Customer Reviews

Encore: Live in Concert

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you cannot stomach "prog-rock" and would cheerfully shoot Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson on sight, stop reading this now. This album is not for you. If, however, you never met a synthesiser you didn't like and can get into long, spacey jams titled after comets, Argent's live album will likely go down just fine with you. It features all of prog's granduer/excess (take your pick) in full bloom; spacey synths, pomp-and-circumstance organs, odd-beat bass/drums patterns and the guitar solos straight from the Steve Howe/Hackett riff catalogue. You DO get one "song" song here; guitarist Russ Ballard gives a solo reading of his "I Don't Believe In Miracles," as pretty a pop tune as ever there was(and a hit for ex-Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone). But that's the exception; everything else here is from the prog side of the street and how you like it depends very, very much on your liking for that rock sub-genre. I like.

I'm puzzled that other reviewers fault this piece. If you are an Argent fan I can't see how you wouldn't be absolutely thrilled; I know I am. True, as sometimes happens in live shows the songs may be longer than the studio versions. If it bothers you when a band "extends" songs when live then maybe this would not be your favorite. However, I'll put it to you plainly - if you like Yes, ELP, Triumvirat, Deep Purple, I don't see how you would not thoroughly enjoy this concert. It is well recorded/mixed and each player does a fine job. Nobody sounds wasted or burned out; it simply is an excellent piece. Again, for instance, if you cannot stand a band like, for instance, Yes, this is not for you.

Originally released in 1974, 'Encore: Live In Concert' has never been considered to be all that great of a live album. In fact, it's pure mediocre. However, it does have a few highlights throughout it's 78 minute duration. Whew! That's a long disc there. The few cuts that I thought more or less made the disc worth hanging onto (at least to me) were "Music From The Spheres", the eleven minute refreshing "Hold Your Head Up" and their rendition of The Zombie's "Time Of The Season". Fairly recent, I ran into keyboardist / songwriter Rod Argent while he was on tour with former Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone and he was telling me that to this day, Argent reforms now and again with all five original members to usually play benefit concerts. I firmly believe that Argent could most likely sound better than 'Encore' at a present day live gig.

I have the Vinyl double album of Argent: Encore since many years and will probably buy the CD before either it or my old record player fades away. This is a great live rock recording with marvellous synthesizer performances by Rod Argent. My favorites are Thunder&Lightning, Dance of Ages, Time of the season, but they are all good! Together with the likes of Rare Earth, ELP (Pictures at an exhibition), Deep Purple (Made in Japan), Chicago (Live at Carnegie Hall), Gary Moore, Little Richard, it is one of my favorite l i v e albums. As to studio bands I'm more inclined to Yes, Genesis, Santana (Supernatural says it all!), Greenslade (anybody knows about "Animal Farm" on CD?), Michael Jackson, .... but I digress and rather stop now.

Argent were one of those rock bands from the early to mid 70's that was famous for one or two hits, and then seemed to disappear. I think it's important to keep good music alive (whether it's old or new) and that's why I'm writing a review for Argent's Encore: Live in Concert album. I love the 78 minutes worth of rock music featured on this disc. It's unfair to call these guys rip-offs of Emerson, Lake and Palmer just because the two bands happen to share a few similar ideas. According to this album, Argent is excellent, and they are *not* totally a progressive rock band like many people seem to label them as. Just a few connections to some of the popular prog rock bands around at the time.

I feel like doing a track-by-track review, to give you a good idea what you're getting into.

Track 1. The Coming of Kohoutek- It's a 10-minute instrumental. Starts off with a catchy mellotron bit that flows beautifully into a guitar riff. A good, steady drumbeat soon follows with a short synth part coming in next. A keyboard jam immediately following all this activity comes in next, which is the highlight of the track for me. Just think- all these musical instruments make an appearance during the first four minutes of the song! A brief electric guitar bit with noticeable background flutes is the next slice of excitement on the musical menu, apparently continuing with the theme of "How many musical instruments can we impress the audience with".

Man, what a song! Are those organs I hear around the 5 minute and 30 second mark? Awesome! Here comes some tasty piano notes 7 minutes in. My favorite part is probably the little synth march bit that comes in around the 7:30 mark. Wow is THAT part good (but short)! A synth jam soon follows, and what a treat it is! Those synths sound a good 10 years ahead of their time, when they became popular in the early 80's. Good, good stuff. Now THAT is one of the best possible ways to open an album!

Track 2. It's Only Money (Part 1)- This is one of those party hard rockers that was a very popular trend back in the 70's. Nazareth, Judas Priest and Kiss did many similar songs. It resembles the Beatles "Money", which was probably intentional. I'm not a big fan of the Beatles tune but this is a great track. It's like the band members took the basic idea of the Beatles song and made it better, in my opinion. I love the "la la la" chant at the end.

Track 3. It's Only Money (Part 2)- Just as catchy as the previous track. This song is like an expansion of Part 1, but with a different verse melody and chorus. It's really just as good. Short guitar, keyboard and synth jams all play (in order) towards the middle of the song. It's really cool the way the track progresses into different musical instruments.

Track 4. God Gave Rock and Roll To You- A *really* catchy chorus! You won't forget it after you hear it. I love the groovy bass intro and how it quickly leads into some fantastic guitar playing before the memorable chorus permanently makes its presence known in your head. The verse melody is totally underrated with some simple but meaningful lyrics and music "love your friend and love your neighbor, love your life and love your neighbour, you know it's never too late to change your mind". What an INCREDIBLE moment when the guitar comes in and quietly repeats the vocal chorus around the 4-minute mark. That is a really good moment, no doubt about it.

