Customer Reviews

Locked in

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recall being ecstatic back in 1976 when I found this new release in my local music store. But like so many other new releases by established artists at that time, this particular musical offering came across to me as being as a watered-down counterfeit of one of my all-time favorite groups. Where were the epic story songs and extended guitar jams? It had to be a case of mistaken identity.
Musical tastes were in transition in 1976. "Locked In" was a safe, respectable offering that was a product of the times. I quickly lost interest in "Locked In" and it soon disappeared from my collection. Fortunately, it never really disappeared from my musical conscience. Several tunes from "Locked In" remained in my memory banks over the years and I often found myself second guessing the decision to discard it. Thirty years later I decided to give it a second chance and I am glad that I did.
"Locked In" is actually a good album in spite of the circumstances it was recorded under. The universally appreciated "Rest In Peace" and the closing cut "Say Goodbye" stand alongside the best that WA has to offer. "She Was My Best Friend", "Half Past Lovin'", and "Trust In You" are all very solid efforts that I recall liking well enough the first time around but probably appreciate even more now than I did back in '76. The three remaining tunes: "No Water In The Well", "Moonshine", and "It Started In Heaven" are also good compositions but the vocals are ... different. As much as anything, those three cuts caused me to part company with my original copy of "Locked In". Strangely enough, those same three tunes haunted me over the years and were a major reason I gave "Locked In" another try.
I now recommend "Locked In" without reservation. It has a different feel to it that will probably grow on you if you don't dismiss it offhand. Keyboards and background singers are featured at times with mixed results and Andy Powell utilizes "the bag" (think Joe Walsh on "Rocky Mountain Way" or Peter Frampton on "Do You Feel Like We Do") on a couple of tunes taking Wishbone Ash into new territory that actually works quite well if you are willing to accept something different. When you stop to consider that Wishbone Ash didn't stay locked in to this formula long and released the stunning "New England" later that same year, "Locked In" becomes all the more interesting and essential.

This import cd on the Repertoire label(famous for their remastering talents)is well worth owning for the following tracks- Rest in peace, No water in the well, Moonshine and Trust in you. Despite what the other reviewers are saying, this is a good cd. Sure the other tracks fall flat, the band even admits this was not one of their better efforts- too dry a recording, wrong producer, female backing singers(groan)as well as some weak material. But I have it and I listen to it, what's that tell you? But of course I am also a big fan as well. Sound quality is good not great but as good as it will get without a high tech 2001 rebuild. This is the Mark 2 lineup with Laurie Wisefield.

Even the most ardent Wishbone Ash fan will admit that this effort was a bit uneven with the vocals and production, and possibly semi-weak songwriting.......BUT......there is some fantastic guitarwork on this album that is just downright brilliant. The first song, "Rest In Peace" is a masterpiece. Oddly, the very last song, "Say Goodbye" is extremely well done also. However, the middle of the album, although suffering from the above mentioned maladies, DOES deliver some frighteningly great solos and fills in just about every song. Yes, go ahead and skip over "She Was My Best Friend" altogether, and ignore the somewhat anemic vocals delivered by Wisefield on some others, while focusing on the brilliance in bits and pieces that The Ash always delivers no matter how dire the recording circumstances.

If I were a curious first-time Wishbone Ash CD buyer, I would not buy this one first. If you already have a few Ash albums under your belt and haven't heard this album, at least buy it for "Rest In Peace" and to laugh at the mischievious guitar solos delivered by Mr Powell and Mr Wisefield throughout the remainder of the album.

The first cut of this album/cd "Rest in Peace" is utterly fantastic. Unfortunately, it sets the stage for what should happen to the rest of the songs - they should REST IN PEACE. Save your money on this one. Buy "Live Dates" instead.

Update January 6, 2012-

I LOVE when this happens! I originally didn't care for Locked In (which is obvious by reading my original review which I'll keep here below the updated one I'm writing down) but time heals all wounds, and... opinions change and... some of us become more open-minded with experience... and... oh I'll just shut up and get to the point. I actually really LIKE Locked In now!!

"Rest In Peace" isn't *anything* like the medieval sound that Wishbone Ash mastered on their first five albums, but what it lacks in that category it makes up for in a whole other one- it's a country/rock extravaganza! Well maybe that's stretching it a *tad*, haha. I love the uplifting atmosphere in the vocal melody, but where this song excels is in the guitar jam. It actually reminds me of the Marshall Tucker Band a little bit. The southern rock genre feels like it played an influence here, and the most amazing thing about "Rest In Peace" is how the actual nones are really melodic and *awesome*. One of the best songs here.

"No Water in the Well" is basically pure soft rock. A romantic ballad, if you will. The singing style doesn't sound natural for the lead singer, and in fact, this is one of the few occasions I think he really overdoes his style. It's not terrible though. He just needed to restrain his voice a little bit. "Moonshine" takes us back to the country rock that the opening song set the pace for. I actually think it's really good. The "when you see through a haze" portion of the vocal melody is REALLY catchy. I'm glad it repeats a couple more times.

"She Was My Best Friend" is a tender ballad, but it's better than I originally thought. Now that I'm hearing it again, I realize it's actually really beautiful. "It Started In Heaven" reminds me SO MUCH of another song from the 70's that's on the tip of my tongue but I just can't remember it. D'oh! A low point though, because it's too ordinary. With THAT in mind, I still like it. Yes that's right- despite all the criticism Locked In has received over the years, it turns out the worst song on the album is still likeable. Imagine that?

