Argent - ARGENT***

Like Honey/Liar/Be Free/Schoolgirl/Dance In The Smoke/Lonely Hard Road/The Feeling's Inside/Freefall/ Stepping Stone/Bring You Joy

Debut album from the English band Argent led by the former organist from The Zombies, Rod Argent. They would adopt a more progressive musical approach than that of his earlier group’s largely pop orientated sound.

“This album has so many gems in it. Like Honey with its beautiful guitar arpeggios, Liar with great vocals and haunting bass guitar. Dance In The Smoke is a progressive rock masterpiece with a growing sound and fantastic drums playing. Schoolgirl and Bring You Joy have brilliant vocal harmonies. This is very refined album which deserves to be discovered.”

“Taking late 60s/early 70s musical trends into account, this effort sounds like a logical follow on from The Zombies, with a progressive edge to some of the tracks. Although, to my ears, the progressive touches are fairly understated.”

“Subtly pleasing and, at times, soft and dreamy, this is generally prog influenced pop, featuring strong vocal harmonies, with Argent's ever present keyboards and some restrained guitar work.”

“Side one is where the action is here. It's a tremendous string of songs that faintly echo the greatness of The Zombies with a little dash of some harder edge prog flavours. Side two unfortunately is weighed down by rather pedestrian material.”

“Rod Argent's keyboards, sweet vocal harmonies and good production keep me going back to this record, although there are a couple of duds on side two.”

“Sophisticated keyboards dominated prog rock with the accent on songwriting. Given the accomplishment of the songs, vocals and keyboards this should be a lot more intense and impactful. However, it is too restrained and muted, almost the story of a talented band that seemed to lack that vital spark.”

“More a continuation of the Zombies sound than actually breaking new ground, it's a very enjoyable album. Rod Argent is one of the finest keyboard players and this album is a showcase for his talent. The entire band put in a stellar performance though, making it one of the most cohesive debut releases I've heard.”

“The songwriting is tuneful for the most part, and the instrumentation is always topnotch. Call this progressive pop from an innocent time, and enjoy it.”