Track 5. Thunder and Lightning- I actually got into a fight with my father when I first played this song. I was the thunder and he was the lightning! The track starts off with some brutally heavy guitar work and a solid verse melody. Pretty good chorus too. You know, this band was WAY too talented to be ignored the way they have been. The 70's are gone, but this music should live forever just because it's so different from anything I've ever heard before. A strange synth jam appears near the end, which seems messy at first but it's actually not.

Track 6. Music From the Spheres- Am I crazy or does the chorus sound like something the Alan Parsons Project would do? I don't think they were around just yet when this record was released (in 1974). This song definitely does its job making me think about travelling across the universe with its "hectic one minute, quite soothing and comfortable the next" approach going on. Just the way the verse melody and chorus was written reminds me of sailing through the universe and then coming across a meteor shower, I guess. Also found on this track is some superb guitar work and an excellent lengthy keyboard jam. What you have here is a consistently pleasing 9-minute track. The ending is particularly memorable for the insane Who-like drumming and the loud, demanding keyboard riff.

Track 7. I Don't Believe in Miracles- A short ballad featuring mainly pianos. It's really good though. Don't be scared just because I said "ballad". You need a song like this to catch your breath from all the previous tracks, which were quite difficult and lengthy to take in the first time you hear them. After this track, there's about 30 minutes of exciting (not to mention, unordinary) music left.

Track 8. I Am the Dance of Ages- Quiet piano playing opens a song that is anything but ordinary. The track is almost Genesis-sounding in spots. Some MONSTER guitar riffs appear near the beginning along with some Peter Frampton-like vocals. I can't find the words to accurately describe the chorus. It's very angry, and amazingly insane. It reminds me of trying to guide a ship through dark and dangerous waters, like through a severe thunderstorm in the middle of nowhere. A tune like this proves how special 70's music used to be. It's almost 10 minutes in length and the tune seems to sail by in an instant. Some really good synth and mellotron passages give off a dark impression. One scary song overall.

Track 9. Keep on Rollin'- A good-time Southern Rock boogie featuring decorative piano playing. Layers and layers of excellent piano work. Some sizzling hot guitar playing near the end.

Track 10. Hold Your Head Up- MUCH different from the studio version everyone knows from the radio. Well, the verse melody and chorus remain pretty much the same, but the keyboard jam is shorter in order to make room for a fairly lengthy synth jam. I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not. The keys morph into the synths very nicely, though. In fact, so nicely you might not even know it's happening! Somewhere around the 6-minute mark it sounds like the synths turn into that traditional Christmas classic "Deck the Halls". Anyway, this version of "Hold Your Head Up" is raw and not nearly as "mystical" or adventurous as the studio version. I have to give the band members credit though- you can tell they are really into it and end up giving us a fantastic live version as a result. It's just different from the version you've known the last 30 or so years. The synth parts all work, though.

Track 11. Time of the Season- A much faster, more rocking, and lengthier jammy version of the Zombies classic. I love it!

Overall, Argent doesn't deserve all the years they've been ignored or the comparisons to other artists they've had to put up with. This album is a very raw-sounding classic rock record that puts a lot of emphasis on instrumental jamming, which is a good thing. Maybe it's a bit heavy on the synths, but that's about the only complaint I can find with the album. All the tunes are memorable, and the entire 78 minutes worth of music satisfies my craving for classic rock at its very best.

This album features songs from the very proggy NEXUS album as Argent toured to promote their latest offering and showcases Rod Argent and Russ Ballard at their very best.

Opening with 'The Coming of Kohoutek' the scene is set for some excellent preformances from the band and outstanding individualism with Ballard taking on the Colin Blunstone hit, which Ballard penned, 'Don't believe in Miracles'. Other stand out tracks include their only international hit 'Hold Your Head Up', the Zombies 'Time of the Season' and 'Dance of Ages'. Kiss covered 'God gave Rock n Roll' but Argent perform it with greater panache.

This was their finest hour with several tracks from their finest album 'Nexus'. The fact that the double lp is now on one CD is also a plus. Amazing and still very enjoyable over 35 years on.

Track Listings:
Side One
1. The Coming of Kohoutek - Argent, Argent
2. It's Only Money, Pt. 1 - Argent, Ballard
3. It's Only Money, Pt. 2 - Argent, Ballard
Side Two
1. God Gave Rock 'N' Roll to You - Argent, Ballard
2. Thunder & Lightning - Argent, Ballard
3. Music from the Spheres - Argent, Argent
Side 3
1. I Don't Believe in Miracles - Argent, Ballard
2. I Am the Dance of Ages - Argent, Argent
3. Keep on Rolling - Argent, Argent
Side 4
1. Hold Your Head Up - Argent, Argent
2. Time of the Season - Argent, Argent

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.

As evidenced by this album, Argent were a sort of poor man's ELP, with a little more electric guitar and substantially more vocal harmonies. The trouble is that they were primarily a studio band. This album -- a double live LP -- was given mediocre reviews even on its initial release. The sound quality has not improved with the transfer to CD. The drums sound particularly tinny. Even though Argent are playing to a home crowd on many of the tracks -- at the City Hall, St Albans -- there seems to be little or no interplay with the audience. I can remember that venue staging wrestling tournaments that were more exciting -- although there was probably slightly more improvisation in an Argent concert.

If you want a much better live album, which is far better recorded, with much better drumming, get ELP's WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS, which was recorded around the same era.

The only good reason for getting this album is because Argent's IN DEEP album is becoming increasingly hard to find. That contains the studio versions of 'It's Only Money' parts 1 and 2, which are infinitely superior. They are both good tunes. Unfortunately you also get 'God Gave Rock and Roll to You', which has always sounded ponderous to me.