ARGUS

Quite simply one of the best albums to come out of the 70s in any music genre let alone Progressive rock and it wasn't created by any of the prog heavyweights Yes or Genesis it was created by Wishbone Ash. I was prompted to write a review after reading another review which gave the album only 2 stars.

Music is a very personal thing and subjective by its very nature so you can't really give an objective review - you either like something or you don't. Argus has been a top 5 favourite album of all time for me since I heard it in 1976, I still listen to it regularly and to my ears it's as timeless now as it was back then. This fact alone testifies to the quality of the material.

I won't go into track by track analysis you can read that in some of the other reviews. Particular favourites of mine are Sometime World, The King Will Come and Throw Down the Sword.

Sometime World starts in pastoral fashion with harmonising guitars, but half way through changes to an uptempo section with some superb driving bass work by a grossly under recognised Martin Turner and a superbly uplifting 2 minute guitar solo to end the track. The King will Come is styled as an epic and has one of the greatest guitar riffs ever, rivalling even Smoke on the Water. Throw down the Sword is another epic with a truly majestic coda, twin lead guitar parts intertwining masterfully backed by stately organ played by John Tout - simply stunning.

Not mentioned often in reviews but the vocal harmonies throughout the album are quite stunning also. No question in my mind a 5 star album. A masterpiece of progressive rock.