"Half Past Lovin" takes a step away from the country rock and the ballads and just delivers a spectacular funky and blues rock vocal melody with a *great* guitar solo. A highlight. Actually the next two songs are even better. "Trust In You" has a vocal melody so beautiful you'd swear this should have been on Argus, and the guitar soloing neatly scattered throughout the song is the icing on the cake for me. I LOVE it. "Say Goodbye" is a power ballad with a fairly repetivite verse melody and chorus, but it's a really good one so I won't complain.

Overall, this is actually a really good album after all. The negativity is probably responsible for the fact Locked In is different and more mellow than the previous 5 Wishbone Ash albums, which is understandable. Overlook that aspect however, and focus on the songwriting, and you have yourself a mighty fine album.

Here's my older review, which I'll keep here so you can see my original feelings.

Well I'm not exactly *surprised* or anything- for the last few weeks I've been reading one negative review after another for Wishbone Ash's Locked In album. No, the band certainly was NOT locked in by any stretch of the imagination, haha. Maybe locked in a basement and denied to take advantage of their talents!

Some hard rock bands back in the 70's just became incredibly disappointing after they either hit commercial success, or inexplicably lost their ability to write memorable songs. I'm not sure which category Locked In falls under exactly, but what I *do* know (very very well, in fact) is that the songwriting is inexcusably lackluster. Inexcusable because the band just released FIVE extremely good albums in a row that gave us fantastic songwriting, a beautiful and dreamy guitar sound that, in my opinion at least, was completely original, and a lead singer who sang sincere and compassionate vocal melodies. On Locked In, all these amazing tricks have been traded in for uninteresting commercial rock balladry, all the while doing absolutely *nothing* to impress me.

A couple other hard rock bands that started off on an amazing note only to end up a major disappointment would be April Wine and UFO. Well now Wishbone Ash can be thrown into that list. Hey, I'm not usually such a negative person, but sometimes the overwhelming feeling of disappointment simply can't be ignored. Locked In is EXTREMELY disappointing.

"Say Goodbye" is perhaps the best song here because at least some of the guitar playing is decent. The vocal melody is cliched and boring of course, and the lead singer sounds fake and insincere so it's not exactly a highlight. "She Was My Best Friend" is more or less the same bogus attempt at believable balladry with even worse results because there's no good guitar playing to put into the equation. Then you have a song like "Water in the Well" that's perhaps a sad attempt at a sequel to "Leaf and Stream". I don't really know. The lead singer reminds me of Graham Nash a little bit (which is a compliment actually). The only high point is a song called "Trust In You" which DOES actually contain elements of the classic Wishbone Ash sound in both the vocal melody and guitar soloing.

Overall, no. Don't even think about purchasing Locked In. Purchase There's the Rub and Pilgrimage instead. Trust me- you'll be glad you did.

Don't Listen to the naysayers! This is a mellow album, true--but it's great! Try starting with track 4 and letting your cd player go to 1, 2 and 3 after the final track--because the first three songs will blow your mind. Rest in Peace is a fabulous, one of their best, no water in the well is a nice melodic tune and moonshine is an OK song with one of the best double-leads ever recorded by any band EVER!!!!! BUY THIS Record!!!

One reviewer here mentions that the vocals on Laurie Wisefield's songs are "...different." Well, that's ONE way of looking at them.

The vast majority of WA fans I know of revile this album, and I couldn't agree more. The band was obviously--and I mean, GLARINGLY obviously--going through some kind of funk when they went into the studio to record this album, and it shows in every single cut. Their biggest mistake here was letting Laurie step up front to "sing" his "songs." As if the lyrics & music aren't half-hearted enough to begin with, his "vocals" are absolutely unbelievable. That kind of kiddy-sounding vocal style belongs on a Bay City Rollers album, or maybe as a background fill on the newest Justin Bieber disc. On other WA albums--classics like THERE'S THE RUB and NEW ENGLAND--Laurie wisely was given a back seat, relegated to harmony vocal with Martin doing lead, and allowed to do what he does best as a member of WA--play guitar (which he does very well) and more or less keep his mouth shut.

As if this weren't enough, the album also suffers from an attempt at slickness and comes off sounded stilted instead. Martin tries hard to do justice to the songs he sings lead on, but he's just not there--as though his heart's not in it, or maybe he was going through some kind of personal hell during the sessions.....or more likely, he realized in advance that LOCKED IN was going to be a crap album and just went through the motions to get it over and done with. It absolutely mystifies me that the same guys who did PILGRIMAGE, ARGUS, THERE'S THE RUB and NEW ENGLAND--arguably their 4 best albums--were capable of recording AND THEN RELEASING an album of this (lack of) quality.

I urge WA fans who are exploring their library to listen to this one--full songs, not 30-second samples--before plunking down your hard-earned bucks. There's a chance you might thank me later.

Wishbone Ash had a really hard time following up on Argus. A lot of people who bought Argus did so not really knowing WA, which is fair enough, but just for the music which was well publicised. I grew up with WA years before Argus. I used to go to their live gigs when they did the universities in the UK. I knew them before they had a recording contract with MCA. Argus was good but now I get weary of it. Overexposure. The subsequent albums (LPs) to Argus are all great albums. WA's sterling efforts to produce something that would not be the sons and daughters of Argus really shows on their subsequent albums.

This I think was the second album after Argus and is the one that even WA tries to forget. Ted Turner had left after Wishbone Four and his place was taken by Laurie Wisefield.

This to me, and maybe I am the only one, is a nice album. Maybe because when I first bought it back in the 70s it was happy times. The tracks sit together well and their are some nice giutar solos from the two axemen.

If you're a fan or nonfan it is worth buying, a very underrated CD and I am sure once you have given it a couple of spins and listen to what is going on you will enjoy it.