It's good and contains some great ideas, but instrumentally speaking I still prefer the first two to this. Their divide between boogie-hard rock and more "progressive" material was always rather edgy and uneasy (like a Brit Allmans), much more so than with their mentors Man.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
This was always a 70's school room favourite, at least until punk happened and we had to hide our progressive rock & classic rock vinyls under our out-moded Afghan coats!
I play this every now and again, and it always sounds so fresh and summery to these old prog ears, Blowin' Free is a timeless classic.
One of my favorite albums of all time, this still knocks me out to this day. "Time Was" amply illustrates their twin guitar attack, & remains my fave tune of theirs. Going to see them in September, they're doing "Live Dates" complete!!
Interesting, i've been listening to both bands a lot lately and tend to see it other way around.At least for the run of albums i like(wishbone first three, Man up until the egregious slow motion).Both descended into bar band mediocrity for me, though Wishbone did so a lot quicker.Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor
The British equivalent of the Allman Brothers Band is how I always thought of them also.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
A friend in HS had Live Dates and ELP's BSS & played them repeatedly. He'd let me slip in some Foghat here and there.
Have to agree with this; I think there's a lot to like even on Man's The Welsh Connection from 1976. Both bands donned a prominent Quicksilver Messenger Service impression (Wishbone Ash mostly on their s/t), but there was probably more hallucinogenics involved with Man.
Man's live rendition of "C'Mon" remains my fave double guitar workout by a British rock band; no one else came anywhere near the chemistry unfolded there.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Pilgrimage is the album that sticks with me. It's probably a good time to revisit Argus and see what I think of it...
This and Pilgrimage were both great albums. 'Sometime World', 'The King Will Come' and 'Leaf and Stream' were killer, retaining a strong mood that was rather unique. Warrior has this same mood in fact, although I don't think its as strong musically as the aforementioned three.
Pilgrimage has some real nice instrumental stuff on it. I should revisit both of these...
Gave "Argus" a listen last night. Really liked most of it last time I played it a few years ago, but this time I lost interest after a couple of songs. "Blowin' Free" still does it for me, but there's something about their sound (maybe it's the vocals) that seems to grate on me after awhile. Also, great musicianship, but too subdued dynamically. Needs more emotion. I also have "Pilgrimage" and a "best of" that features a nice acoustic version of "Blowin' Free" and the best tracks from the first album. Saw them when they were promoting their first or second album.
Agreed. Wisefield was a GREAT guitarist, but his style was too much different from Powell's to make the arrangement work. The Powell-Turner WA was the best. If only they had a better singer than Martin Turner, they could have been really great!
One or two decent songs but fairly average album. Reminds me of Khan but without the proggy moments. Both albums aren't that great though
I would call this prog in a rather broad use of the term, one that would include Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, for instance. It isn't the pure product, but it bears the mark of prog's heyday.
Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
I got the LP recently after we saw them play this live in its entirety a coupla months ago. Considering it was only one original member, The album was done live extremely close and faithful to the original. a band that many of my friends were into back in the day, but I never got into until we went and saw them. Ridicuously tight live!
Pilgrimage is my fave.
After hearing LIVE DATES, ARGUS kinda lost its eyes, for me. "Blowin' Free" was better on LD.
The debut album has really weird vocals, like they were struggling to sing.
Pilgrimage is their best album. "The Pilgrim" is one of the proggiest things they ever did, plus Andy's solo is much better than LD, for me.
Argus is great for Time Was and Sometime World, but I like the live cuts more.
Wishbone Four is great for Doctor, and Sorrell - can the rest.
And There's The Rub is great for F*U*B*B.
I liked New England when it came out, but lost interest in Ash, soon after.
They splintered their sound, or something...
F.U.B.B.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Yup FUBB saves Rub, but there is nothing to save W4, IMHO
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
They are such a good live band!
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