Argent

In 1968, The Zombies were recording their second album ‘Odessey and Oracle’. For Colin Blunstone and Paul Atkinson, however, disillusion had already started to set in, fuelled by the frustration caused by lack of money and diminishing success. It was against this background that the group decided to split up, and Rod Argent and Chris White turned their enthusiasms towards a new venture – the formation of Rod’s second band, Argent. Chris was to continue the production and writing partnership with Rod, but was not to be active as a player in the new band. A company – Nexus – was formed by the two of them; CBS (who had taken on ‘Odessey and Oracle’) was approached, and a deal was done.

By 1969, the band was formed. Jim Rodford (bass, & cousin!), whom Rod had approached years before about being in The Zombies, and now playing jazz and blues with Mike Cotton, set off with Rod to scout for the right players and Russ Ballard (guitar) and Bob Henrit (drums), originally from the Roulettes, were poached while doing a stint with Unit 4 plus 2.

Of course, by this time, ‘Time of the Season’(The Zombies last single) had been released in the States, and had become the band’s biggest ever hit. Reaching sales of nearly two million, and chart positions no 1 in Cashbox and number 2 in Billboard, it was also a hit in many other parts of the world. The exception was England, where the track eventually became known to many through the famous compilation ‘The Rock Machine Turns You On‘.

The success of ‘Time of the Season‘ meant huge pressure to reform The Zombies, in order to cash in, but to Rod and Chris, the decision had long been made, and all efforts went into Argent. By 1969, the band was in Germany and Italy, playing in clubs and ‘getting it together’ in time honoured fashion. They then recorded the first album ‘Argent‘ for CBS in a small Chelsea studio – ‘Sound Techniques’.

The first album received a lot of critical acclaim, but produced no hits, a situation which was repeated when ‘Ring of Hands’ was recorded in the same studio in 1970 (interestingly, ‘Liar‘ from ‘Argent’ was covered by 3 Dog Night and became as big hit). A single from ‘Ring of Hands’,'Sweet Mary’, had entered Billboard’s Top 100 and was destined to be a hit – until it was banned from US radio stations because of supposed drug references.

Rod has always felt that ‘Argent‘ and ‘Ring of Hands’ were the band’s best two albums, even though they are the least known. At this time, the band was really working as a single unit and discovering its own identity, with Rod and Russ’s writing styles complementing and strengthening each other. Vocal and instrumental voicings were innovative, and often unlike anything else around at the time.

By this time, Argent was touring successfully and building a loyal following, but still without a hit.

The situation was about to change, with the next album ‘All Together Now’. At this period in the UK, it was considered unhip to release singles – if you were to be taken seriously, you had to be an ‘album’ band. Argent was due to embark on a big tour, and the idea was to promote the new album, which, incidentally, was being recorded at Abbey Road in an attempt to widen and deepen the group’s sound.

Unfortunately, however, the record was not yet finished. CBS (or Epic by now, to be accurate), screamed for something and the band agreed, not to a single release (too uncool), but an EP which would feature as the title track ‘Hold Your Head Up’, a six minute track containing a three minute organ solo.

The record was duly released and the tour started. Alan Freeman, a UK DJ, championed the record, and played ‘Hold Your Head Up’ on his weekly show week in and week out – in spite of its length. Because of this, the record continued to bubble stubbornly outside the Top 50, and the band went to Europe to continue its tour.

While on tour, they were contacted by Epic who said they had edited the track to three minutes (by taking out the organ solo!) and were amazed to find on their return that the (by now) single had entered the top 50. A ‘Top of the Pops’ appearance followed, which resulted in ‘Hold Your Head Up’ leaping up the charts and reaching a Top 5 position (a result which was mirrored almost exactly in the States). ‘All Together Now’, therefore, became the band’s first hit album, although it is a bit of a curate’s egg – great in parts, but already showing signs of the polarisation between Rod and Russ, and lacking the unity which characterises the previous two albums.

Other hits followed – ‘God Gave Rock’n'Roll To You’, and ‘It’s Only Money’ were Top 20 hits in the UK and elsewhere. Russ, however, experienced a breakdown soon after ‘All Together Now’ and while he stayed with the band for a further two albums, ‘In Deep’(1973) and ‘Nexus‘ (1974), he decided to quit in order to follow a solo career.

In retrospect, Rod feels perhaps that would have been a natural point for the band to finish, but understandably, they didn’t want to abandon so much that they felt was good about the music. Two new members were drafted in (John Verity, who still follows a solo career, and John Grimaldi, who sadly died from MS), and two more albums, ‘Circus‘ (1975) and ‘Counterpoints‘ (1975 RCA) before the band split after a last US tour. Tony Visconti was involved in the production of ‘Counterpoints‘, and Phil Collins played on several tracks, due to Bob being ill for several weeks after contracting hepatitis.

Also in 1974, Epic released a live album ‘Encore’, which due to deadlines and refurbishment of Abbey Road studios, became perhaps the only album to be mixed entirely on headphones – by Rod and Chris.

After the split, the band went their separate ways. Bob and Jim joined The Kinks and have formed that band’s rhythm section for many years. Russ became an extremely successful songwriter (‘Since You’ve Been Gone‘ – Rainbow, ‘Winning‘ – Santan, amongst many others).

Rod’s career diversified into many areas, playing keyboards with many other musicians, including playing piano on the title track of The Who’s album ‘Who Are You’, and on ‘Variations’ with Gary Moore, Julian Lloyd Webber and Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 1986 he composed the ITV theme music for their coverage of the 1986 World Cup – ‘Aztec Gold’. It was released as a single under the title of ‘Silsoe’. Argent also composed the theme music to the ITV (LWT) sitcom The Piglet Files airing from 1990 to 1992. He also played keyboards on and produced Joshua Kadison’s 1993 album ‘Painted Desert Serenade’.

A few years ago, ‘Argent’ reformed for a couple of low-key charity gigs – and loved the experience. Rod and Russ wrote several songs together for the first time at the end of 1997, and consequently there was talk of possible recording & touring in the next year.

In 1999 Argent recorded a solo piano album, Rod Argent Classically Speaking, in which he played Chopin etudes and music by Ravel, Bach and Grieg as well as three of his own compositions.

Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone have continued to perform together, and in 2004 they recorded a new album, ‘As Far as I Can See’ in the style of the Zombies. Subsequent album and DVD ‘Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent of The Zombies Live At The Bloomsbury Theatre’ received favourable reviews, as did their 2007 U.S. tour – “The Zombies, still led by original keyboard wizard Rod Argent and featuring the smoked-silk vocals of Colin Blunstone, is the best 60s band still touring which doesn’t have Mick Jagger as a front man”.

In 2006, Argent joined Hamish Stuart, Richard Marx, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter, and Sheila E. touring with Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band.

At the moment, the band seems to have been rediscovered by a current generation. Richard Ashcroft of ‘The Verve’, for instance, has recently cited Argent as being an influence and inspiration.

For the first time since 1975, the original line up of Argent (Hold Your Head Up), have reformed to play High Voltage festival.