Customer Reviews

Argent/Circus

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

(This reviews only the Circus part of the twofer, I leave the other album to the experts.)

The progressive rock meme had long since infected popular music by the time Argent released Circus in 1975. But musicians still couldn't decide whether they liked best the harmonic changes, the artsy orchestra, the jazz element, or the bombast. Bombast won, in case the 70s were before your time.

So Circus lacks the chops and big budget of "Tarkus" era ELP, or the bulging brains of "Lamb Lies Down" era Genesis. But, in a minimal sort of way, it's tasty nonetheless.

A standount for me is The Jester, where they don't take themselves too seriously. Dig the off-mike laugh before the bridge guitar solo and the witty, sloppy clincher (ragtime was not meant to be played fast).

Highwire hangs together, despite being one of those 9-minute "bring the band members into the studio on different days" tracks. Even sounds like they were all in the same room for the "getting dangerous" unison toward the end, to good effect.

Shine On Sunshine is just a knock-off of "Good Day Sunshine", but it turns out McCartney was going to be quite good at plagiarizing himself. No praise, no blame here.

Best avoided are the tracks where Argent personnel were starting to go their separate ways (Trapeze), or try too hard to recreate those quaint synthesizer-in-a-stadium solos (The Ring).

(As a sidebar, the circus meme was also rampant in the first half of the 70s - see the "radikally" different track Cirkus on King Crimson's 1970 album Lizard. There, by the way, jazz won.)

I've tried, but I just can't help but like The Clown - Pagliacci minus orchestra, jazz, and bombast - "and so I stand at last revealed a clown". So over the top, it actually rings true.

Argent Circus is an overlooked gem from the seventies. It is my favorite Argent album and finds them at a mature peak. The songs are cohesive from beginning to end and full of energy. The musicianship is topnotch and the concept of the album is realized. The feeling of being at a circus is captured in all its glory. The band fails to miss a beat throughout the whole album. Unfortunately, the album was overlooked in the seventies by bigger bands. This release gives those who missed out the first time a second chance and gives me the chance to fill in a gap in my cd collection. This release was long overdue and ranks as an all-time sleeper hit. I never tire of listening to Circus as I am a die-hard rock and roll fan. The seventies was my decade and I am glad to relive the seventies one more time.

I'm not sure how someone would come up with the idea of putting together two Argent albums that are so disparate. The distance between them, both chronologically and musically, not to mention the absence of Russ Ballard on Circus, makes the transition from one to the other rather jarring. Argent's first album is different from their other albums as well, if not to the same degree. Its sensibilities are firmly planted in the late 60s, with plenty of influence from Rod Argent's former band, The Zombies, and that connection is kept well throughout. Circus, on the other hand, boasts improved songs and slick production values learned from years in the studio. Improved songwriting might be arguable on a couple of cheesy numbers penned by the overly introspective Rod, and, compared to their debut, Circus lacks the balance of Ballard's superior writing talent. All that said, both albums are competent and enjoyable as separate entities, even if neither one necessarily represents Argent's best efforts. I think newcomers might be better served checking out All Together Now or In Deep as a proper introduction to Argent's music.

Terrible digital transfer and or mastering of a great classic all time favorite album. I read in some other reviews on Amazon and elsewhere that this CD had unusually high and bright treble peak. Knowing that the vinyl itself was rather bright I thought well they really didn't know the record so I bought it anyway. Well I was wrong. The upper treble is so bright and thin and 'crashy' it is very annoying to listen to and what warmth and depth was on the origional is gone. Turning up the bass doesn't help - it isn't there, turning down the treble doesn't help either - that just turns the sound to pure undefined mud. I have gone back to my rather aged and worn LP. It sounds much better! Maybe the German import of "Argent' self titled that people are paying more than $50 for just that one album alone is much better - I don't know. I'll stick wit the vinyl and transfer it my self if need be. I would not recommend this CD for that reason. The origional music and compositions themselves however- fantastic!

Argent's self-titled debut album is great. It shows leader-keyboardist Rod Argent and singer-guitarist-songwriter Russ Ballard to be carrying on the mantle of the Zombies with incredible skill and zest. The songs here are incredible, especially "Liar", which was identically copied by Three Dog Night for the U.S. market, and became a hit. It's a shame that the original version, which is considerably better, didn't become a hit in this country, but sometimes things aren't fair. There are other great songs here as well, and you should give them a listen.

