Argent
All Together Now

One of the many British meteors of progressive rock is Argent, a band that lived from 1968 to 1976, with a rather prolific output considering that their seven studio albums were released between '70 and '75. They take their name from the keyboardist and singer, Rod Argent, known for having previously been part of the successful band the Zombies -and for this already a habitué of the legendary Abbey Road studios.

With the historic lineup, a four-member group ideal for prog, which included singer and guitarist Russ Ballard -who would leave the band in 1974-, they wrote some albums worthy of memory and appreciation; in particular "Ring Of Hands" (1971), "All Together Now" (1972), and "In Deep" (1973) received the honors of time, even though -alas- they did not break through excessively.

The genre of the band is rock perfectly in line with the standards of the time. Drawn towards hard rock and heavy blues by the guitar and towards progressive by the keyboards. Not too heavy, nor, therefore, too banal or insipid, but rather executively quite demanding. The songs are primarily written by him, Rod Argent, assisted by former Zombies companion Chris White (who, however, does not take part in the band, somewhat reminiscent of Greg Lake with Pete Sinfield) and Russ Ballard.

From this picture emerges in 1972, indeed, "All Together Now", for many the peak of the band's career, an exquisite distillation of rock with prog and hard influences from the early seventies. The album opens with the most famous Argent song, "Hold Your Head Up", a successful gem that will go down in history, then touches on the frenetic rock 'n roll of "Keep on rolling", followed by a series of other pleasant and very evocative songs, concluding with a mini suite, "Pure Love", which lets us savor the taste of pure prog in the closing, with the organ of the frontman of this interesting band in the forefront.

The same year Argent recorded "God Gave Rock 'N' Roll To You", a song that would only be released a year later as a single and in the album "In Deep", and that will go down in history for the famous reinterpretation by Kiss.