“…There’s A Man
Who’s Lost…He’s Alone…He Bears The Cost…”
[includes their 1970 debut LP "Argent"]
Hardly the most
beautiful of objects to behold – five skinny singular Repro Album Sleeves
slotted into an outer hard card box with zero info other than track lists.
Still – it does at least bring together Rod Argent’s best music from the
Seventies in one usable lump (and it sounds pretty damn good too).
Unfortunately this particular Box Set in Sony's ongoing series of 5/3CD album
reissue sets has been deleted many years now and subsequently acquired a bit of
a price tag. So here are the details, tragedies and the heads held up…
Released March
2009 - "Original Album Classics" by ARGENT is a 5CD Mini Box Set on Epic/Legacy
88697445472 and breaks down as follows...
Disc 1 is
"Argent" (40:39 minutes):
1. Like Honey
2. Liar
3 Be Free
4. Schoolgirl
5. Dance In The
Smoke
5. Lonely Hard
Road [Side 2]
6. The Feeling Is
Inside
7. Freefall
8. Stepping
Stones
9. Bring You Joy
Tracks 1 to 10
are their debut album issued in 1970 in the UK on CBS S 63781 and in the USA on
Epic BN 26525
Disc 2 is
"Ring Of Hands" (42:52 minutes):
1. Celebration
2. Sweet Mary
3. Cast Your
Spell Uranus
4. Lothiorien
5. Chained [Side
2]
6. Rejoice
7. Pleasure
8. Sleep Won’t
Help Me
9. Where Are We
Going Wrong
Tracks 1 to 9 are
their 2nd album issued in 1971 in the UK on Epic S 64190 and on Epic KE 30128
Disc 3 is
"All Together Now" (41:42 minutes)"
1. Hold Your Head
Up (Album Version)
2. Keep On
Rollin’
3. Tragedy (Album
Version)
4. I Am The Dance
Of Ages
5. Be My Lover,
Be My Friend [Side 2]
6. He’s A Dynamo
7. Pure Love: (i)
Fantasia (ii) Prelude (iii) Pure Love (iv) Finale
Tracks 1 to 7 are
their 3rd album issued in April 1972 in the UK on Epic S EPC 64962 and in the
USA on Epic KE 31556
Disc 4 is
"In Deep" (45:24 minutes):
1. God Gave Rock
And Roll To You
2. It’s Only
Money (Part 1)
3. It’s Only
Money (Part 2)
4. Losing Hold
5. Be Glad [Side
2]
6. Christmas For
The Free
7. Candles On The
River
8. Rosie
Tracks 1 to 8 are
their 4th album issued in 1973 in the UK on Epic S EPC 65475 and in the USA on
Epic KE 32195
Disc 5 is
"Nexus" (42:10 minutes):
1. The Coming Of
Kohoutek
2. Once Around
The Sun
3. Infinite
Wanderer
4. Love
5. Music From The
Spheres
6. Thunder And
Lightning [Side 2]
7. Keeper Of The
Flame
8. Man For All
Reasons
9. Gonna Meet My
Maker
Tracks 1 to 9 are
their 5th album issued in 1974 in the UK on Epic S EPC 65924 and in the USA on
Epic KE 32573
Each card repro
is a single sleeve - the UK gatefold artwork for "Argent", "Ring
Of Hands" and "All Together Now" (including its 4-page insert)
is NOT reproduced on these issues; while the "Nexus" title uses the
'US' artwork, which is different to the UK issue. However, Sony/Legacy has the
full details and booklets for each title downloadable from
www.musicmadesimple.info
As you can see
from the song numbers listed above, none of the CDs contain extra tracks - in
particular the 7" single edits of "Hold Your Head Up" and
"God Gave Rock And Roll To You" or the unique US mixes of their first
2 singles "Liar" and "Rejoice". You have to buy those
separately and they're all available on a USA 2008 18-track Epic CD compilation
called "Greatest - The Singles Collection" (it's also available via
an iTunes download).
It doesn't say
who's remastered what or where, but the sound is good overall - superb in some
places ("All Together Now") - but unfortunately only mediocre in
others. For instance, "In Deep" and "Nexus" got lumped
together as 2 albums on one CD a few years ago which received bad reviews - in
particular to do with its mastering (some even suggesting that vinyl was used).
That's not the case on these versions of those two albums - tracks like "Losing
You" from "In Deep" and "Once Around The Sun" and
"Man For All Reasons" from "Nexus" (lyrics above) all have
quite patches in them - but there's no clicking or popping here. What there is
a certain kind of top-end muddiness - I think it's inherent to the way they
were recorded. I'm afraid I've found a lot of Legacy issues like this (not all
of course) - they're good - but hardly great.
And in that
Seventies progressive kind of a way, some of the music is of course horribly
dated too, but other portions of it (especially the excellent first 2 albums)
is truly superb 70's rock well worth re-discovering.
Overall - a
fairly good way of acquiring now quite pricey albums on original vinyl - and a
revelatory jaunt down a not-so-familiar rock path...
PS: Other artists
in the “ORIGINAL ALBUM CLASSICS” Series are [FIVE DISC SETS]…
1. The
Allman Brothers Band
2. Jeff
Beck
3. George
Benson
4. Big
Audio Dynamite
5. Blood,
Sweat & Tears
6. Blue
Oyster Cult
7. Pierre
Boulez
8. The
Brecker Brothers
9. The
Byrds
10. Johnny
Cash
11. Cheap
Trick
12. Stanley
Clarke
13. Cypress
Hill
14. Miles
Davis
15. Duke
Ellington
16. Earth,
Wind & Fire
17. Agnetha
Faltskog [Frida of Abba]
18. Rory
Gallagher
19. Hall
& Oates
20. The
Isley Brothers [see REVIEW]
21. The
Jacksons
22. Jefferson
Airplane
23. Jefferson
Starship
24. Judas
Priest
25. Kansas
26. Carole
King
27. Kris Kristofferson
28. Mario
Lanza
29. The
Mahavishnu Orchestra
30. Henri
Mancini
31. John
McLaughlin
32. Thelonious
Monk
33. Mott
The Hoople
34. Willie
Nelson
35. Harry
Nilsson
36. Ted
Nugent
37. Dolly
Parton
38. Poco
39. Prefab
Sprout
40. Elvis
Presley
41. The
Psychedelic Furs
42. Lou
Reed
43. Lou
Reed Vol.2
44. Sonny
Rollins
45. Santana
Box 1
46. Santana
Box 2
47. Joe
Satriani
48. Nina
Simone
49. Lonnie
Liston Smith
50. Patti
Smith
51. Smokie
52. The
Stranglers
53. Steve
Vai
54. Various
- Carols For Christmas
55. Various
– The Joys Of Christmas
56. Weather
Report
57. John Williams
57. John Williams
PPS: 2010 sees
the introduction of THREE DISC SETS in the Series from…
1. Jennifer
Brown
2. Agnetha
Faltskog [Frida of Abba]
3. Fleetwood
Mac
4. Journey
5. Scorpions
6. Simon
& Garfunkel
7. The Walker Brothers
7. The Walker Brothers
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