Rising like a Phoenix from
the Ashes, so did Argent arise from the
demise of the fabulous Zombies, who split
up amongst great acrimony in 1967. Formed
in 1969 by Rod Argent, although obviously
the focal point of the band with his penchant
for throwing his keyboards around, minor
keys, haunting organ solos, and unfortunately
calf length purple suede boots, did not
dominate circumstances just for the sake
of it, he pulled around him some of the
finest musician at the time. His new recruits
rose to the occasion and matched the exacting
demands of their leader and justified
Argent’s faith in rejecting calls to reform
his former band. Bassist John Rodford,
with thirteen years experience under his
belt in various combos, underpinned Argent’s
sound with rich strongly defined rhythms,
whilst drummer Bob Henritt hit the bins
with remarkable strength and accuracy
(for a sticks man). Russ Ballard (the
man always with the shades on - very reminiscent
of Ian Hunter) had cut his musical teeth
as a member of Adam Faiths Roulettes.
Ballard was in fact a real find, possessing
a strong bluesy voice, a crystal clear,
distinctive guitar sound and a commercial
flair for song writing (he later went
on to write hits for Rainbow, Uriah Heep,
etc). It was indeed Ballard who gave the
band much needed exposure early on, when
his song “Liar” was covered by Three Dog
Night and climbed into the U.S. top 10
in 1971.
What you get for your buck - here are
eleven tracks in all, covering the band’s
commercial successful years from 1972
to their demise in 1974. First up is an
entire short concert recorded for the
B.B.C. at the Paris Theatre, which has
most of the songs from their new album
at the time “Altogether Now”. It shows
off the many varied talents of Argent
from Folk Rock, Jazz Rock, Pop Rock and
Rock ‘n’ Roll. Opener “Be My Lover, Be
My Friend” is a typical Argent song covering
all spectrums of music in six short minutes.
Therein was the problem Argent suffered,
trying to appeal to all. They became Jack
of all trades, but master of none. But
saying that, when the band rock out on
the final two numbers of this set, hit
single “Hold Your Head Up” and “He’s A
Dynamo” (in which they blatantly rip off
the guitar riff from Nut Bush City limits,
Great Riff why not?) the band really cook,
blending power with precision.
After this we get two healthy dollops
of Russ Ballard Stadium Rock including
the gloriously dumb ode to the fans “God
Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll To You”, which includes
the immortal lines “Don’t step on snails,
don’t climb in trees, love Cliff Richard,
but please don’t Tease”. Kiss later covered
this turning it into a huge hit single
in the U.S.A., and used to close their
live show with it in a blaze of cigarette
lighters held aloft by the crowd. Stirring
stuff.
Sighting musical differences, Ballard
then left the band to concentrate on his
writing skills, and by the time the band
got to mid 1974 they had gone off in a
very Spinal Tap influenced Jazz direction.
Two guitarists had been added to replace
Ballard (John Grinaldi and John Verity),
but it really was a completely different
bottle of Mellotrons as the last two tracks
show here. Definitely the point to turn
off the player. Brilliant at their best,
overindulgent and far too twiddly at their
worst.
Argent were a good band, but unfortunately
other people did it better.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
