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Post by jefflynnenut on Jun 7, 2015 11:59:28 GMT
Argus is the third album by the rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the most popular Wishbone Ash album and widely considered their greatest by fans and reviewers.[4] It was named "Album of the Year" in the 1972 year-end issue of Sounds magazine. The album features a blend of progressive rock, folk, and hard rock, and is considered a landmark album in the progression of twin-lead guitar harmonisation later adopted by bands such as Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden. The sound engineer on Argus was Martin Birch, who also worked with Deep Purple, later with Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and other hard rock bands.[5] The bulk of the melodies and lyrics were provided by bassist/lead vocalist Martin Turner, although all members contributed to the song arrangements.
With the success of Argus, the band also became one of the most popular live attractions of the day.
In 2002, an expanded CD was released, featuring a remix (by Martin Turner) of the original album as well as 3 live tracks from the EP Live from Memphis promotional EP, recorded in the studios of WMC-FM.
In 2007, a deluxe edition was released. This included the 1972 mix as well as additional BBC Session tracks.
In 2008, Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash released a new studio recording of Argus. Andy Powell's incarnation of Wishbone Ash also released its own live version of the album entitled Argus "Then Again" Live. Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash played the entire piece live for the first time in February 2008 – the first time any incarnation of the band had done so – and embarked on a lengthy Argus tour. Andy Powell's band followed suit and added the full piece to their repertoire for several shows.
All songs composed by Andy Powell, Martin Turner, Ted Turner and Steve Upton
Side one[edit]
"Time Was" – 9:42 (Lead vocals – Ted Turner, Martin Turner)
"Sometime World" – 6:55 (Lead vocals – Martin Turner, Andy Powell)
"Blowin' Free" – 5:18 (Lead vocals – Martin Turner, Andy Powell, Ted Turner)[4]
Side two[edit]
"The King Will Come" – 7:06 (Lead vocals – Martin Turner, Andy Powell)
"Leaf and Stream" – 3:55 (Lead vocals – Martin Turner)
"Warrior" – 5:53 (Lead vocals – Martin Turner, Andy Powell)
"Throw Down the Sword" – 5:55 (Lead vocals – Martin Turner, Andy Powell)[4]
First reissue bonus tracks[edit]
"No Easy Road" – 3:36
Martin Turner – bass guitar, vocals
Andy Powell – lead and rhythm guitar, vocals
Ted Turner – lead and rhythm guitar, vocals
Steve Upton – drums, percussion
Additional personnel
John Tout – organ on "Throw Down The Sword"
Ok so! I was introduced to this album the same week as OOTB!!!! The following week I discovered Led Zeppelin! What a time in my life! This album is Gold from start to finish! And years after sitting tirelessly trying to work out all the chords and twiddley bits on my guitar in my bedroom I spent a weekend roadying for Andy Powell! Enjoy!
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Post by queenofthehours on Jun 7, 2015 13:01:16 GMT
I have never listened to Wishbone Ash before and am looking forward to finding out what they are about. They always seem to be touring near me - and last time the support act was an ex-member of theirs! I'm sure I'm not making that up.
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Post by Buttler on Jun 7, 2015 14:04:47 GMT
Ooh what a wonderful band, thanks for sharing "Leaf and Stream" is my fav Argus track (such a brilliant guitar solo), but their best track is "Errors of my Way" (from their debut LP) imo
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Post by jrmugz on Jun 7, 2015 14:51:52 GMT
Looking forward to checking it out this week, JLN. Never heard of them, so will be interesting to hear what they are all about!
