Andy Powell says on the leaflet included in Time Was/The Wishbone Ash Collection:
"... F*U*B*B stands for Fucked Up Beyond Belief - I think it was Bill's observation..."
(Bill=the producer of "There's The Rub" -album).
A record that has always been too underrated! Although Ted Turner left the band and Laurie Wisefield took his place, there’s no reason to say this is second grade music. It’s sad to read the history later on (USASH issues etc.) and find out that there was intrigues in the music business that almost "buried" this fine album.
I have some funny memories from Finnish rock magazines of this era. When "Wishbone Four" was published, it was "lame" compared to "Argus". When "There's The Rub" was published, it was too "rough" and this time the good album was "Wishbone Four". How logical! The "old times" are always better...
Personally this album rates high. Just read the text written after each song title. More than once you can find opinions like "all time favorite", "best solo ever" and so on.
The last Wishbone Ash song that was played in the Finnish national Radio (that I know of). So There’s The Rub was the last album I bought knowing that it existed. For the rest of the albums I had to have luck enough to be in a record shop in Kokkola or Helsinki at the right time (I visited them quite frequently and always checked the "W" tab).
Silver shoes is a strange kind of heavy ballad with a well packed arrangement. The instruments aren’t played as in typical "heavy" ‘though the result can be called heavy. Still everything that is played can be heard so nothing is muddy.
Lots of energy in this song! Again a heavyish song with a crystal clear sound (thanks to Bill Szymczyk, the producer?). Some Finnish reporter "blamed" Laurie Wisefield for making Wishbone Ash too heavy. What’s so heavy about Laurie’s solos here? His high-pitched solos aren’t the heaviest part of this song. Isn’t Martin’s bass and Andy’s rhythm guitar interaction the heavy part here?
This song has the all time greatest finale. More than a half minute of ideas collected to build up a long-lasting "tear-down" (the inverse of "build-up").
Something more peaceful with "ethereal" solos. Especially the solos in the ending are nicely built like a layer upon layer. The mandolin part in the middle with a guitar taking over the solo is nice too.
Sometimes I’ve thought that maybe this song named after a Greek goddess could in fact be telling something quite different. Could it be about the reasons Ted Turner left Wishbone Ash; "there’s no longer magic in your eyes"?
The atmosphere of this song is very "high". Maybe it’s because this describes "how good it feels to back home again". I’ve often thought of this song while returning home. Luckily I haven’t sung it aloud. That would have caused some embarrassing situations.
Some nice guitar interplay near the end of the song.
A song that has always touched me. Maybe I’m really more romantic than I say I am. Or could it be that the "Lady Jay" I know didn’t have such a sad fate as her British sister. But she will always be remembered while I listen to this song.
The solos in this song are IMHO the most beautiful solos Wishbone ever made. Especially the solo after "she took her life". *SIGH*! When I start Windows in my PC at home, it plays a part of this "most beautiful solo", because I’ve made a VAW-file of it...
My all time favorite of Wishbone Ash songs. I’ve always marveled the amount of ideas they’ve lavished in these nine minutes. To me this sounds like a perfect mixture of professionalism and playing tongue in cheek. This song is as far away from the classical lead guitar/rhythm guitar arrangement as a song can be. I nominate this as the "dueling banjos" of modern times!
GRoOOOoWL!
Written by: Rainer Frilund - Last update: Oct, 1998