ARGENT: ARGENT (1969)
1) Like Honey; 2) Liar; 3) Be
Free; 4) Schoolgirl; 5) Dance In The Smoke; 6) Lonely Hard Road; 7) The
Feeling's Inside; 8) Freefall; 9) Stepping Stone; 10) Bring You Joy.
As far as I know, the Zombies disbanded in 1968
not because the band members hated each other's guts or anything, but
generally out of desperation: for the average band in the 1960s, three years
without a major hit single meant artistic bankruptcy, even if it still managed
to maintain a cult following. The Almighty rewarded them with an ironic twist
of fate, turning ʽTime Of The Seasonʼ into a big international hit one year after the band's demise. By that time,
however, lead singer Colin Blunstone had already entered insurance business,
and somehow the band members must have thought it uncool to make a hasty
regrouping.
However, the success of ʽTime Of The Seasonʼ must have been enough for lead organist and
one of the chief songwriters, Rod Argent, to believe that there was still a
place in this world for him. Furthermore, by 1969 the record-buying world was
slowly beginning to develop a better understanding of that strange kind of
music that the Zombies kept pushing ahead of their time: classically influenced,
complex, «pretentious» art-pop. Giving it one more try seemed natural. And
while it may seem somewhat arrogant to slap your personal family name on the
visit card of your four-piece band — give our regards to Santana — «Argent» was
certainly a much more appropriate appellation for a late 1960s / early 1970s
progressively-oriented art-pop team than «Zombies» ever was. (Which begs the
question: did the actual Zombies ever sit back and think just how many
non-bought records their name cost them in the long run?).
Although all the other official band members
are new (Russ Ballard on vocals and guitar; Jim Rodford on bass; Bob Henrit on
drums), original Zombies member and songwriter Chris White semi-officially
remained on board as one of the band's major creative personalities — making
the «Argent» brand a completely legitimate follow-up to «Zombies»: there can
hardly be any doubt that, had the actual Zombies managed to keep their act
together through the years, they would have turned into Argent even without any
lineup changes. Proof? The self-titled Argent
still sounds more like the Zombies than the «classic» Argent of ʽHold Your Head
Upʼ — and it is this transitional, fence-straddling nature exactly that makes
it my favorite Argent album.
It is probably just a coincidence that Argent opens out on pretty much the
same simple arpeggio as the Beatles' ʽI Want You (She's So Heavy)ʼ, not a
subtle arrogant hint that the band is ready to pick it up where the Beatles
have just left it off. On the other hand, late-period Beatles are an undeniable
influence: Argent is «art-pop» that
is not afraid to experiment with structures, arrangements, and
genre-melanging, but still strives to be old-school commercial, with modest
composition length, catchy choruses, and generally transparent moods — most of
the tracks are unabashed love songs (with occasionally cringeworthy or clumsy lyrics:
am I out of my mind or is the opening line "Like honey, you're
sweeter" thoroughly
ungrammatical? And what is "when night falls on rare wine" even
supposed to mean?).
But never mind the lyrics: the Argent/White
team, with just two years past their Odessey
And Oracle peak, is still going very
strong, and newcomer Russ Ballard is quite competent in the songwriting
department as well: it was his own ʽLiarʼ, after all, that was turned into
Argent's first hit... unfortunately, not before Three Dog Night covered it one
year later, in an arrangement that was very close to the original, merely
replacing Ballard's soft, McCartney-like, vocal for a rowdy barroom rasp (I am
going to take it easy on 1970's record-buyers and believe that it had everything
to do with better promotion, something Rod Argent never cared too much about).
Only one number points to the long road ahead,
on which Argent would only embark with the subsequent album: a six minute long
mystical circle dance, appropriately titled ʽDance In The Smokeʼ. The length
finally gives Rod plenty of space to practice his half-Bach, half-Ray Charles
organ chops, with lots of inspired, elegant passages that succeed far more
successfully than the song in general — if,
that is, the ambition behind the song was to come up with their own personal
ʽHey Judeʼ, because the overall atmosphere is just a bit too stern and reserved
to match the supposed euphoric joy of "every branch we'll tie somebody's
worry to it, we will burn it and dance in the smoke". Still a great sonic
landscape, though.
