Counterpoints

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (31 October 1975), Argent's Counterpoints (RCA RS 1020) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. release (U.A. UA-LA-560-G) was on 2 February 1976.

Additionally, "Rock & Roll Show" b/w "It's Fallin' Off" (RCA 2624) was released as a single in the U.K.

"God Gave Rock and Roll to You"

I listened to Encore yester-day and noticed a small feature in "God Gave Rock and Roll to You."  In Rod's line "To ev'ry boy he gave a song to be sung" in the middle section, the phrase "ev'ry boy" is sung to notes of all different pitches (F# G# A), giving a sense of number.  This is also in the studio version (on In Deep).

In comparing the two recordings, I discovered that the live version on Encore lacks the repeated line "To ev'ry boy he gave a song" in the coda.  The same feature is there, but the melody is different, so the pitches to which "ev'ry boy" is sung are F# G A (I think they're also an octave higher than those in the middle section).

"Baby Don't You Cry No More"

Earlier this week, I watched the clips from Rod Argent's A Keyboard Approach that the Zombies Fan Club posted on YouTube years ago.  I realized that the short line "Walk away" in "Baby Don't You Cry No More" is sung to a diatonic phrase (E F# G#), giving a sense of the steps involved in this "walk[ing]."

I also referenced the studio versions (Rod's solo version on Red House and the version with Colin on Out of the Shadows) and discovered some differences between them.  First, in the Red House version, the section with "Walk away / Sad to say / Love's grown thin..." is present only musically, not lyrically.  Apparently, the words were a later development.  Second, the two versions are in different keys, so the "Walk away" in the Out of the Shadows version is sung to the pitches F G A.

"You Who Are Lonely"

In the lines "You, you who are lonely know / How slowly time can go" in "You Who Are Lonely," "go" is sung with a melisma (C B), giving a sense of this (metaphorical) movement.  Additionally, the small musical interval (a half step) even matches the modifying "slowly."

"Something Happens When You Touch Me"

The line "Many times I told myself, 'You're sittin' here left on the shelf all by yourself'" in "Something Happens When You Touch Me" exhibits internal rhyme.  Other lines in the song have this feature, too, but this particular instance holds some significance:  the repetition of the same sound matches the singularity that the narrator is describing.

"Weak for You"

"Long" in the line "We've been just good friends far too long" at the beginning of "Weak for You" is sung with a melisma (G# F# E), giving a sense of either the word's meaning or the degree of "far too."

"Beginning"

I listened to Journey a couple days ago and noticed a handful of small features.

In the lines "My mind is singing / With all we've said" in "Beginning," the phrase "all we've said" is sung to notes of all different pitches (E F# G), lending a sense of breadth or entirety.

The same sort of effect is in the line "Ev'rything falls in the middle," where "ev'rything" is also sung to notes of all different pitches (A B C).

I referenced the version on The Ghost of You and Me and discovered that it's in a different key, so while these features are present there, too, the specific pitches are different (D E F and G A Bb, respectively).

"A Man for All Reasons"

When I listened to Nexus recently, I also noticed a small feature in "A Man for All Reasons."  In the line "All his life will be unknown" in the sort of counterpoint vocal part, the phrase "all his life" is sung to notes of all different pitches (A G E), lending some sense of this entirety.

"Thunder and Lightning"

I listened to Nexus a couple days ago and noticed some significance in the structure of "Thunder and Lightning."

Obviously, the chorus repeats, and this repetition emphasizes the "Again and again and again and again..." in the last line.  The polysyndeton there (the repeated "and") highlights this recurrence, too.