Throw Down The Sword

Argus was the third Wishbone Ash album, and by this point the group was playing larger venues and needed suitable songs to fill them. "Throw Down The Sword," with a lyric about the aftermath of a bloody battle, is one of these songs.

That's John Tout playing the organ. He was the keyboardist for the English progressive rock band Renaissance throughout the 1970s.

The Argus cover was designed by Storm Thorgerson, the creative brains behind the artwork for most of Pink Floyd's album including Dark Side of the Moon. The ancient guardian's helmet and cloak were borrowed from the set of Ken Russell's The Devils. But, instead of a spear, he was meant to be holding a sword, which Thorgerson and his colleague Aubrey 'Po' Powell had hired from the set of Roman Polanski's movie, Macbeth. "Unfortunately, the sword got lost somewhere in the south of France," recalled Po to Mojo magazine. "Which really didn't go down well."