Album Retrospectives

HERE TO HEAR
1989

"Here To Hear" was released in September 1989 - almost two years after "Nouveau Calls", the instrumental album which had brought the four original members of Wishbone Ash back together after a fourteen year hiatus. Such was the success of "Nouveau Calls" that not only did the band undertake a European tour in 1988, but they also decided to record a follow up album. As founder member Martin Turner remembers: "Everyone was happy with "Nouveau Calls". The band were happy, the record company were happy, and when we went out on the road, the fans were happy too. So, we thought it would be great to do another album, this time with vocals."

Martin Turner, Andy Powell, Ted Turner and Steve Upton entered the studios during the Summer of 1988 to record this second album of its reformation period. It was clear that Ted and Martin both had ample material composed which they were keen to record - fully fledged songs that had been unsuitable for "Nouveau Calls" instrumental format. "We didn't have a lot of time for rehearsals," recalls Ted, "so we sort of laid things out on the table and reviewed what we had to work with. After coming back into the band, I had a whole bank of songs." Martin Turner had been equally productive during this period. "I was going through a heavy time personally, with the breakdown of my marriage, and many of the songs deal with this, and were an outflow of the intense emotions I was experiencing at that time, so for me the music on "Here to Hear" is extremely powerful in a psychic sense."

Although the material on "Here to Hear" had been composed, in the main, by Ted Turner and himself, Martin Turner is keen to stress that "everyone in the band contributed to the creative process in one way or another. For example, Andy Powell played some really nice guitar solos."

Recording sessions for the album commenced on July 12th 1988 and work took place primarily at Beethoven Studios, London, although there would be further sessions at both The Beat Factory and Air Studios, London before the album reached its completion on October 24th. Martin Turner handled production duties, alongside engineer/co-producer Adam Fuest, who had previously worked with Big Audio Dynamite and Patsy Kensit.

As with "Nouveau Calls", "Here to Hear" saw Wishbone Ash displaying their trademark ideals of harmony, melody and precision musicianship in the context of a streamlined, contemporary and upbeat approach. As Andy Powell explains: "Basically, the focus was more on the songs rather than just the guitar playing. We knew we could do the harmony lead thing, but we didn't want to go over old ground. It was important to do something fresh." Martin Turner adds: "The album is a product of its time and the way it sounds reflects the way everyone in the band had evolved on both a musical and personal level."

Album opener "Cosmic Jazz" was a particularly involved track for its composer, Martin Turner. "The song is like a musical exorcism," reveals Martin, "where I am requesting a mischievous spirit to leave me alone. I was in an unbelievable mess mentally, and I actually visited a Jung analyst who ended up performing a magic ceremony at my request, because I'd dreamt that's what I needed to do in order to avoid running headlong into my destruction. Musically, the band played note for note what I had presented to them on my home demo." "Cosmic Jazz" was also taken as the UK single release from the album and, included as a special bonus track on this album, is a largely instrumental version which, as Martin recalls "was mixed at the time in case the song became a hit and the band had to perform the song on TV shows, where the vocals would have been performed live to the backing track." Although the single did not chart, Martin adds: "At the time I can remember visualising a video for the song. It was really off the wall."

"Keeper of the Light", a joint composition by Ted Turner and Steve Upton marked Ted's first lead vocal on a Wishbone Ash album since "Rock n Roll Widow" on the "Wishbone Four" album back in 1973. Upton's lyrics, according to Martin Turner were, "about motherhood and inspired by his wife and her role as a mother." Ted Turner's lap steel guitar skills - first used on the "Wishbone Four" album - resurfaced on the next track "Mental Radio", which featured backing vocalist Angie Giles.

"Walk on Water" had originally been written by Martin Turner in the early eighties and was originally intended for his band the Wolf Gang. According to Martin, "I'd recorded the song about five years earlier, although that version was never released. The version on "Here to Hear" is very similar and, although it's hard for me to think of it as a "Wishbone" song, the band played it really well. Lyrically, it's about someone who was stuck in a poverty trap."

An interesting collaboration between Ted Turner and Squeeze's Chris Difford resulted in the atmospheric "Witness to Wonder". The basic structure of the song had been worked out during sessions for the "Nouveau Calls" album, but was not completed. Ted later penned a set of lyrics but was not entirely satisfied with the result. "I had written the song," says Ted, "but we felt the lyrics could be improved. Miles Copeland offered Chris to have a go and he took the best of what I had and finished with a beautiful song." Andy Powell adds: "The whole feel is very dream like. Ted played an old Burns Double Six electric 12 string guitar, and I supplied the lead guitar work."

