Martin Turner
Album Title: The Beauty Of Chaos: Live At The Citadel
Record Label: Cherry Red / Dirty Dog Discs
Review by Sal Serio
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Martin Turner - The Beauty Of Chaos: Live At The Citadel
Classic rock fans undoubtedly know the name Martin Turner as a founding member of Wishbone Ash, and Turner certainly doesn’t deny his role in that band’s seminal 1970s catalog. In fact, Turner’s current release, the 2-CD / DVD live set ‘The Beauty Of Chaos’ is a brilliant document of Turner’s band performing their most recent studio album ‘Written In The Stars’ in it’s entirety, along with a heap of supplemental material, all culled from the Wishbone Ash initial decade, 1970-1980 (which Turner joking refers to as “old hippie music”).
It should not be understated how excellent the vocal harmonies are in this live concert, with Turner’s lead being supplemented by guitarist Danny Willson (ex-Showaddywaddy) and drummer Tim Brown. This quartet is extremely competent, especially evident in the sinewy guitar interplay between Willson and Misha Nikolic. The tone of the guitars is like fine crystal, pure and pristine, with Turner’s melodic bass parts acting at times like a third guitar in the extended instrumental passages. Historians may be interested that Turner’s white Gibson Thunderbird bass guitar was purchased from the late musician Pete Overend Watts of Mott The Hoople fame.
The featured new material is quite enjoyable contemporary-sounding hard rock, however the rubber really hits the road when the performance travels in to Wishbone Ash territory, as the quiet intro portion of “The Pilgrim” segues in to polyrhythmic prog rock of the highest degree. The DVD, which includes the entire concert as well as band interview, is highlighted by inventive multi-camera videography and spectacular surround sound audio.
Recommended tracks: “The Beauty Of Chaos”, “Written In The Stars”, “The Pilgrim”, “The King Will Come”, “Sometime World”, “F.U.B.B.”, “You See Red”, and “Doctor”.
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