Argus (album)

Although not intended as a concept album, the album is themed around the medieval period and Greek mythology, particularly on the second side. The album features a blend of progressive rock, folk, and hard rock, and is considered a landmark album in the progression of twin-lead guitar harmonisation,^[3] later adopted by bands such as Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The sound engineer on Argus was Martin Birch, who also worked with Deep Purple, later with Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and other hard rock bands.^[5] The bulk of the lyrics were provided by bassist/lead vocalist Martin Turner, although all members are credited with the music and arrangements. The album was produced by Derek Lawrence.^[6]

The album cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell of the album cover design company Hipgnosis, and it features a warrior overlooking a landscape at the Gorges du Verdon in Provence, France as a spaceship emerges. The warrior's costume was borrowed from the wardrobe of Ken Russell’s 1971 film The Devils. Thorgerson and Powell had intended for the warrior to be holding a sword as well as a spear, and had rented the sword used in Roman Polanski's film Macbeth, also from 1971. However, while they were selecting a location for the shoot, the sword was stolen, so the photographs were taken without it. The person dressed as the warrior was an assistant at Hipgnosis, Bruce Atkins.^[7]

It is rumoured that the warrior is the main inspiration for the character design of Darth Vader in Star Wars. Andy Powell acknowledged this rumour although he could not confirm if it is true.^[8] The cover also prompted Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin to contact Hipgnosis and ask them to design the cover for their 1973 album Houses of the Holy.^[7]

Argus was released on vinyl record on 28 April 1972.^[2][9][10] It was later released on CD in 2002, featuring a remix (by Martin Turner) of the original album as well as the three live tracks from the EP Live from Memphis promotional EP, recorded in the studios of WMC-FM.

In 2007, a 2-CD deluxe edition of Argus was released in Europe by Island Records. This included the 1972 mix as well as additional BBC Session tracks.

In 2008, Martin Turner released a new studio recording of Argus entitled Argus Through the Looking Glass. Wishbone Ash released a live version of the album, Argus "Then Again" Live.

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Argus was named "Album of the Year" in the 1972 year-end issue of Sounds.

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic gave the album a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, praising the instrumentation and writing that "it set up the commercial breakthrough enjoyed by the band's next album, Wishbone Four, but over the years it came to be seen as the quintessential Wishbone Ash recording, the one that best realized the group's complex vision."^[3]

In an interview with Guitar World in 2011, Steve Harris from Iron Maiden said "I think if anyone wants to understand Maiden's early thing, in particular the harmony guitars, all they have to do is listen to Wishbone Ash's Argus album."^[12]

Note: track timings on the gatefold sleeve of early editions are incorrect. For example, "Time Was" is listed as 9:00 and not the correct 9:42.