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Album Details
LOST PEARLS
2004 (Recorded 1978-82)
TRACK LISTING
1) Is Justice Done 2) The Bells Chime 3) Hard On You 4) Out on a Limb 5) Where You Been 6) Halfway House (Martin vocal) 7) Halfway House (Claire vocal) 8) Football & Boxing 9) John Sherry Jam 10) Too Much Monkey Business 11) Night Hawker 12) Sheriff Of Sherwood
Line-up: Martin Turner (bs/voc), Andy Powell (gtr/voc), Steve Upton (dr), Laurie Wisefield (gtr/voc), Trevor Bolder (bs, trk 11), Claire Hamill (voc, trk 7)
Produced by Martin Turner
Released during the Spring of 2004, Lost Pearls contains a selection of previously unreleased studio recordings from the period 1978-1982, culled from a haul of multi-track tapes which Andy Powell had been storing in a farm out building belonging to former Wishbone Ash tour manager Kevin Harrington. The tapes, lovingly referred to as the Pigsty Tapes, were discovered by Guy Roberts.
These recordings were first heard by the public in 2002 when rough mixes were aired at a Wishbone Ash fan convention in Mansfield. From there the idea of an official release of the recordings came about and Martin Turner was contacted to oversee the mixing of the recordings, ensuring that the finished result was of the highest quality possible.
The music contained on Lost Pearls was in the main originally recorded by the Mk.2 Wishbone Ash line-up during studio sessions for the No Smoke Without Fire and Just Testing albums. As was typical of this period, much of the material was written by Martin Turner (‘Is Justice Done’, ‘Where You Been’, ‘Football and Boxing’) and Laurie Wisefield (‘The Bells Chime’, ‘Hard On You’). Andy Powell contributed ‘Out on a Limb’, while Just Testing backing vocalist Claire Hamill wrote 'Haunted House' (of which two versions were included, one sung by Claire, the other by Martin).
A couple of instrumental jam sessions were also featured, giving an indication as to the way the band worked in the studio. ‘John Sherry Jam’ was titled after the band’s then manager and agent, while ‘Sheriff Of Sherwood’ contains several ideas that were eventually used in No Smoke Without Fire track ‘Stand and Deliver’.
A live version of the band’s 1980 stage encore ‘Too Much Monkey Business’, recorded at Sheffield City Hall as well as an early version of Twin Barrels Burning track ‘Streets of Shame’ (then entitled ‘Night Hawker’) featuring Trevor Bolder on bass make up the package.
Lost Pearls is a fascinating insight into what might have been and while arguably the material featured is not of the same standard as that eventually chosen for the albums in question, it remains an essential purchase for fans of this particular era of Wishbone Ash, in the absence of any new recordings from the Mk.2 band.
GARY CARTER
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