"Tragedy" b/w "Rejoice"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (26 May 1972), Argent's "Tragedy" b/w "Rejoice" (Epic S EPC 8115) was released in the U.K.

"Sweet Mary" b/w "Rejoice"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (15 March 1971), Argent's "Sweet Mary" (edited) b/w "Rejoice" (Epic 5-10718) was released in the U.S. and Canada.  The album Ring of Hands (Epic E 30128) was also released.

"Rejoice"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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A couple days ago, I read this Rod Argent interview (which is pretty decent compared to most; part of it is Argent's standard answers to common questions, but it does branch out a bit).  He talks about a couple of the earlier Argent songs, including "Rejoice" from Ring of Hands.

This morning I was playing various Zombies things on piano, and just before I quit, I played the opening (which is also the closing) phrase from "Changes."  Because I recently read that interview (in which Argent briefly mentions the structure of "Rejoice"), I realized that both "Changes" and "Rejoice" have an introductory keyboard part that's repeated at the end as a conclusion.

"Rejoice"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I learned a bit more of the opening organ part from "Rejoice" to-night.  I don't know the bass accompaniment for this new part yet, so some of the melody sounds a bit weird.  You can kind of hear how I'm hesitant to hit a few notes at the end; I think they're right, but they sound weird without the accompaniment.

"Rejoice"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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I was just playing around on guitar when I discovered the first interval in Argent's "Rejoice," which is actually just an octave.  So then I figured out the first phrase.

I'm really excited about this because the opening (and closing) organ part in "Rejoice" is one of my favourite pieces of music.