ARGUS

From the days that I first started buying Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin cassettes I can recall seeing Wishbone Ash albums at the record stores. However, their name never came up in the metal magazines I was reading and I never heard any of their songs on the rock radio station in Vancouver, so I never knew if I was missing out on something earth shaking or just standard 70s guitar rock.

It took my roamings on this site to bring that name to the forefront of my curiosity and at last I decided to get what seemed to be the seminal album by this band. During the first play I was surprised at the sound of the more rocking part of the track Time Was. It sounded very much like the sound of the power pop band Sloan circa 1992 and also like some other bands of the 90s. There's always someone who's done it previously it seems. The acoustic guitar on this album is very pretty and the dual electric guitar stands out as original for its time (I grew up with the dual guitars of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden so something a little more aggressive and progressive had already set the standard for me). I also enjoyed right of the bat the track The King Will Come particularly for the wah-wah guitar riff.

Good though the album was, I couldn't get as hotly excited about it as some other reviewers. Perhaps it was a case of place and time and personal experience, but for me it was just a good album. I picked out some titles that hadn't pricked up my ears yet and threw them on a playlist of other such songs and hit shuffle. Leaf and Stream came on and I was attentive throughout. I also tried to play the much praised Throw Down the Sword but after a few listens I can't recall the riff or melody without playing the track. So far there is little from this album that plays spontaneously in my head (a sign that the music has not yet ingrained itself) unlike some other albums I bought at the same time that do pop up in the random jukebox in my mind's ear.

I will keep listening. It's a good album. But I haven't found that much in the music that really strikes me as the prog flavour of the era. It's a mellower, more laid back approach to progressive music, and I can't help but think that the length of a couple of the songs are the most progressive parts of the album.