Not wanting to destroy a good band, but Argent were never groundbreaking and uncovered new areas of musical exploration: they were simply followers of a movement and added to the sheer mass of excellent albums of those years (70's) and had a lot more commercial success than other band who had more talent (Audience, Comus, etc.) but always remained somewhat of a second-league act (as opposed to the prog giants). In '95 their was the release of a great live album titled "In Concert" (on the Windsong label) including most of their best songs, superior to the rather excellent live album "Encore" ('74). The album shows great sense of dynamics and splendid shifting moods: lush symphonic, slow and dreamy and fluent and powerful with strong electric guitar and tasteful keyboard play. Their most progressive and acclaimed album is "Nexus": the Hammond organ has almost dispappeared in favor of the Fender Rhodes - and Hohner electric piano, the Mellotron, Grand piano and the famous Moog synthesizer. The early ARGENT made catchy heavy progressive rock with powerful organplay by Rod ARGENT. In '76 ARGENT released the disappointing LP "Counterpoints", ARGENT took his conclusions and broke up his band. Rod was so excited about this new ARGENT that he refused an offer to join YES after WAKEMAN's departure! In '75 ARGENT made the album "Circus" but despite good critics the sales were poor. Russ was replaced by multi-instrumentalist John Grimaldi and guitarist/vocalist John Verity. Later that year ARGENT released the double-live record "Encore". In '74 Russ departure was a fact but without hard feelings. The following album "In Deep" and single "God gave Rock 'N' To You" charted good but the increasing musical problems between Rod ARGENT and Russ Ballard finally escalated after the next album "Nexus" ('74): Russ wasn't pleased at all with Rod's synthesizer escapades, he liked the shorter and more catchy rocksongs. With the next albums "Ring Of Hands" ('71) and "All Together Now" ('72) ARGENT gained more appreciation and the single "Hold Your Head Up" became a smash hit all over the world. Under this name they released the eponymous debut album "Argent" in '70, the song "Liar" became a USA hit and was covered by THREE DOG NIGHT. He recruted bass player John Rodford, drummer Bob Henritt and guitarist Russ Ballard and called the quartet ARGENT. Eighteen months after keyboard virtuoso Rod ARGENT left the famous sixties band The ZOMBIES, their single "Time Of The Season" from their last album "Odyssey & Oracle" topped the US charts and sold one million copies! There was a hugh demand to re-group The ZOMBIES but Rod ARGENT preferred to form his own band to make more progressive music.
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