Jim
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Post by jrmugz on Jun 10, 2015 18:49:31 GMT
OK, JLN, below is my review of Wishbone Ash's "Argus" CD. 01. "Time Was" – Works. Good prog rock tune. Kind of a calmer version of early Rush. Like how it's loud, but not too loud, and the singer Andy Powell has a good voice. 02. "Sometime World" – Very nice sounding, reminds me of Eric Clapton very much for first half. Second half has early Yes written all over it. Very good song. 03. "Blowin' Free" – I'm always a sucker for cool jazzy guitar chords, nice harmonies, and a great bridge, so this song works great for me! 04. "The King Will Come" – Nice royal epic, with some nice changes. 05. "Leaf and Stream" – Very nice relaxing song. The singer has a soothing voice. Worked very nice with the jazzy laid-back guiar chord arrangement. 06. "Warrior" – Cool tune about embarking on a new course, etc. 07. "Throw Down the Sword" – Title reminds me of one of the climax scenes of "The Princess Bride" movie. They remind me of Kansas with some of their "searching" type of songs. Bonus Track: 08. "No Easy Road" – Straightforward boogie-woogie rocker. Nice to hear them outside of the concept album format. Star Rating: 4.3 out of 5 Prime Cuts: "Sometime World", "Blowin' Free", "Leaf and Stream" Bottom Line: A solid and focused royal epic CD. Thanks JLN for sharing; I enjoyed it and it was great getting familiriazed with a band I had never heard of before. What are any further albums you recommend for next from them, from your experience? Jim
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Post by unomusette on Jun 10, 2015 22:43:46 GMT
Yes! Another band I've always meant to investigate, this will be a proper treat, thanks jefflynnenut!
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Post by Chippa on Jun 12, 2015 20:31:24 GMT
I'll get at this very soon.
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Post by Chippa on Jun 14, 2015 4:41:32 GMT
"Time Was" – This reminds me a bit of early Pink Floyd. I like the acoustic guitars a lot. "Sometime World" – I like the singer's vocals. Some tasty guitar here, too. "Blowin' Free" - This definitely sounds like the era in which it was recorded. I smell incense..or maybe that's something else... "The King Will Come" - Oh yea, this is very proggy, for sure. Nobody does seven minute long songs, anymore, so you have to admire something like this. The vocals remind me of CSN&Y. "Leaf and Stream" - This sounds like a Spinal Tap parody of 70's prog-folk. Ok, but wow does it ever sound dated. "Warrior" - There's a bit in here that reminds me of "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. How odd is that? Ok song, though. "Throw Down The Sword" -Hey, it's Emerson, Lake, Yes and Palmer. Seriously, that's what it reminds me of! "No Easy Road"- Honestly, it doesn't even sound like the same band. Kind of a Deep purple vibe, here. Overall, I give this album about a 6/10. A tad too proggy and meandering, for me. But there are some definite winnibg moments that make it worth a listen.
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Post by 88keys on Jun 14, 2015 16:30:56 GMT
This album contains a lot of nice ideas, that don't ever seem to form fully realized songs. Chippa used the term meandering in his summation, and I tend to agree with that.
On the positive side, I think the lead singer has a great voice and there is some stellar guitar.
Best songs - Warrior and Sometime World.
The other tracks don't really stand out as special, IMO.
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Post by unomusette on Jun 14, 2015 22:11:29 GMT
Sorry I'm late yet again, this week's excuse is that I was in France at the beginning of it and at Download Festival at the end. But the review must go on, and here goes: Time Was - Slightly daunted by the length (ooer, missus!), but as a bona fide prog band I should expect this from Wishbone Ash. Nice acoustic intro, reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Moving into the next phase it's classic early '70's stuff which I can imagine most hip teenage boys being into at the time. It did tend to become pleasant background music as it went on, for me. Sometime World - Nice electric guitar sound as it kicks off, more Crosby Stills and Nash vibes as it speeds up at about 3 minutes in. You can tell they probably influenced a lot of other '70's bands. Nice bass work too, I liked this one better than Time Was. Blowin' Free - Liked the boogie/shuffley tempo, nice feelgood song you can't help nodding along too. The King Will Come – Interesting intro, sounds like a studio jam. Then it gets going properly with some more layered vocal harmony and the laid-back sound I'm starting to expect from them. I suspect with repeated listenings this would become a firm favourite. Leaf and Stream – This reminds me of something Strawbs would do as it begins, which is not a bad thing at all. Really nice guitar sound again and very soothing to listen to. Warrior – Scratchier sound here but it plainly means business. I can imagine this being the soundtrack to an old school sword and sorcery film. More intricate harmonies, it must have taken ages to produce. The sound does grate on my ears a bit following on from Leaf and Stream, but that might just be down to my laptop. Throw Down the Sword – Atmospheric opening, but starts to plod pretty soon after that for me although it does have a pretty ending with the twin guitar sound. No Easy Road – More easygoing rock, nothing spectacular but superior as background music. I'd give it 6 out of 10, it's not the sort of thing I'd normally choose to listen to but it's plainly played by talented musicians who devoted a lot of time and effort to giving it a polished result. The biggest influence I could hear was the Crosby, Stills and Nash one, but it did bring other bands from the era to mind who may or may not have been influenced by Wishbone Ash (or vice versa) I'm glad to have had the opportunity to listen this album, I've always meant to and never actually done so, so thanks jefflynnenut!
