Ted Turner is one of the iconic figures of melodic rock. If the name is not familiar to you, think of Wishbone Ash. If you don’t recognise that name either, you need a reality check.
A hundred, two hundred or even a thousand years from now – if Man still exists – the last decades of the 20th Century but especially the 1970s will be recognised as the pinacle of our musical development. And Ted Turner was right at the heart of it. You can read a bit about Wishbone Ash here, and a lot more on the websites of Martin Turner and Andy Powell. Suffice it to say that David (known as Ted) Turner, was together with Andy Powell the original lead guitarist of the band that did more than any other to develop the twin lead guitar sound, something that influenced among others Thin Lizzy, who had begun life as a power trio, but after hearing the Ash, bass player and band leader Phil Lynott brought in not one but two guitarists to replace the departing Eric Bell.
The Ted Turner website has been around for a while, but of late he has been working on projects that transcend his days with Wishbone Ash, something he makes clear in a radio interview therein. You can buy his latest music on the site. Although he has been voted one of Rolling Stone magazine’s top twenty rock guitarists of all time, he has no intention of resting on his laurels.
He has not though turned his back entirely on Wishbone Ash – how could he? – because according to the other Turner (no relation) in that greatest of guitar bands – he played two nights earlier this month with Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash in Tokyo.
[The above review was first published July 27, 2013. The link is to the archived version of the old Ted Turner website.]
Back To Digital Journal Index