This Wishbone Ash album only contains one original member in it's lineup,Andy Powell.After listening to illuminations several times and for several days in a row,it became apparent as to how important Andy Powell is to that classic wishbone sound. And you will hear plenty of it. There is lots of the bands unique trademark harmony guitar work along with superb performances by the bass and drums.Strong musical influences in the likes of Kansas and Yes can also be heard.Illuminations is a 1996 recording that features many songs reminiscent of the early Ash.Yet it is recorded using modern studio/sound techniques.Giving the listener a well balanced full sound.Great progressive Rock with 12 tracks totaling more than 65 minutes.A nice variety of music.Some to stomp your feet to,some to sing along to,some to feel blue to and a few to dance along to.Which is what music should do.My advice to the die hard skeptic is be courageous like the warrior on the Argus cover and " Give this one a try ".Fast fact: Wishbone Ash's first big break resulted from a gig they did with Deep Purple.

A great melodic rock album with excellant guitar playing through out, had it came out in the seventies at some point it would probaly have sold and been appreciated a hell of a lot more than it has been. standout tracks include 'on your own', 'top of the world' and the ten minite 'tales of the wise' that reminded me of classic richie blackmore in his hey day with rainbow. with over an hours worth of music there's definitly plenty to choose from and has had me pleasantly listening for the past five years.

This is probably the best of the Wishbone Ash albums made without Martin Turner. Word has it that Andy Powell set out to make a follow-up to the famed 1972 Argus album. He didn't succeed, but it's a decent effort and does have more Wishbone Ash feel than the other albums Powell has made under the Ash name.

Going for that Argus feel which is nice. I'd been a fan since coming across Argus by chance in 1994 so I was interested in hearing some contempoary Ash when I bought this in 96 or 97. Fans of AOR would like Mountainside. Tales of the wise is a 10 minute epic (with some nice soloing from Andy), Another time is in the classic WA style of yore, the Ring is nice and Crack of dawn is a dreamy acoustic instrumental ( a bit like Throw down the sword). Very nice indeed. Another album which the line-up recorded is Live in Geneva, also recomended.

When Ash basically broke up in 1991, orignal member Andy Powell continued the Wishbone Ash name. Here in 1996, Andy (guitar, vocals) teams up with Roger Filgate (guitar, bass), Tony Kishman (vocals), and Mike Sturgis (drums). Released in 1996, this is a late 70's style album, with a Yes-like quality (Filgate - cool bass lines, example Track 9). Kishman is a strong singer (Foreigner/Ambrosia style). Powell adds his great classic Ash guitar stylings. It's a cool album, but not really Wishbone Ash, except track number 12. Wish they'd called it PFK (Powell, Filgate, Kishman). Technically superb, many musical styles incorporated, but songwriting just doesn't rate it 4 stars.