''There's the Rub'' is the fifth studio album by rock band

Wishbone Ash Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular albums included ''Wishbone Ash'' (1970), ''Pilgrimage'' (1971), '' Argus'' (1972), ''Wishbone Four'' (1973), ''There's the Rub'' (1974), and '' ...

. It is the first album to feature guitarist-vocalist

Laurie Wisefield Laurence Mark Wisefield (born 27 August 1952) is an English guitarist, best known for his contributions to Wishbone Ash during the 1970s and 1980s. Early career Prior to his stint in Wishbone Ash, Wisefield performed with the progressive rock b ...

, who would be a major part of the band's creative direction for the next 11 years. It also marked a change in sound. It was the band's first album to be recorded in America and was produced by producer

Bill Szymczyk William Frank Szymczyk (; born February 13, 1943) is an American music producer and technical engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of th ...

. Although the trademark twin guitars were still evident, the album had a more "American" feel with a smoother production sound. Nevertheless, after the disappointing critical response to the previous studio album, ''

Wishbone Four ''Wishbone Four'' is the fourth studio album by British rock band Wishbone Ash, released in 1973. It was a departure from their previous album, '' Argus'', in that it lacked that recording's overall cohesion and atmosphere and the loose concep ...

'', reviews for ''There's The Rub'' were much more positive. The title is taken from Shakespeare's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''; "To sleep—perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub." The track "F.U.B.B." caused controversy upon the album's release because of the acronym's meaning ("Fucked Up Beyond Belief"). Moreover, the haunting ballad "Persephone" would go on to become one of the band's most popular live songs. The lyric of "Lady Jay" is based on the

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

folk legend about Kitty Jay. The cover art designed by

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10cc, Ba ...

shows a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er rubbing (in effect, polishing) a

cricket ball A cricket ball is a hard, solid ball used to play cricket. A cricket ball consists of a cork core wound with string then a leather cover stitched on, and manufacture is regulated by cricket law at first-class level. The trajectory of a crick ...

on his trousers, leaving a mark – a common practice by

fast bowlers Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling (cricket), bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', ...

who do so to make one side of the leather ball shinier than the other. This helps the ball to swing as it travels through the air after being bowled, so making it harder for the batsman to play it. The album peaked at No. 16 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

Track listing

All songs composed by Wishbone Ash # "Silver Shoes" – 6:35 # "Don't Come Back" – 5:08 # "Persephone" – 7:00 # "Hometown" – 4:46 # "Lady Jay" – 5.49 # "F.U.B.B." – 9:22

Personnel

;Wishbone Ash *

Martin Turner Martin Robert Turner (born 1 October 1947) is an English musician best known for his time as the bass guitarist, lead vocalist and a founding member of the rock band, Wishbone Ash. Career Turner was with Wishbone Ash, known for their twin le ...

– bass,

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Andy Powell Andrew Powell (born 19 February 1950) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is a founding member of the British band Wishbone Ash, whose use of twin lead guitars was influential. Early life and career Powell was born in the East E ...

– acoustic and

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

guitars,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

– acoustic, electric and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

guitars, backing vocals,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

Steve Upton ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion ;Additional personnel *

Albhy Galuten Albhy Galuten (born Alan Bruce Galuten; December 27, 1947) is an American technology executive and futurist, Grammy Award-winning record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and conductor. He has numerous inventions and has produced 18 ...

– organ (3),

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s (3) *Nelson Flaco Padron –

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s (6)

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Wishbone Ash albums 1974 albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Albums produced by Bill Szymczyk MCA Records albums