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"...Time Was..."
After two solid LP account openers in "Wishbone Ash" (December 1970) and "Pilgrimage" (September 1971) - England's twin-guitar assault kings WISHBONE ASH finally hit Classic Rock paydirt with their much-loved third studio album "Argus" - it's gatefold Hipgnosis artwork the mainstay of many a hairy galoot's LP collection in the Seventies.
Universal may have inexplicably lost the sneakily placed flying saucer that graced the rear sleeve artwork of both the British and American sleeves (used to love seeing that when you turned the cover over) - but other than that history rewriting Photoshop mistake - this March 2002 Expanded Edition: Remastered & Revisited single CD reissue is the top banana.
With truly fabulous audio that straddles the air between clarity and loudness wars (a team of three worked on it including the band’s own lead guitarist Martin Turner) and often selling for less than a battered cod in Margate – this 1CD variant of "Argus" also comes with three truly great bonus live cuts from the 1972 period when the band's four-piece dynamic was clearly cooking. To the details...
UK released March 2002 - "Argus" by WISHBONE ASH on Universal/MCA/Decca 088 112 816-2 (Barcode 008811281625) is an Expanded Edition: Remastered & Revisited with Three Bonus Tracks that plays out as follows (77:05 minutes):
1. Time Was [Side 1]
2. Sometime World
3. Blowin' Free
4. The King Will Come [Side 2]
5. Leaf And Stream
6. Warrior
7. Throw Down The Sword
Tracks 1 to 7 are their third studio album "Argus" - released 27 April 1972 in the UK on MCA Records MDKS 8006 and June 1972 in the USA on Decca DL 75437, both in gatefold sleeves. Produced by DEREK LAWRENCE and Engineered by MARTIN BIRCH - it peaked at No. 8 in the UK charts and No. 159 in the USA.
2. Sometime World
3. Blowin' Free
4. The King Will Come [Side 2]
5. Leaf And Stream
6. Warrior
7. Throw Down The Sword
Tracks 1 to 7 are their third studio album "Argus" - released 27 April 1972 in the UK on MCA Records MDKS 8006 and June 1972 in the USA on Decca DL 75437, both in gatefold sleeves. Produced by DEREK LAWRENCE and Engineered by MARTIN BIRCH - it peaked at No. 8 in the UK charts and No. 159 in the USA.
WISHBONE ASH was:
ANDY POWELL - Lead, Rhythm Guitars and Vocals
Lead Guitar on Tracks 2, 3 (Second Passage), 4, 6 and 7
TED TURNER - Lead, Rhythm, Acoustic Guitars and Vocals
Lead Guitar on Tracks 2 (first passage), 3 (quiet passage and Slide guitar), 4, 6 and Bonus Tracks 9 and 10
MARTIN TURNER - Bass on all
STEVE UPTON - Drums and Percussion on all
Guest:
John Tout played organ on "Throw Down The Sword"
ANDY POWELL - Lead, Rhythm Guitars and Vocals
Lead Guitar on Tracks 2, 3 (Second Passage), 4, 6 and 7
TED TURNER - Lead, Rhythm, Acoustic Guitars and Vocals
Lead Guitar on Tracks 2 (first passage), 3 (quiet passage and Slide guitar), 4, 6 and Bonus Tracks 9 and 10
MARTIN TURNER - Bass on all
STEVE UPTON - Drums and Percussion on all
Guest:
John Tout played organ on "Throw Down The Sword"
BONUS TRACKS:
8. Jail Bait (Live, 4:48 minutes) [Side 1]
9. The Pilgrim (Live, 11:34 minutes)
10. Phoenix (Live, 17:00 minutes) [Side 2]
Tracks 8 to 10 were recorded 21 August in the studios of the WMC-FM Radio Station in Memphis, Tennessee 1972 (while on tour in the USA). The show was broadcast live and then pressed up on a Promotional-only 3-Track album (no general public release) and distributed to American Radio Stations as "Live From Memphis" on Decca Records DL 7-1922. The artwork for this US rarity is pictured on one of the foldout flaps beneath the "Argus" credits.
8. Jail Bait (Live, 4:48 minutes) [Side 1]
9. The Pilgrim (Live, 11:34 minutes)
10. Phoenix (Live, 17:00 minutes) [Side 2]
Tracks 8 to 10 were recorded 21 August in the studios of the WMC-FM Radio Station in Memphis, Tennessee 1972 (while on tour in the USA). The show was broadcast live and then pressed up on a Promotional-only 3-Track album (no general public release) and distributed to American Radio Stations as "Live From Memphis" on Decca Records DL 7-1922. The artwork for this US rarity is pictured on one of the foldout flaps beneath the "Argus" credits.
