Argent - Circus


One more album to go before i try to sum up this 4 album markov chain of reviews that led us from an impromptu compare/contrast essay about Katy Perry and Rush Limbaugh to labor day. Spoiler alert, it's completely coincidental that she's pregnant and recently released a facebook exclusive music video dressed as a clown alone at home playing a video game about life being a circus, and the band are all posing with the same chair on the back.

I still don't know anything about Argent other than the obvious concept for this album: life is a circus. I assume it's prog, but we'll do the real time jot down notes kind of review for this $2 naked high wire routine. 

Yep, the in your face kind of proggy weirdness. Spooky. IN THE CIRCUS!!! So far this is great, it's 70s hard rock with the added deranged modulations and abrupt style changes you'd expect from conceptual music. It's not drive time radio material, but quite enjoyably amusing. That guitar/synth duet toward the end of Highwire is awesome. Ha, the Phantom of the Opera chromatic descent, with almost Gilmour-y vocals. Clown really is very Pink Floydy to my ears. What's side b have for us?

Ooh, that kind of klangfarbenmelodie approach is cool, and i love me some ham-fisted keyboard banging. 70s ballad that doesn't seem to fit the album at all. Hello, weird stereo organ chorale thing. The Jester only plays for himself, you know. Very Freddy Mercury. 

What a great album. It's completely coherent, stylistically focused with only that one obvious non-album single as time filler. It's not cheesy or preachy like it easily could have been. Rod Argent was an actual member of the real Zombies. Oooooooh! He's the God Gave Rock and Roll to You and Hold Your Head Up guy, and he went on to actually work with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Nice. 

Yeah, this is great stuff. And as you can barely see if you squint, i literally paid 2 dollars for it. King sized Snickers bar or Argent on vinyl? No brainer, i'll take that tragically underappreciated prog-rock concept album over a sugar rush most any day of the week, thanks.

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