "Lupo" and "Popo". The band was created by Joachim "Eroc" Ehrig (drums, percussion), Stefan "Wildschwein" Daneliak (guitars & vocals), and Gerd-Otto "Lupo" Kühn (guitar, vocals). This nucleus was later completed by Wolgang "Popo" Jäger (bass) and Volker "Mist" Kahrs (keyboards, Mellotron, synthesizers). They were best known as Yes-inspired band, but they also explored other progressive rock styles (either psychedelic prog or more cohesive "Krautrock" with some stunning instrumental passages that will be familiar to anyone into the likes of Man, Amon Duul II, Wishbone Ash and many similar bands)…

Camel are an English progressive rock band formed in Guildford, Surrey, in 1971. Led by guitarist Andrew Latimer, they have released fourteen studio albums and fourteen singles, plus numerous live albums and DVDs. Without achieving mass popularity, the band gained a cult following in the 1970s with albums such as Mirage (1974) and The Snow Goose (1975). They moved into a jazzier, more commercial direction in the early 1980s, but then went on an extended hiatus. Since 1991 the band has been independent, releasing albums on their own label.