"Hold Your Head Up" b/w "Closer to Heaven" and "Keep on Rollin'"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (2 October 1971), Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" b/w "Closer to Heaven" and "Keep on Rollin'" (Epic S EPC 9315) was released in the U.K.

"I Want You Back Again"

Recently, I noticed a couple small features in "I Want You Back Again," both in the lines "Since you have left me / I'm all alone."  "Alone" is sung with a melisma (it's Eb F C in the single version; I think it's also Eb F C in the alternate take; and it's F G F D in the version on Still Got That Hunger), giving a sense of degree (for "all").  The words in the phrase "all alone" start with the same initial sound, and this gives a sense of that singularity.

"Together"

I was thinking about "Together" (from As Far As I Can See) yester-day, specifically this section:

And I've come to

Need you like flowers need the rain

Have to love you

As much as seasons have to change in time

The majority of this section has fairly quick note values, but each word in the phrase "change in time" is held for a full measure.  This contrast musically illustrates that "change" in the lyrics.

"A Rose for Emily"

Partially because I felt I should be doing more on this project and partially because I've been doing these sorts of videos lately, I made a video about the Mellotron flute part in "A Rose for Emily," which actually wasn't used in the final version.

I played the Mellotron part and the piano part on my Nord Electro 5.  For the piano, I used Nord's Steinway sample.  I intentionally mixed the piano part a bit lower than I normally would have so that the Mellotron part is easier to hear.

The Mellotron occurs only in the second and third verses, so that's all I included (also because I don't know the piano part for the entire song).  For the piano part, I referenced a book published by Alfred (The Zombies' Greatest Hits), although I didn't follow exactly what that has.  As always, there's the disclaimer that what I have may be wrong.

Here's the notation:

Second verse:

Third verse:

"She Does Everything for Me"

An-other thing I noticed when I listened to I Love You yester-day is that "all" in the line "I don't care at all" in "She Does Everything for Me" is sung with a melisma (I'm unsure of the exact notes, but most - if not all - of them are C#s).  This articulation gives a sense of degree.

"Gotta Get a Hold of Myself"

I listened to I Love You yester-day because it was the fifty-seventh anniversary of the Zombies' first proper recording session.  I hadn't noticed this before, but it sounds like Rod Argent is using a volume pedal with his Vox Continental at the beginning of "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself."  I did some research, and I actually found a picture of him in the studio with the Continental and a volume pedal:

[source]

I'm pretty sure this picture is from 10 December 1964.  It was during this session that the Zombies received an award from Cash Box for the chart success of "She's Not There," so there was a bit of press coverage and a series of photographs.  Of course, "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself" wasn't recorded until 1966 (4 May, according to the liner notes of The Decca Stereo Anthology), but this picture proves that Argent had a volume pedal for his Continental.

I made an Instagram post about this to try to demonstrate it:

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A post shared by January's Cloak (@januaryscloak)

"Misty Roses"

A couple days ago, Colin Blunstone's social media pages posted a few lines from "Misty Roses."  I was thinking about the song this morning and realized that "lovely" in the recurring phrase "too lovely to leave alone" is sung with a melisma (Gb F Eb), giving a sense of degree (for "too").  In referencing the recording, I discovered that the same is true for the "lovely" in the line "Too good to last, but too lovely not to try."  "Last" in that line is also sung with a melisma (I think it's C Ab), giving a sense of the word's meaning.

"Celebration" b/w "Kingdom"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (2 April 1971), Argent's "Celebration" b/w "Kingdom" (Ger. Epic EPC 7120) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canadian release (Epic 5-10746) was on 21 June 1971.

As far as I know, "Kingdom" hasn't been re-issued, and until looking through Russo's discography, I'd never heard of it, let alone heard it.

"Mary Won't You Warm my Bed" b/w "I Hope I Didn't Say Too Much Last Night"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (19 March 1971), Colin Blunstone's "Mary Won't You Warm My Bed" b/w "I Hope I Didn't Say Too Much Last Night" (Epic S EPC 7095) was released in the U.K.

As far as I know, "I Hope I Didn't Say Too Much Last Night" hasn't been re-issued, and I haven't heard it.

"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.

John Peel's Sunday Concert

A couple years ago, the Zombies Fan Club posted a link to an Argent performance from 1971.  I did some research (detailed here) and determined that this is from John Peel's Sunday Concert, originally broadcast on 14 February 1971, fifty years ago to-day.  According to this page, the performance was likely recorded on 4 February, so the release of Ring of Hands (on 5 February) came between the recording of this performance and its broadcast.  While introducing "Rejoice," Peel alludes to Ring of Hands and calls it "the group's current LP."

The audio file has five songs from the Sunday Concert ("Lothlorien," "Chained," "Rejoice," "The Fakir," and "Sweet Mary"), but then there are two other versions of "Rejoice" and "Chained."  These seem to be from the "unknown broadcast" in 1971 that Greg Russo details in his Collector's Guide.  It's the only other radio appearance where "Rejoice" and "Chained" are both in the set list.  According to Russo, Argent also performed "Time of the Season" at this session, but this isn't included in the audio file.

Ring of Hands

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (5 February 1971), Argent's Ring of Hands (Epic S EPC 64190) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada release (Epic E 30128) was on 15 March.