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Post by jefflynnenut on Jun 15, 2015 10:44:29 GMT
Well Kiddos! Thanks for enjoying yet another offering and I'm sorry I'm only liking your comments now! I travelled across to Ipswich to see the Moody Blues, who were incredible! And I also bought myself Argus on Vinyl!
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Post by Helmut83 on Jun 20, 2015 5:28:08 GMT
jefflynnenut, I'm late to this, but having heard it since the day it was posted (particularly when I was making my bed or cleaning my room) I wanted to give a brief review. First of all, I must make the disclaimer that I'm not into progressive rock, even when I've heard a good bunch of works from that genre, so I'm kind of a donkey when talking about it. Now, to the opinions. Basically, I agree pretty much with what 88keys said: the album is full of good intentions but most of them don't end up reaching a good climax or forming a fully convincing song. There are many bits that sound great but then end up fading away into more irrelevant or amorphous parts, so those bits end up being nothing but that, good bits that are unable to form good songs. I'm used to different parts of the same song being more cohesive between them, that's why I wasn't thrilled by most any of the songs of this album. Hey, I didn't dislike most any of them either! It wasn't an unpleasant experience to listen to this album! It's just that I wasn't particularly moved by the album. But then again, that's progressive rock, so it's most of all a matter of wether you like the genre or not. However, I'm not surprised that someone who is more into the genre would deem this album so good. The vocal and instrumental performances are excellent, extremely precise, neat and tidy (the other week I talked with unomusette about how I thought in some tracks Rory Gallagher needed to play more tidy... this guitarist is a great example of playing tidy). The sound is very clear too. Each of the instruments is played masterfully and they are recorded and mixed in a perfect way. That's something to be appreciated even if the album didn't really got you. As for the tracks I liked best, "The king will come" and "Warrior" stood a bit over the others for me. "Throw down the sword" and "Time was" had a few epic moments as well.
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Post by queenofthehours on Jun 29, 2015 15:42:54 GMT
1. Time Was – Lovely guitar opening; very pastoral. Already sounding a little prog. I was getting a bit board until the drums started; now it’s great! I’m hearing little bits of ELO in here somewhere (pre ‘75). Love the bass and the drummery. 2. Sometime World – I like this, nice and quiet, a bit like ‘Albatross’ to my ears. Love the little fast folky bit.
3. Blowin' Free – Not my favourite, although I do like the bit that sounds like Status Quo!
4. The King Will Come – Like the quiet start and the drums. The electric guitar reminds me a little of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. Very prog :-)
5. Leaf and Stream – A nice folky number.
6. Warrior – Great opening guitar. My favourite track so far maybe.
7. Throw Down the Sword – I like this too, great opening.
8. No Easy Road – But this is my favourite. Very different to the album. A bit bluesy and rocky. Reminds me of a proggy-er Procol Harum.
I enjoyed this album a lot more than I thought I would. Also, it’s folkier than I’d imagined – rather like my idea of a less commercial Jethro Tull.
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