ARGO was a subsidiary of Decca and records were pressed in the same pressing plants.  The first ARGO stereo recordings appeared in 1960 and featured early music and spoken word recordings of Shakespeare. The catalogue gradually expanded to include works by modern English composers and chamber music. Always esoteric in outlook, ARGO set down on record many obscure choral works and recorded ethnic music from countries around the world.

Highlights of the catalogue include the recordings of the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields AMSF under Neville Marriner. By the end of the LP era, Marriner's band had recorded  a wide range of music from the 17th to the 20th century to set beside the wealth of medieval and Renaissance works as well as a great deal of lesser known 20th century music.

The early 4 digit Argo releases (about 120 LPs) and the later 3 digit issues up to around ZRG 650 have dark green labels with an oval logo, and later issues have the same dark green labels with silver text, but with a  rectangular logo.