The eight-leaf foldout inlay is pretty enough with enthusiastic new liner notes from LEON TSILIS. It reproduces the four photos of the band that came with the inner gatefolds of the original 1972 LPs, original session and reissue credits and the see-through inlay has more of the Hipgnosis artwork beneath it. The spine identifies this 1CD reissue as Expanded Edition: Remastered & Revisited.
However, while fans will love the full 3-track US Promotional LP acting as Bonuses in all their long playing glory, they might ask why the non-album 45 A-side "No Easy Road" wasn't cheekily squeezed in as Bonus Track No. 4? It was issued as a UK stand-alone seven-inch single on 18 August 1972 with the album cut "Blowin' Free" on the flipside (10 out 10 single) and I can't help thinking that the A of MCA Records MKS 5097 could have been fitted in without audio compromise. If you want that track and more unreleased BBC live stuff of the period - Universal UK reissued "Argus" again in November 2007 as part of their prestigious '2CD Deluxe Edition' Series on Universal/Island 9849624 (Barcode 602498496244 will bring you to that issue).
A crew of three handled the Audio - "Argus" remixed by band member MARTIN TURNER, digitally remastered by ERIC KVORTEK with final Digital Assembly by ERICK LABSON of Universal – a man with well over 1000 mastering credits to his name including vast swathes of the Chess, Checker, Cadet, MCA, Decca and other catalogues to his name. The power on this CD can be experienced in less than 15-seconds, as the acoustic guitars that open "Time Was" will prove. When the band kicks in – your jaw may indeed join forces with the kitchen linoleum. Like most fans, I've had this record nigh on 50 years and the sheer sonic whack off of this 2002 singular CD is fantastic – and that audio clarity doesn't let up for the whole of the record either. To the tunes...
When Universal decided to choose a title for the May 2010 2CD Anthology of Wishbone Ash - they used Side 1's "Sometime World" from "Argus" as its title (use Barcode 600753261316 as a cut and paste to see my review of it). Along with the brilliant "Time Was" and the chugging crowd-pleaser of "Blowin' Free" - all three twin-guitar juggernauts made up a perfect slice of Side one Classic 70ts Rock with some Prog elements thrown into the mix. There's a guitar passage just before the end of "Time Was" where the bent notes feel like the lead guitars are singing (I'm sure fans know exactly what moment that is). Like Thin Lizzy's fabulous "Jailbreak" album - "Argus" virtually defined the Wishbone Ash sound.
A marching rhythm of wah-wah guitar soling leads in the Side 2 opener "The King Will Come" – Martin and Andy Turner sharing the fire, sky falling and judgment day lyrics – the Bass and Drums are so clear as the boys make both axes sing in unison. Walked this path for many years, Martin sings of where the earth and sky meet while the melody floats around your room. That delicate solo is now so sweet to hear underpinned by complimentary rhythm guitar and that sly Bass soloing. "Warrior" begins like its going to Rock home for the whole of its duration – but then the guitars give way to leaving lyrics and softer passages – notes and string bends wailing in the echoed distance like 1969 Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green at the helm. Six minutes of "Throw Down The Sword" finish the record – another dual guitar fade-in that eventually bursts into a sort of Fairport Convention Folk-Rock groove.
The three live "Pilgrimage" tracks are surprisingly well recorded – Wishbone Ash sounding like a Kiln House period Fleetwood Mac as they tear through "Jail Bait" with fantastic aplomb – like they have something to prove. There is Rock and Roll here – a bit of Prog Rock – and a whole lot of tight geetar impressiveness. You can hear the amps humming on "The Pilgrim" – the live setting allowing those slow picking-notes passages at the beginning to sink in and again almost feel like vintage Peter Green. "Phoenix" goes the whole complicated Rock nine yards with its seventeen minutes. But again – amazingly well recorded - strong vocals and those shimmering guitars throughout - the band's power entirely in tact (and some might say never bettered).
Just what is that Argus helmet man/sentry looking at and just how pointy is that spear of his – we may never know. But make no mistake – this is one hell of a misty morning Classic Rock LP and this CD variant has done that winner proud. Time was, and on the evidence presented here, still is...
