ARGOS

Paying tribute to various progressive rock greats of yesteryear, Argos provides a three-part album (broken up into multiple tracks) during which they somewhat imitate various bands. The first part, "Nursed by Giants" is an extremely good impersonation of Genesis and Gentle Giant. The second part, "Canterbury Souls" pays homage to the graceful groups of the Canterbury scene. The third part, "From Liverpool to Outer Space" is an obvious tribute to The Beatles. Argos acts as a musical chimera, presenting three very different faces of progressive rock music, yet retaining a good measure of consistency. As such, this album isn't particularly amazing, unique, or even memorable, but does a fine job interpreting the aforementioned styles.

"Nursed by Giants part 1: Killer" Plinking tones begin the album, which soon give way to organ, electric guitar, and a bouncy little rhythm section. The vocals are surprisingly low, while the keyboards are largely kept in Tony Banks mode for most of this peppy track track.

"Nursed by Giants part 2: The King Of Ghosts" This song reminds me of Gentle Giant toward the end, particularly because of the giddy counterpoint vocals section, but is a pleasant one that also makes me think of The Beatles in the beginning.

"Nursed by Giants part 3: Black Cat" Another Gentle Giant-sounding track (interesting title in this respect, methinks), this one combines that post-Gabriel Genesis synthetic sound with softer vocal passages- all rather similar to the Gentle Giant number of the same name.

"Nursed by Giants part 4: A Name In The Sand" Acoustic guitar and Pink Floyd-like vocals make up this fourth part. In fact, it's very similar to Pink Floyd all around.

"Nursed by Giants part 5: Core Images" In a bizarre twist, the band adopts a heavy Van der Graaf Generator sound, complete with vocals that sound just like Peter Hammill. There's some dazzling synthesizer work also.

"Canterbury Souls part 1: The Hat Goes North" Soft electric piano, some flute, and a straightforward beat makes for a decent, jazzy pop tune.

"Canterbury Souls part 2: Young Person's Guide To Argos" Mellotron and synthetic brass introduce sputtering electronic tones, drums and organ.

"Canterbury Souls part 3: Ten Fingers Overboard" While not a bad piece, this tends to be even more faceless than the previous pieces, but does has some good organ in it.

"Canterbury Souls part 4: Norwegian Stone Shortage" The final part of the second suite is more akin to Muzak, and lacks consistency, more or less jumping from one musical idea to the next rather haphazardly. Still, it has a good jazz vibe and isn't unpleasant at all.

"From Liverpool To Outer Space part 1: Further Apart" The simplest portion of the album is the third one. This is a song with straightforward vocals and a soft piano providing the chords.

"From Liverpool To Outer Space part 2: Time For Love" A light peppy song, this is similar to the previous track, but with a happier feel and some rather familiar lyrics ("There's a time for love, and the time is now").

"From Liverpool To Outer Space part 3: Meet The Humans" Harpsichord in a major key gives way to Mellotron, electronic percussion, and light vocals.

"From Liverpool To Outer Space part 4: Elektro-Wagner" Synthetic yet orchestral, this terse piece has charm and serves as a nice bit of music.

"From Liverpool To Outer Space part 5: Passing Through" The final piece sounds like another blend of The Beatles and Gentle Giant with a little oomph in the drumming department. It's quite good, and I rather like the refrain.