"Liar"

I watched Argent's appearance on Set of 6 yester-day (it's dated 29 May 1972, although Jim Rodford writes in his book Sideman [p. 177] that it was recorded in April), and I noticed some small features in the articulation of the vocal part in "Liar."  In referencing the studio recording to write this post, I found some more.

"Away" in the lines "Nothing you could do / That could turn me away" and "I won't move away" is sung with a melisma (Bb C Bb and Bb C Bb G, respectively), giving something of a sense of movement, although both are sort of negated.

The three syllables of "ev'ry word" in the line "Hanging on ev'ry word" are sung to all different pitches (F E D), lending a sense of number.

"All" in the lines "That's what you said / And I believed it all" is also sung with a melisma (C Bb G), here giving a sense of entirety, especially since these notes are all different pitches, too.

Finally, "go" in the line "I won't let you go" is sung with the same melisma (C Bb G), lending a sense of movement, although it seems to be used more metaphorically.

"Liar" b/w "Schoolgirl"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, Argent's "Liar" b/w "Schoolgirl" (Date 2-1659) - the group's debut single in the U.S. and Canada - was released fifty years ago to-day (17 November 1969).

"Liar"

I didn't get to write about this yester-day, but when I listened to Argent recently, I noticed a merism in "Liar":  "We have seen no night / We have seen no day."

"Liar"

This morning I figured out the electric piano part in "Liar."  Apparently, I'd figured out some of it back in May 2015, but I never wrote this down and had forgotten it.  I made sure to write it down this time.

For much of the song, the bass register of the electric piano plays on the off-beats.  In my post from 2015, I seem to mention this, but I wasn't very clear, so I don't know if I really understood what was going on there or not.  In any case, I realized that the bass register of the electric piano in "Liar" is like Rod Argent's vocal line in the second half of the second verse of "Friends of Mine."  In August 2016, I discovered that it's on the off-beats.  Here's some better formatted notation than what's in that post:

"Friends of Mine" was written by Chris White, and "Liar" was written by Russ Ballard, but since both of them have Rod Argent singing or playing a part on the off-beats, I'm assuming that these are parts of the arrangements that he contributed.

"Liar"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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While listening to Argent a few days ago, I paid particular attention to the electric piano part in "Liar."  I figured out most of it, so I tried recording a version, but it wasn't turning out right.  I think there's some alternating beats between the bass part and the other parts (like the other parts are on the beat, but the bass is off-beat), but when I tried recording it - even though I separated those parts into different tracks because I didn't (and don't) have enough faith in my keyboard skills to be able to play that - I couldn't get that alternating to work out.

Something to work on, I guess.