Voted one of Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 20 Guitarists, former Wishbone Ash founder Ted Turner would also play on John Lennon’s classic Imagine album, but for much of his life since has only periodically returned to the music world, and does so now with his new album Better Together, in collaboration with his wife, Majella.
Described by fans who have already heard tracks as ‘New age soul’, Better Together features 12 original songs said to be inspired by the pair’s “Thirteen year journey as first friends, then lovers, and, more recently, husband and wife collaborators”. The album will be released by Cherry Red.
“After extensive touring, I left Wishbone in 1974 to pursue a personal pilgrimage,” said Turner. “Whilst travelling, I was drawn to the comprehensive works of Buckminster Fuller, becoming involved in the World Man Band (alongside Michael Mitchell) – an initiative designed to raise global consciousness through rock music. My journey since then has taught me that we are not separate; everything has a relationship. We are nature. Systems only exist through collaboration, otherwise there is no life. The power that we have is to love and be kind – to one another, to nature, to our animal friends, and to the planet. Success for all is not complicated when we’re serving everyone.
“My union with Majella began as a friendship which, some ten years later, developed into a marriage. Although aware of each other’s drive for creating music, neither of us could have imagined the synergy to be found through collaboration. To understand what is core to our music, look no further than the track ‘If You Believe’ – we live, and we learn, through love. Our music comes from the heart and the depths of our soul. For us, Better Together is not just a beautiful testament to our love; it’s a reminder that the heart connection is where we overcome our greatest obstacles and live the fullest expression of who we really are.”
His wife and partner, Majella continued, “Each song is a celebration of our unique chemistry, our spiritual beliefs, our love for humanity and for nature, and most of all our life calling together. From the eponymous first song, ‘Better Together’, which describes our first encounter, when we both instinctively felt a synchronicity about our meeting to ‘Karmony’ which was inspired by the legacy of John Lennon who was living his life purpose when, through imagining and promoting collective consciousness, directly changed the world, to my personal favourite, ‘If You Believe’, which is about being authentic and walking your talk, every song on the album is to acknowledge and remind people of the unquestionable truth of who we are, why we are here, and that there is something bigger than all of us.”
Better Together is available as a CD through Amazon by clicking here, on iTunes by clicking here, and for their official website click here.
As many will know, after first leaving Wishbone Ash in 1974, Ted Turner rejoined in 1987, recording and touring with them through until 1994. His original replacement in the band was former Home guitarist Laurie Wisefield, and together with original bass player/vocalist Martin Turner they have released a video we they share stories relating to the recent boxed collection by the band titled The Vintage Years – For more on this at Ramzine click here.