CIRCUS, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixed bag. There are a lot of meandering instrumental passages, and Russ Ballard's songwriting skills are sorely missed, with singer-guitarist John Grimaldi being a poor substitute for Ballard, who'd since decamped for a solo career.

Despite the CIRCUS portion of this two-fer being mixed in quality, this CD gets five stars because the exceptionally high quality of the ARGENT portion more than makes up for the shortcomings of CIRCUS.

The Argent album part of the twofer is an excellent continuation of the Zombies for keyboardist and main driving force, Rod Argent. The sound is basically the same and Rod Argent shares songwriting with guitarist Russ Ballard. These songs are incredibly well-crafted with great melodies. Liar (by guitarist Ballard, is the same song 3 Dog Night had a hit with and pretty much copied note for note), Like Honey, Schoolgirl, Be Free,and Dance in the Smoke could have all been singles. Great vocals and harmonies with a Zombies-type vibe make this worth the price of twofer alone. If you really liked the zombies Tell Her No, She's Not There, or Time of the Season, you will love this.

A nicely assembled 2 lp's-on-one CD reissue.Of Argent's self-titled debut('69)and their 'Circus'('75)album.I had NO idea that Argent was putting out records that early.Decent '70's album rock,nothing outstanding,but okay.Never been that huge of an Argent fan anyway.Semi-memorable tracks include "Dance In The Smoke",Russ Ballard's "Liar"(think a lot of us remember that tune on FM radio),"Stepping Stone","Highwire" and "The Jester".Check it out when you can.

Sony Japan has just released the entire Argent Epic Records seven-disc catalog ("Counterpoints" was on a different label) in remastered, mini-LP sleeve format.

The 2008 Sony DSD-processed remastering trumps all previous releases, including the BGO, Edsel, Koch & Acadia-label CD's, not to mention the pathetic-sounding Collectables and Wounded Bird discs.

It is wonderful to finally have the primary Argent repertoire in dynamically-matched sound, as all the different releases (from the plethora of labels mentioned above) had varying audio levels, not to mention quality.

And, as always, the `sleeves themselves are fabulous, all being faithful replicas of the original gatefold LP record covers (except for "Nexus", which was a single-pocket LP design).

Unfortunately, however, Sony did not include two non-album tracks, "Kingdom", and "Closer To Heaven", which appeared on the "All Together Now" 2001-Koch & 2007-Acadia releases.

Curiously, though, Koch & Acadia also included as "bonus" tracks, songs that originally belonged to other Argent albums. These all appear in their proper place on the 2008 Japan releases.

Here are the links to the 2008 `sleeves:

Argent
Ring Of Hands
All Together Now
In Deep
Nexus
Encore
Circus

WHAT IS A JAPAN "MINI-LP-SLEEVE" CD?

Have you ever lamented the loss of one of the 20th Century's great art forms, the 12" vinyl LP jacket? Then "mini-LP-sleeve" CD's may be for you.

Mini-sleeve CDs are manufactured in Japan under license. The disc is packaged inside a 135MM X 135MM cardboard precision-miniature replica of the original classic vinyl-LP album. Also, anything contained in the original LP, such as gatefolds, booklets, lyric sheets, posters, printed LP sleeves, stickers, embosses, special LP cover paper/inks/textures and/or die cuts, are precisely replicated and included. An English-language lyric sheet is always included, even if the original LP did not have printed lyrics.

Then, there's the sonic quality: Often (but not always), mini-sleeves have dedicated remastering (20-Bit, 24-Bit, DSD, K2/K2HD, and/or HDCD), and can often (but not always) be superior to the audio on the same title anywhere else in the world. There also may be bonus tracks unavailable elsewhere.

Each Japan mini-sleeve has an "obi" ("oh-bee"), a removable Japan-language promotional strip. The obi lists the Japan street date of that particular release, the catalog number, the mastering info, and often the original album's release date. Bonus tracks are only listed on the obi, maintaining the integrity of the original LP artwork. The obi's are collectable, and should not be discarded.

All mini-sleeve releases are limited edition, but re-pressings/re-issues are becoming more common (again, not always). The enthusiasm of mini-sleeve collecting must be tempered, however, with avoiding fake mini-sleeves manufactured in Russia and distributed throughout the world, primarily on eBay. They are inferior in quality, worthless in collectable value, a total waste of money, and should be avoided at all costs.