Absolute Radio: Discover real music

And this album proved it to me many years ago. It is a pleasure to have a CD copy that I can listen to again. When I first heard "Hold Your Head Up' on the radio, I bought the album with babysitting money. Well, it was my first introduction to Progressive Rock n' Roll. It amazed me to hear so many different styles of music rolled into one incredible album, but Argent did it then, and unknown to me at the time, Rod Argent had started playing that kind of music with his first band, The Zombies.
Now, to listen again to this wonderful album, I hear things I didn't catch as a young listener.
"Hold Your Head Up" opens the album, and it is great with the organ solo and all. It is a rallying anthem, and I feel a tinge of personal pride whenever I hear this song. "Rock and Roll Rag" follows, and even though it is a very interesting mixture of musical styles ranging from Ragtime to Chuck Berry era rock n roll, it is even better live with the current line up of Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone's touring band.

A personal favourite ""I Am The Dance of Ages", plays like an epic song much in the sytyle of Yes with Jon Anderson. Very moving and dramatic, you simply must give it your full attention.

One of the things that always struck me about Argent was their lack of pretensiousness and because of this, I always had (still do indeed) the highest regard and respect for all these fine musicians. This album shows the band at the height of their popularity perhaps, and is a personal favourite, but all of their albums are worth listening to. I gave this 4 stars, only because their later albums "In Deep" and "Nexus" brought them to their height as a band.



Rating: 4 out of 5