Argus:Deluxe Edition (EU)

1972年リリースのサード・アルバム。プログレッシヴ・ロック、フォーク、そして後のヘヴィメタル・ロック等に大きな影響を与えることとなったツイン・リード・ギター・サウンドが特徴的なロック史における名盤。オリジナル７曲に 「NO EASY ROAD （7" Version）」「THE PILGRIM（12" Promotional EP）」「PHOENIX （12" Promo EP）」の追加トラックを収めた DISC 1 に加え、1972年のBBCにおけるコンサートの模様を収録した DISC2をセット。

Rolling Stone (8/17/72, p.51) - "...boundlessly more appealing and stylistically assured than anything one might have expected from their first two releases..." Uncut (9/02, p.126) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...their high watermark..."

If Wishbone Ash can be considered a group who dabbled in the main strains of early-'70s British rock without ever settling on one (were they a prog rock outfit like Yes, a space rock unit like Pink Floyd, a heavy metal ensemble like Led Zeppelin, or just a boogie band like Ten Years After?), the confusion compounded by their relative facelessness and the generic nature of their compositions, Argus, their third album, was the one on which they looked like they finally were going to forge their own unique amalgamation of all those styles into a sound of their own. The album boasted extended compositions, some of them ("Time Was," "Sometime World") actually medleys of different tunes, played with assurance and developing into imaginative explorations of new musical territory and group interaction. The lyrics touched on medieval themes ("The King Will Come," "Warrior") always popular with British rock bands, adding a majestic tone to the music, but it was the arrangements, with their twin lead guitar parts and open spaces for jamming, that made the songs work so well. Argus was a bigger hit in the U.K., where it reached the Top Five, than in the U.S., where 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. ~ William Ruhlmann