Stealer of Years

Almost a quarter-century after their breakup, Glenn Cornick, Gary Pickford-Hopkins and Tweke Lewis, with Brian Thomas on drums, reunited as Wild Turkey and recorded Stealer Of Years for release on the little-known HTD Records label; it was licensed by Castle Records and re-released in 1999. The band made no attempt at fancy or complex music, not even to the degree that they did on their original two albums Battle Hymn and Turkey, instead staying closer to blues-rock orthodoxy on many of the songs, alongside a liberal dose of likable, accessible and melodic tunes that might fit under the general category of AOR.

As was the case with the band's earlier albums, the instrumental focus of Stealer Of Years was on guitars. Lewis took a bare-bones, make-every note-count approach to his work on these 14 tracks, from his chunky riffing and single-note lines on "Wrap It Up Take It Home," "Battlefield" and "Gunslinger" to his bluesy, forlorn pealing on "With You In Mind" and the excellent, dusky "Anthem Of The Universe." In the absence of a second guitarist, he played his own dual-lines, and did so quite nicely as evidenced on "Riff Me Rock Me." He also contributed the wonderful end-piece "Klementina," which was sadly the album's only instrumental. Oddly enough, there are almost no extended guitar solos, and although the dedication to tasteful brevity is admirable and immaculate, it might have been nice to hear ol' Tweke cut loose a bit more.

Vocalist Gary Pickford-Hopkins did a fantastic job; his gruff and somewhat nasal delivery may actually have improved a bit since Turkey's original (and all too brief) run at fame and fortune. He showed that he could still hit the high notes on "St. Catherine's Bells" and "With You In Mind" and indeed, his singing and co-writing (with Lewis) are fundamental to the album's appeal.

Of course, Wild Turkey is a closely-embedded branch of the Jethro Tull family tree, by way of bassist and founding member Glenn Cornick. He wrote three of the songs on Stealer Of Years, including "St. Catherine's Bells" along with the title track. They are the tunes that tend to veer away from rock music, with nods to traditional English folk and skiffle. "Life Is What You Make It" is straight-ahead rock and roll, an obvious nod to the raucous sounds that came from the likes of Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis in the 1950's.

Beside playing some deceptively melodic and swarthy bass (have a listen to "Battlefield" for a good example) Cornick also brought along his trademark bandana. Some things never change! All for the better. Cheers to ya, lads!