Martin Turner's "Lost Cause in Paradise" demonstrated that, despite Wishbone Ash being regarded as one of the ultimate "guitar" bands, keyboards and synthesizers could be incorporated into the band's music successfully. ""Lost Cause in Paradise" was inspired by my two little daughters," reveals Martin, "who when I left my wife I knew would be the victims of that situation."

"Why Don't We", written by Ted Turner during his time with the World Man Band in the early eighties, would soon become a stage favourite, featuring some particularly inspired soloing from Ted. The song is a plea for us to start living together in peace and use our technologies to solve the world’s problems and the lyrics are based on the revolutionary teachings of Buckmaster Fuller, who taught that the world’s problems could be solved by the adage "More with Less". As Ted explains: "He devoted his life to the human condition and knew that if you really want to make this planet a success, this could only be achieved through technology and artefacts, not economics and politics. This work was done in the early eighties, prior to the Green awareness that exists today." Musically, Andy Powell adds that Ted's guitar progressions "cast a nod in the direction of the Police, but that's cool, since I believe that band shook things up as much as any band in the 80's and Stewart Copeland often hung out at our rehearsals in the early days."

"In the Case", was an instrumental penned by Ted Turner which, as Martin Turner explains, "may have appeared on "Nouveau Calls" had Ted got to England in time" - a reference to the immigration problems which resulted in Ted missing the initial writing/rehearsal sessions for the instrumental album.

The two-part mini-epic "Hole in My Heart", described by Ted as "son of "Phoenix" certainly had a similar structure to the perennial favourite from the band's first album. Opening with a short intro section led by Martin Turner's distinctive bass work and a short but heartfelt vocal, the track subsequently breaks into an instrumental showcase featuring all four members of the band playing to the very peak of their ability in what Martin Turner describes as a "very live sounding performance".

The strength of the songwriting on "Here to Hear" is best emphasised by the sheer quality of the material which was left off the album due to time restraints. Two further instrumentals were recorded. "Heaven Is", a haunting Martin Turner penned piece performed by the trio of Martin, Andy and Steve, later turned up on Martin Turner's solo collection "Walking the Reeperbahn", released through Blueprint in 1999. "Wishbone never seemed to want to use it, so it ended up on my album," says Martin. "I feel its inclusion here is valid as it's pure spontaneity from everyone. Andy sounds particularly relaxed and this is a fine example of his great guitar playing." The twin-lead orientated "Duffle Shuffle" has previously only been available on the German "Distillation" 4CD set released in 1997.

Soon after "Here to Hear" had been completed and delivered to IRS, Martin Turner received word from the record company that they needed a further song for a single b-side. For this purpose, Martin Turner pursued a recording which had been started but not completed during the "Here to Hear" sessions. A basic backing track, largely featuring music written by Andy Powell, had been recorded but the song remained undeveloped. Martin added some keyboard overdubs and wrote a lyric around the music and the track became "Bolan's Monument", a stirring piece of music, with lyrical references to the tree where former T-Rex leader Marc Bolan was tragically killed. "I'd drive past there a lot," recalls Martin. "On this occasion I saw a sign that really hit me hard and the message written on there was "WHY DID YOU LEAVE US?" I thought it was a particularly powerful statement because at the time I was so mentally down and was becoming suicidal. I had two little daughters and that's what they would say if I wasn't here any more. I felt like the whole exercise that morning had turned me around. It's a very heavy song for me personally. I really love the guitar on the song. I thought Andy's playing was so unusual - I was trying to push him in a direction similar to his playing on "Insomnia" from the "Just Testing" album. The sound is unusual, even unique, and is something very few players would be capable of coming up with." "Bolan's Monument" has previously only appeared on CD on the German "Distillation" collection. Incidentally, Andy Powell would later revamp his original idea for the song "Another Time" on Wishbone Ash's 1996 "Illuminations" album.

Although it would not make any impact on the album charts, "Here to Hear" was favourably received by Wishbone Ash fans, and remains one of several creative pinnacles of the band's career.

GARY CARTER
MARK CHATTERTON

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