Wishbone Ash - Phoenix (Live) (MCA, 1972)

Dirty, dirty Prog but rather splendid with it.

Those familiar with the BBC4 'Prog Britannia' will be familiar with Wishbone Ash's 'Vas Dis' - a slice of widdly-diddly progressive duelling guitar madness. I was rather taken with it and it led me to the hoarier end of the Progressive spectrum...

Namely, Wishbone Ash's 1972 opus 'Argus' and the track 'Phoenix'. This nineteen-and-a-half minute live version veers from (what I imagine) Lynyrd Skynyrd (sounds like) to subtle touches of Jazzy, Tortoise-esqueness. From passages of pompous portent to explosions of frizzy thunder. From plateaus of calm to what sounds like the band playing pat-a-cake.

Nice.

Download Wishbone Ash - Phoenix (Live) (Prog Rock, mp3 download) (Divshare)

American Spring - Fallin In Love (United Artists, 1972)

Light-as-air girl group action.

Introduced to me as a b-side cover by Lush, this is from an excellent collection of Brian Wilson's extra-curricular production work.

Rolling piano, soothing waves of vocals, gently unfolding string arrangement, utterly beautiful. A reflective, wistful take on the girl group sound that surely struck a chord with Saint Etienne.

Beach Boys connections through being written by Dennis Wilson and produced by Brian Wilson.

Download American Spring 'Fallin' In Love' (Beach Boys, Produced by Brian Wilson mp3) (Mediafire)

Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb - I Wanna Live (Elektra, 1972)

Source material for This Mortal Coil. Lovely Neil Young-ish pedal steel country folk rock.

Really nice slice of gentle, reflective folk rock, laced with pedal steel, lush harmonies and subtle drums, the vocals building in intensity as song progresses.

Long out-of-print, it's best-known as a track on This Mortal Coil's 'Blood' album - along with covers like The Byrds' 'I Come And Stand At Every Door' and 'Chris Bell's 'You And Your Sister'.

The original is less other-worldly than the This Mortal Coil cover, naturally, and it's notable that Ivo Watts-Russell renamed it 'I Want To Live' to move it away from the sunny US West Coast and into an icy Europe.

A very beautiful song.

Download Gary Ogan & Bill Lamb 'I Wanna Live' (Folk Rock, This Mortal Coil Original, mp3) (Mediafire)