"Sweet Mary"

Yester-day, I listened to Ring of Hands (and All Together Now), and I noticed a small feature in "Sweet Mary" that I've commented about in a few others songs already.  In the backing vocals, there's the line "All alone when I wanted you so bad."  "All alone" alliterates, and since the two words begin with the same sound, there's a sense of that singularity.

"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.

"Care of Cell 44"

A number of years ago, I wrote some posts about musical elements in "Care of Cell 44" that seem to undermine the apparent happiness and optimism.  Yester-day, I was thinking about the bass part during the bridge, and I realized that it's one of these elements too.

The lyrics there are:

We'll walk in a way we used to walk

And it could be so nice

We'll talk in a way we used to talk

And it could be so nice

I've noted before that for "a way we used to walk," the lead vocal is on the off-beats, illustrating perhaps that the two people in this relationship were at odds with each other.

For almost all of the bridge, the bass plays on the off-beats too.  It's something like:

Musically, this seems to illustrate that the "way we used to walk" was out of step.

All Together Now

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (21 April 1972), Argent's album All Together Now (Epic S EPC 64962) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada version (Epic KE 31556) was released on 26 June.

"Butcher's Tale"

I was thinking about "Butcher's Tale" last night, specifically:

And I can't stop shaking

My hands won't stop shaking

My arms won't stop shaking

My mind won't stop shaking

I realized that there are a couple features here that illustrate the incessant nature of this shaking.

Of course, there's the repetition of the word itself and even of the structure of the lines.  Different body parts are substituted, but each line ends with the phrase "won't stop shaking" (the rhetorical term for this structure is epistrophe).

The first line is a bit different, but the other three lines are all sung to the same melody, something like:

The repetition of this melody not only contributes to the incessant feeling, but it also emphasizes the lines' similarity.

"Hung up on a Dream"

Last night, I was thinking about "Hung up on a Dream," and I realized that the line "And turned me on to sounds unheard" bears some resemblance to part of John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn":  "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on."  Both comment on "unheard" sounds.

In Claes Johansen's Hung up on a Dream, Argent says that Shakespeare's "language spoke to me; it had an indefinable, spiritual quality."  This line in "Hung up on a Dream" may be an instance of Keats' language eliciting a similar response, or it could just be a coincidence.

"I've Always Had You"

Yester-day I listened to the 50th anniversary edition of One Year for the first time.  One of the bonus tracks is a demo of "I've Always Had You," which later appeared on Ennismore.  This is a minor point, but I noticed that "good and bad" in the line "I've travelled far, through good and bad" is a merism.

"Care of Cell 44"

I was thinking about "Care of Cell 44" recently and had two thoughts:

First, it would make more sense to understand the "good morning" at the beginning of the song more metaphorically than strictly temporally.  It's an epistolary song ("writing this letter..."), and the letter could be read at any time of the day, not just the morning.  As a metaphor, though, this "good morning" could represent the renewal of the relationship that the narrator describes ("we'll get to know each other for a second time").

Second, a change in the bass part seems to indicate the narrator's growing eagerness.  For the first three verses, most of the bass part is half notes, but in the verse after the bridge, the bass part is mostly quarter notes.  To some degree, this provides a musical sense of increasing excitement, as if the narrator's heart is beating faster in anticipation of meeting his girlfriend again.

"Hold Your Head Up" b/w "Keep on Rollin'"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (11 February 1972), an edited version (2:52) of Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" b/w "Keep on Rollin'" (Epic S EPC 7786) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada release (Epic 5-10852) was on 10 April.

"Say You Don't Mind" b/w "Let Me Come Closer to You"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (28 January 1972), Colin Blunstone's "Say You Don't Mind" b/w "Let Me Come Closer to You" (Epic S EPC 7765) was released in the U.K.  Apparently, "Let Me Come Closer to You" was listed as just "Let Me Come Closer."

One Year

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (24 January 1972), Colin Blunstone's One Year (Epic E 30974) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

This is the specific edition I have (the only Blunstone album I have as a record).  Here are some pictures:

On the paper sleeve (the sleeve the record goes into before going into the cardboard sleeve), there's a short article on Argent:

ARGENT:
A New British Sound

There's a whole new thing coming out of the English music scene these days.  It's a new approach.  A new excitement.  A new sound.  It's the music of the tightly knit quartet led by Rod Argent.  (Ken Emerson of Fusion calls him "the best organist/pianist in rock.")  They are called:  Argent.

The group made their initial impact with their first album.  it catapulted the unit into English Top Ten charts and recognition as one of the most successful working bands in the British Isles.  They are now star performers in America, too - with appearances at the Boston Tea Party, New York's Fillmore East, Chicago's Kinetic Playground and The Whiskey in Los Angeles.  The boys have gotten around in a hurry.  So has "the good word" on them.

Guthrie Bester of Penthouse Magazine describes the effects:  "There are three parts to the Argent sound.  One is the pure and tensil [sic] line of the soloists, especially on guitar and organ.  The second is the clear, polished vocal work, individually and together.  And finally there is the material, one of the best original repertoires in rock.  Argent, in fact, was one of the first groups to get into what has become the new British sound.  Low-keyed, melodic, often unamplified songmaking that promises to be the big sound after the era of non-Cream that we have been into the last year.  Watch carefully now while rock and roll gets listenable and lovely, without losing any of its punch.  If you want to know where it's all going, listen to Argent.  Because Rod and company are helping to get us there."

Ring of Hands is the second Argent album.  it is uncommonly provocative, assuredly imaginative.  It sings of love and intimacy and other strange phenomena that create mind-paintings.  Argent is pure silver and gold.

Colin Blunstone's Collected

Yester-day, I happened to see the cover of Colin Blunstone's Collected compilation album, and I realized that (to some degree and probably just coincidentally) the cover art resembles that of the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night.

The entirety of the cover of Collected and each individual Beatle's row on the cover of A Hard Day's Night both show the same person with a variety of expressions.