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SteveG View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Argus: Wishbone Ash Appreciation Thread
    Posted: February 13 2015 at 12:29
I've heard WA's classic called "Guitar prog", "Progish Metal", near prog, almost prog and every other description that comes close to calling this album prog, but not quite. No matter. Argus  is Wishbone Ash's best album with fantastic songs coupled with the stellar playing and singing that was demonstrated on their previous two releases. It even features a cover photo by Hipgnosis. Fancy that!
 
What's your opinion of Argus? 


Edited by SteveG - July 24 2015 at 10:32
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2015 at 12:41
Stellar. That guitar gets put to excellent use.

And its cover, simple as it is, is still one of the trippiest ever.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2015 at 14:59
Another great album - very much the template for Steve Harris' vision for Iron Maiden. Side 2 blows me away, side 1 is no slouch, either. The live album after this is also a treat, then with There's The Rub, they changed a bit.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2015 at 15:52
One of my all time favorite albums that I discovered as a youngling.  Warrior, Throw Down the Sword, and The King will come are the favorites.  The whole album sort of had a concept feel to it in the way the tracks were ordered.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 13 2015 at 22:00
All of the above.  I saw WA in concert in 1973, with Flash opening....can't describe how fantastic both bands were!  

Wishbone Ash were amazingly tight, the two-guitar approach was stunning live.  Martin Turner's ability to play bass and sing simultaneously was very impressive, he was one of the best I'd ever seen at that.  

Since then, I've seen Andy Powell's WA twice and enjoyed both shows!  They play generously from "Argus," which is their best album.  However, there is plenty of other great material on their other albums as well....for quite a while, I was really into "Wishbone 4". 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2015 at 19:31
My all time favourite album by any band. Why it's never mentioned in those lists of "1001 albums you must hear before you die" is beyond me......
 
The twin lead solo at the end of Throw Down The Sword still gives me goosebumps after 40 years.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2015 at 23:35
Agree with all the above. A fantastic album all around. It is one I have never tired of hearing.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 14 2015 at 23:43
I need to listen to this one of these days. Heard so many great things about it.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2015 at 00:34
Originally posted by fudgenuts64 fudgenuts64 wrote:

I need to listen to this one of these days. Heard so many great things about it.

Check it out!!  Good stuff! 






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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2015 at 03:11
Confession time...........
In mid-2013, I had a planned vacation to NYC, and at that time, there was a collective bill with Nektar and MT's Wishbone Ash at BB King's, near Times Square. I've been into Nektar since 1989, but never heard a note of WA. All I knew was they were a twin-guitar band that Steve Harris adored. I was soooo excited to actually catch Nektar first and foremost, I actually contemplated leaving after their set. I thought, " stuff it, I've come half-way around the world, lets see what all the fuss is with these Ash dudes ". I'm ever so glad I hung around........ I regret not discovering them earlier.......
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2015 at 03:30
Do you know "Epitaph" a (German, British ?) Band who play guitars like Wishbone Ash !
http://epitaph-band.de/discografie/cd/
I like very much the first album "Epitaph" and 2nd album "Stop Look and Listen" , great guitars !!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 15 2015 at 03:42
Argus: yep everybody should own a copy i.e. on vinyl or CD........ not MP3 or YouTube. Just buy the thing and listen to it in true Hi Fi.

The only track I do not care for anymore off this album is Blowin' Free.....this song is too mainstream, southern rock for my liking.


Edited by BarryGlibb - February 15 2015 at 03:43
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 09:18
It's their strongest effort. "The King Will Come" is my favorite song from the album. "Time Was" is a great Rock song ! I will always love that track. It reminds me of a song that Danny Kirwan would have written for Fleetwood Mac during the Future Games/Bare Trees period. I also hear a lot of Pete Townshend chord style changes/voicings in the song. "Leaf and Stream" is beautiful, but again...everything about it reminds me of Danny Kirwan's guitar playing and particularly vocals. I bought this album the week it was released and had a instantaneous reaction about it's originality. It is very original and to the character of Wishbone Ash. The emulation of others that I hear in their music does not hold a candle to their originality. Wishbone Ash are very unique. Sometimes they blend a "Traditional Folk" vocal sounding style with "Traditional Irish Folk" phrasings on guitar...such as "Jigs" ...for example the guitar harmony signature playing at the end of "Blowin" Free" and about a hundred other songs . Andy Powell is a very melodic player, technical enough to pull off surprising things, and a fine vocalist. The keyboardist from Renaissance, (forget name, shame on me), plays on "Throw Down The Sword" and then Andy Powell plays lead guitar on "Ashes Are Burning" A great time period to remember.

