Argus Expanded Edition

From the second you hit the play button, you know you're in for a real treat with this album. The first song, "Time Was" starts out with some gorgeous acoustic guitar, which is soon joined by bass and then two singers singing "I've got to rearrange my life, I've got to rearrange my world" in lovely harmony. After a few minutes, drums herald a second, more energetic melody accompanied by electric guitars. This first song demonstrates excellent song writing and construction, mixing the many elements that made Wishbone Ash such a great rock band: very tasteful and inventive twin guitars, lovely vocal harmonies, good bass and drums, and the alternation of acoustic and electric sections. The entire album is simply inspired, full of charm and energy. "Time Was" is followed by a fairly sad song, "Sometime World" about a lonely man who feels that the world has passed him by. But the first line, "I met a man who felt the same way" lets you know that the narrator who meets the man shares his sadness. Despite the sad opening, it transitions into a faster section which is much more upbeat. There are no lyrics to account for the change of mood, but maybe the two guys have cheered each other up by realizing they're not the only ones feeling down. (Or maybe it was just time for some kickass guitar solos.) It's another great song. This is followed by "Blowin' Free" about an ex-girlfriend with hair that blew free like a cornfield. This features all 3 singers and might make you think of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. "The King Will Come" is a song about the second coming of Christ on Judgment Day. It builds from near silence into a funky melody which then shifts to one of the best riffs on the album. Ted Turner then gives us a terrific guitar solo full of the blues. This is followed by a lovely piece of poetry, "Leaf and Stream". The original album then finished up with a matched pair of songs about war and peace. The first, "Warrior", is about a man going off to war. It features a very uplifting chorus, "I'd have to be a warrior - A slave I couldn't be - A soldier and a conqueror, Fighting to be free." The second, "Throw Down the Sword", talks about the same man after the war is over. Note that the first line of "Warrior" ("I'm leaving to search for something new") is nicely balanced by the final line of "Throw Down the Sword" ("Only searching for an answer"). I think the point here is that war didn't give the narrator the answers he was looking for. While the dual guitars of Andy Powell and Ted Turner are what the group is famous for, Martin Turner's bass playing is excellent and is well captured by engineer Martin Birch who engineered and/or produced albums by Deep Purple, Rainbow, Wishbone Ash, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden. It's nice to hear a bassist so clearly, especially one who plays with so much melody. Every song but one features harmonized singing from two or even three members of the group. Steve Upton provides tasteful drumming; he keeps his rhythmic textures light, allowing the other instruments and voices to shine. I got the deluxe edition which includes a second disc with live recordings captured by the BBC after the album had been recorded. This is actually quite expensive ($35 compared to $11 for the single CD), but I'm glad I got it since I really like the music a lot and enjoy being able to hear the live versions. But many people might consider the deluxe edition too expensive. What you get are live versions of 5 of the new songs (with "Blowin' Free" and "Throw Down the Sword" repeated) along with another live version of "Phoenix". The extra songs on the first disc are live versions of "The Pilgrim" and "Phoenix" from the group's "Live in Memphis" EP together with "No Easy Road" which was the B-side of a single. Note that the single CD version has a live version of "Jail Bait" (which was the third song from the "Live in Memphis" EP) instead of "No Easy Road". I don't know the song "Jail Bait" yet (which was on their second album, "Pilgrimage"), so I can't say which song is more desirable. While I like "No Easy Road", it is stylistically quite different from the rest of the music due to its boogie feeling and use of piano and seems out of place on this album. It's inclusion is the only flaw in an otherwise perfect album.

If you're looking at this, you probably already know and love this 1973 masterwork. Here it is again, in a very clear and punchy digital remaster, with three live tracks from the era to fill out the CD and demonstrate the band's prowess onstage. This band was all about solid, competent songwriting, tasteful, fluid guitar leads, and tight ensemble work. A keyboardist guests on one track -- all the rest make the case for what can be accomplished with just two guitars, bass, and drums. The live bonus tracks include "Phoenix" from their first album -- their answer to "Free Bird," starting out as a slow ballad, building to a climax through an extended rave-up that quotes all the standard rock'n'roll cliches, and tapering back down to the ballad structure at the end.

While I may have heard Wishbone Ash in the 70s, I did not own any of their albums until recently. I picked this one based on positive reviews, and my own sampling of their albums. This album is from a period when (at least for some of us) album rock ruled. They were a group with 2 guitars, a bass, and drums in those days (1972). I read that they influenced a lot of 2 guitar bands that came after them. The whole album is good, but so are the additional track that were added to fill-out the cd version of the album. A lot of older groups have put demos and outtakes on their cds as added tracks to fill-out the unused space on their cd version of albums that were originally released on vinyl. These tracks are usually so bad that I uncheck them when I load the cds to iTunes. Not so with Wishbone Ash. The last time I listened to this album, I started researching the album and band on the internet (as I often do when listening to albums I am not familiar with). When I typed Wishbone Ash into the search box, an upcoming concert by them in my area came up. I immediately thought that I would go to hear what I was hearing on the cd live. However, my research indicated that the current lineup only has one band member from 1972, and sampling of their more recent recordings indicated to me that the magic in their music is long gone. I really can't describe how this music makes me feel, but it is way better than most contemporary music I have heard recently. It was also well mastered, none of the loudness crap the record companies have ruined some reissues with lately. I really believe that music was better then than it is now, and discovering older bands like this is great if you agree with that thinking. I don't know if any of their older albums from the 70s are as good as this one, but I will be giving them a listen soon so I can find out. This is definitely worth owning if you are a fan of music from that era.

Awesome musicianship with good harmonies and lead. I like it. It's good. My criticism is the songs never feel fully developed or matured. It feels like they asked themselves is it a song yet? Okay. Next. How old were these kids? I'll have to check into their later works to see what happens. A lot of room for musicianship just lacking structural development and vocal rhythms for their length. Lyrics are light but get the job done.

Recently rediscovered Wishbone Ash and added this album to my collection. A great example of prog rock and how Wishbone Ash were great exponents of this genre. Not a second rate song on the album. Great service from Utopia Records. I love their store.

Grande classico del rock anni 70, per niente svalutato dal tempo: hard rock con significative venature prog. Assolutamente da ascoltare.

Thanks to amazon, I have been able to stack and build my WA collection. It brought back memories from the eighties listening on from cassettes & now on to the cd's. What a great band

Deze cd van Wishbone Ash blinkt uit door de bijzonder goede klankwaliteit. Klinkt net als de originele analoge elpee. Aanrader.

Excellent !