ARGUS

4 ½ stars really. As can be seen from the number of reviews here, this is undisputedly the most important WISHBONE ASH album. It is a timeless Classic Rock Album but maybe not a Prog Classic because it really sounds more like rock - with some prog elements such as extended compositions - than prog per se. Does it bother you? Not me and many others who praise Argus even more than I do. The album has a feeling of very balanced unity, especially in the sound, even if the songs approach various genres from acoustic folk rock (delicate melancholic ballad 'Leaf And Stream') to American-style rock'n'roll ('Blowin' Free', my least favourite track) or riff-heavy hard rock ('Warrior'). There's no weak track among the seven.

This band is known for its meaty twin guitar sound and here's plenty of that, as well as great vocal harmonies. Indeed, sometimes keyboards or any other extra instruments are not missed at all. Standout tracks are the longest ones: 'Time Was', 'Sometime World', 'The King Will Come' and 'Throw Down The Sword', but I'm very fond of the mentioned 'Leaf And Stream' too. Some albums just have the special aura that usually is never again captured by the band in question. Argus is among them.

The great cover art is somehow exactly right for the music: the mystic figure with a helmet, a cloak and a spear is looking over a vast misty landscape, seeing an UFO in the distance (which is rather unvisible to the person looking at the cover). The sense of medieval fantasy is just behind the corner of pure classic rock here.