Overall, Argent
is extremely romantic: on subsequent albums, hard rock and darker-tinged pagan
mysticism would seriously concur with heart-baring lyricism, but this debut,
with the exception of ʽDanceʼ, almost reads like a focused assault on some
particular young girl's heart. Songs like ʽThe Feeling's Insideʼ and ʽBring You
Joyʼ are almost too beautiful for
their own good, the former written on a serious Bach organ kick, the latter
more modernly R'n'B-ish / blue-eyed soulish, but both sung from the mental
perspective of a medieval troubadour, no less. And why not? The vocal
progression during the verse flow of ʽFeeling's Insideʼ easily ranks on the
same level with the best Zombies material.
The «rockers» of the album are also quite
clever in that they are almost exclusively keyboard-based (think of ʽLady
Madonnaʼ as one of the chief inspirations), so there's speed, power, and
energy, but no attempts to compete with hard-rockers that would be doomed from
the start. ʽBe Freeʼ essentially flies by on the strength of its vocal
arrangement, and Ballard's ʽLonely Hard Roadʼ is one song on here I could
possibly see evolving into a long jam — the rhythm section is particularly
tight, I wouldn't mind Argent practicing his razor-sharp organ solos some more
while the groove is still on.
For some reason, my personal favorite on the
album, for a long time, was Ballard's ʽSchoolgirlʼ — a clear attempt on his
part to write a particularly simple, but effective pop tune in the classic
early ʽShe's Not Thereʼ-era Zombies style. It's not quite up to those
standards, but close, with an unforgettable falsetto resolution of the chorus
melody, and Rod is playing these keys with classic restraint, exactly the way
he used to around 1964. Other than that, there is not that much happening in
the song, but it is a touching retro gesture the likes of which, unfortunately,
would not be seen on subsequent Argent releases.
The record is not problem-free, of course. The
songs usually blast off their full potential on the first minute, so
repetitiveness is an issue. Ballard's singing is generally tasteful, but
sometimes over the top, especially when he succumbs to the temptation of
hitting notes outside of his normal range (the coda flourish on ʽFreefallʼ is
simply awful) or tries going into full-scale operatic mode (ʽBring You Joyʼ
could definitely use a different vocalist). The permanently keyboard-driven
arrangements can get wearisome after a while (although if you are a Zombies fan
already, that shouldn't be a serious drag).
But, in addition to there being no genuinely
«bad» songs on here (I'd say even the worst ones are still memorable), Argent is also a very important record
— it is one of the very few examples of a «typically 1960s» artist managing to
re-orient himself at a «typically 1970s» musical paradigm without sounding
forced or fake. Very few, if any, «pop» people from the former decade could
reinvent themselves as «prog» people for the latter; the usual tendency was
either for 1960s «pop» people to go on being «pop» and gradually falling out
of grace, or for 1970s «prog» people to emerge out of some obscure 1960s
shadow. Of course, neither the Zombies nor Argent counted as «1960s giants»
(not back then, at least) or «1970s idols», but both bands had moderately respectable
careers, and Rod bears primary responsibility for both. Thus, good songs +
certain historical uniqueness = thumbs up guaranteed for life.
Thank you for reviewing one of my favorite albums. I've been wondering when you were going to get around to re-reviewing Argent. I have to say these latest three reviews (this, pepper and bad co.) have been an exciting read. I may lose a little sleep anticipating the white album, ring of hands and uh...whatever the heck that second bad company album is called.
ReplyDeleteYou originally turned me on to these first two albums. This one is utterly charming. As you said, a fine successor to "O&O". I must object to your putdown of "Dance in the Smoke". The lyrics may be a bit hippy-dippy and naive, but it's a song about healing and celebration -- tie your troubles to a branch, burn them and dance -- it works.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like Three Dog Night's version of "Liar" as much as the original. It was the most aggressive single they ever put out. Danny Hutton's vocal is much tougher than the usually more sweet, soulful singing by 3DN. At least it brought Ballard the royalties he didn't get from the first Argent album.
Bob