Of the scads of similarities between Wishbone Ash and Yes, the most trivial and accidental (and so most interesting) is the fact that both groups have created third albums (last year's The Yes Album and the brand new Argus) which are boundlessly more appealing and stylistically assured than anything one might have expected from their first two releases.

On Wishbone Ash and Pilgrimage, Wishbone Ash displayed enough talent and quality to become the up-and-comers in the eyes of the British pop press, but they seemed to be stuck wandering aimlessly from faceless blues to inconsequential art-rock. In Argus they've tightened up considerably, established a direction, and, with debts to the Who, Traffic and the Beatles as well as to Yes, recorded a collection of songs that, while not without their weak points, are loaded with energy and overall good feelings.

The kinship with Yes is too blatant to be ignored, although the only time it seriously gets in the way is during the second half of "Sometime World" (especially a "da da da" chorus). Most of the cuts are long, and are as much vehicles for extended breaks as they are statements in their own right. Like Yes, their songs unfold slowly and deliberately before picking up and rolling into steaming instrumental breaks. Like Yes, they play rich, lovely melodies against a strong, thick instrumental sound. Both guitarists (Ted Turner and Andy Powell) have in them some of the technique (particularly Turner's chicken-cluck tone), if not the speed and versatility, of Steve Howe, and the resonant bass and full drum work of Martin Turner and Steve Upton won't fail to remind you of Squire and Bruford. Turner does the lead vocals, and his breathy, powerful voice and soothing tone sound a lot like guess who.

But they are less flashy than Yes, their dynamic shifts are not so severe, and their employment of technology is much more subtle. Theirs is a basic rock instrumentation, and while that limits them as far as extensive experimentation is concerned, it also keeps them honest.

"Time Was" is one of their strongest pieces, and it's the one that owes the least to Yes. The first half begins slow and soft, swells a bit and then subsides, then breaks into a Who-like segment, complete with Daltry timbre and twang and sweeping, open pace. "Sometime World" starts with a vocal that's a cross between Paul McCartney and Jon Anderson before it speeds into pure Yes territory.

All three cuts on side one ("Blowin' Free," also very Yesish, is the third) are long, and the focus is squarely on the solo and dual leads of Turner (Ted) and Powell. Wishbone Ash is being hyped on precisely that strength, and it's a good angle. Neither is extremely fast or acrobatic, but both possess a Claptonesque fluidity, intelligent sense of structure, taste, and a striking degree of empathy in their interplay.

Their rapport and sensitivity are most evident in "Leaf and Stream," a blend of Traffic and Incredible String Band with a hypnotic arrangement that makes one wish they would expend more effort on varying their textures and thus eliminate the monotony that finally detracts from an essentially excellent album.

If they would do that, as well as put some more life into the singing (the voices are good, but generally sound too clean and channeled) and some more humor into their musical personality, and if they prove able in performance to fulfill the listener's delicious fantasies about the way the songs might sound on stage, we've got a lot to look forward to. (RS 115)

RICHARD CROMELIN