| This is the third album from Wishbone Ash (originally released in May 1972) featuring the line-up of Ted Turner (guitar/vocals), Martin Turner (bass/vocals), Andy Powell (guitar/vocals) and Steve Upton (drums).
Argus is the most popular Wishbone Ash album. 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 harmonization 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, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and other rock/metal bands.
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 album reached #3 in the UK charts) Wishbone Ash became one of the most popular live attractions of the day.
A mixture of medieval lyricism and tight musicianship, 'Argus is not a concept album, but is an album of strong, interesting songs. Fans agree that 'Argus' is the classic Wishbone Ash sound and that the band have not bettered this with any of their subsequent releases. Their twin "harmony lead guitars" are masterfully backed up with a tight rhythm section.
Their follow-up "Pilgrimage" album (released in September 1971) did reach #14 in the UK charts.
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. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply. |