Edited by TODDLER - February 18 2015 at 09:19
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 09:52
Originally posted by TODDLER TODDLER wrote:

It's their strongest effort. "The King Will Come" is my favorite song from the album. "Time Was" is a great Rock song ! I will always love that track. It reminds me of a song that Danny Kirwan would have written for Fleetwood Mac during the Future Games/Bare Trees period. I also hear a lot of Pete Townshend chord style changes/voicings in the song. "Leaf and Stream" is beautiful, but again...everything about it reminds me of Danny Kirwan's guitar playing and particularly vocals. I bought this album the week it was released and had a instantaneous reaction about it's originality. It is very original and to the character of Wishbone Ash. The emulation of others that I hear in their music does not hold a candle to their originality. Wishbone Ash are very unique. Sometimes they blend a "Traditional Folk" vocal sounding style with "Traditional Irish Folk" phrasings on guitar...such as "Jigs" ...for example the guitar harmony signature playing at the end of "Blowin" Free" and about a hundred other songs . Andy Powell is a very melodic player, technical enough to pull off surprising things, and a fine vocalist. The keyboardist from Renaissance, (forget name, shame on me), plays on "Throw Down The Sword" and then Andy Powell plays lead guitar on "Ashes Are Burning" A great time period to remember.

John Tout, shame on you, Toddler!  LOL  I agree with your post.

Has anyone seen either of the two touring Wishbone Ash iterations?  I've seen Andy Powell's WA twice, and he really does a fantastic job with this material, including singing the lead vocals!  Last time he had a Finnish guitarist who was a slide guitar whizz, it was fun!  

Martin Turner's WA project intrigues me, he has toured with Laurie Wisefield.  I'd enjoy seeing them, I've only seen a snippet or two on Youtube and really liked what I heard.  
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 09:52
One of my favorite albums of all time. Definitely a prog album!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 10:40
^^^

A terrific record, indeed!Clap
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 11:15
Originally posted by cstack3 cstack3 wrote:

Originally posted by TODDLER TODDLER wrote:

It's their strongest effort. "The King Will Come" is my favorite song from the album. "Time Was" is a great Rock song ! I will always love that track. It reminds me of a song that Danny Kirwan would have written for Fleetwood Mac during the Future Games/Bare Trees period. I also hear a lot of Pete Townshend chord style changes/voicings in the song. "Leaf and Stream" is beautiful, but again...everything about it reminds me of Danny Kirwan's guitar playing and particularly vocals. I bought this album the week it was released and had a instantaneous reaction about it's originality. It is very original and to the character of Wishbone Ash. The emulation of others that I hear in their music does not hold a candle to their originality. Wishbone Ash are very unique. Sometimes they blend a "Traditional Folk" vocal sounding style with "Traditional Irish Folk" phrasings on guitar...such as "Jigs" ...for example the guitar harmony signature playing at the end of "Blowin" Free" and about a hundred other songs . Andy Powell is a very melodic player, technical enough to pull off surprising things, and a fine vocalist. The keyboardist from Renaissance, (forget name, shame on me), plays on "Throw Down The Sword" and then Andy Powell plays lead guitar on "Ashes Are Burning" A great time period to remember.

John Tout, shame on you, Toddler!  LOL  I agree with your post.

Has anyone seen either of the two touring Wishbone Ash iterations?  I've seen Andy Powell's WA twice, and he really does a fantastic job with this material, including singing the lead vocals!  Last time he had a Finnish guitarist who was a slide guitar whizz, it was fun!  

Martin Turner's WA project intrigues me, he has toured with Laurie Wisefield.  I'd enjoy seeing them, I've only seen a snippet or two on Youtube and really liked what I heard.  
 
I would love to see them!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 11:48
My dad sort of ruined the album for me a bit.  I was toward the end of Sometime World when he came in to my room and said "Isn't that really annoying and repetitive? Turn it off".  I guess he sort of had a point, and it soured the album for me for a few years.  I took his opinion too seriously, since it was music from his time period.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 12:30
Argus definitely has lots of proggy elements but isn't prog. I think all the mythical allegories are there, plus some interesting chord progressions, but they all tend to be scalular and riffed upon for a few minutes. They're kind of having too much fun for it to be prog Tongue 

Whatever it is though, great record that always fits that kind of mood where you just need to listen to something simple but beautiful.


Edited by Xonty - February 18 2015 at 12:31
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2015 at 12:40
Really, really love the guitars, but the 60s hippy vocals have always left me cold. It's rather like The Cowsills or It's a Beautiful Day merged with Lynyrd Skynyrd to make a prog album about King Arthur, who took the last ship to Alabama rather than Avalon.
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