Argus
by Wishbone Ash

What an outstanding display of guitar work that demands your attention right from the start. This is one of the best guitar performances I have ever heard on a prog rock record with them synchronising so well with the other instruments. This makes for a cohesive listen for us and one that never stops putting out quality performances. The vocals slot in perfectly as well with the drums adding an extra layer to make it even better. The compositions the group have come up with as well are simply stunning with them providing us with some fantastic build up and then giving us a beautiful payoff on basically every track. Not a single song on here is filler with every song being great and all of them fill you with energy due to the vibrant solos and passionate vocal performance. It is seamless also as one song leads into the next making the record completely fly by. Overall, this is a record I didn't stumble across for a while but now I have I am immensely grateful as this is phenomenal. (Edited)

One of the best prog albums of all time. Superb guitar and bass throughout, underpinned by drums which sit perfectly in the mix. An album where you can pick each instrument out individually and where the vocals sit correctly in the mix also. This could well be my all time favourite album cover. As the warrior looks over the land one wonders what is going through his mind, flip the sleeve over and you can pick out the feint outline of a UFO. Well done to Hipgnosis for such a simple yet effective and thought provoking sleeve design.

This album represents Wishbone Ash’s artistic and commercial peak. The album reached # 3 in the UK album chart and achieved significant critical recognition and was voted album of the year by Melody Maker and Sounds readers. The album has a strong English feel with lots of references to history and medieval imagery. This feeling of Englishness is further enhanced by the folk styling used on many of the album’s acoustic parts. It may be this factor that hindered Wishbone Ash’s breakthrough in the States and why they never broke into the US market remains one of rocks great mysteries

All the tracks are strong but side one is really superb containing the classic Wishbone tracks Blowin’ Free and Time Was. Side two has a strong historical theme with tracks such as Warrior, Throw Down the Sword and The King Will Come all set in Medieval times. The guitar interchange between Andy Powell and Ted Turner is outstanding on both the electric and acoustic parts of the album

From Jboy56 04/13/2022 17:31 | #284200 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I made a revisit today. What a revisit it was, this album is AWESOME. The guitar work. harmonies, the song structures are just fantastic. A classic album and should be higher on any list. Recommended. All songs are at least 95/100 (Edited)

I went into this album not knowing a lot about the band, and I fell in love with the guitar interplay throughout the album. A real winner that somehow took a while to reach my ears. (Edited)