Review: No Easy Road for Martin Turner

Torquay - The original bass player and vocalist with melodic rock giants Wishbone Ash has now published excerpts from his autobiography on his website.

If you haven't heard of Martin Turner, or even Wishbone Ash, think duel lead guitar. More than any other band, Wishbone Ash pioneered this sound, which would influence Thin Lizzy and numerous other bands on both sides of the Atlantic. Martin Turner was born at Torquay, Devon on October 1, 1947, sang in the church choir, took up the guitar then switched to bass forming the Torinoes in November 1963. The Torinoes become The Empty Vessels, then Tanglewood, then finally Wishbone Ash with the recruiting of Ted Turner (no relation) and Andy Powell - who owns the name Wishbone Ash. (Best not go there). Martin Turner has fronted Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash for some time. Most of this information can be found in Blowin' Free, the official biography of the band which was published in 2001. Like Blowin' Free, No Easy Road is the title of an early Wishbone Ash track. For the stories behind them both, ask the man from SongFacts or check out their entries in his database. More background information can be found here, and the third extract from No Easy Road can be found here. Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash is currently in the middle of another UK tour, so check his site for details, and if you can't see the band on tour, there is some absolutely splendiferous archive footage on YouTube.