On Friday night, the Zombies will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and deservedly so. Few keepsakes of the British Invasion sound as non-musty as Shes Not There, their first hit, or Time of the Season, their last. Colin Blunstones singing, which seems to float above the arrangements, is one reason for their enduring allure, but so is the keyboard playing of Rod Argent. His electric-piano runs on Shes Not There and smoky organ on Time of the Season have been inspiring air keyboardists for decades.
But Argent needs to be applauded for another reason as well. After the Zombies expired, right around the time Time of the Season was released in 1968, Argent (and Zombies bass player Chris White, who switched to songwriting duties) started his own band, aptly called Argent. Forty-five years ago this season, the group released its fifth record, Nexus. Starting with its title (Latin for unity) to songs called The Coming of Kouhoutek and Music from the Spheres, Nexuswas Argents full-on prog move. Which makes it worth studying now: In a little more than 10 years, Argent became a one-man tour through the evolution of rock in a way that few of his generation managed.
Flashback: Steve Perry Makes a Shocking Return to the Stage in 2014John Sykes, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's New Steward, Talks Hall's EvolutionThe 10 Wildest Led Zeppelin Legends, Fact-Checked25 Songs That Are Truly Terrifying
Start with the early Zombies, who, in their matching suits and ties, utterly looked the part of post-Beatles British pop stars. On their first album, 1965s Begin Here, they offered up their variation on what most of their peers were doing: a combination of covers (like Got My Mojo Working and Youve Really Got a Hold on Me) and originals like Shes Not There and the kicky I Cant Make Up My Mind.
Then, with 1968s now fabled Odessey and Oracle, the Zombies became one of many bands, here and abroad, swept up in postSgt. Pepperart-pop. Out went the blues songs, in came music far more precious and lush; Butchers Tale (Western Front 1914) took the vaudeville pop vogue to new extremes with a song about, yes, World War I. (The truly timeless Time of the Season is also here.) Odessey and Oraclewas very much of its time as was the subsequent band Argent, who quickly dispensed with subtleties in favor of what was at the time called a heavier sound with meatier organs, guitars and drums. The best-known example would be their biggest hit, the grinding Hold Your Head Up, although God Gave Rock and Roll to You was equally dense music for singing along to in football stadiums.
Argents label, Epic, called Nexusinterstellar rock in ads, a rare example of truth in advertising. Starting with Argents hair, which by then was slipping back his shoulders, Nexushurls itself into prog; its first three tracks are entirely instrumental, with plenty of keyboard solos and more twisty byways than a drive up a country road. Love allows guitarist and singer Russ Ballard, who left the band soon after, to revel in his power-ballad skills, and Thunder and Lightning adds in a little ersatz Zeppelin. But Music from the Spheres returns us to wonderful sonic overload, with a few nods to fusion keyboard along the way. Is there any more prog lyric than Music from the spheres assails my ears/I hear a distant song, a moving hymn/That grows and breaks across the universe? One could also easily make the case that Styx may have based their entire career, especially albums like The Grand Illusion, on the Nexustrack Man for All Reasons.
Compared to period genre albums by the Italian band PFM or the suite portion of Emerson, Lake & Palmers Brain Salad Surgery, Nexussounds restrained; its properBritish prog. But as with the Zombies, you emerge from it in awe of Argents keyboards: his manic organ on The Coming of Kohoutek, glistening electric piano on Music from the Spheres and high-pitched synth squeal on Infinite Wanderer, which sounds like the instrumental theme toa sci-fi TV series. Although its largely forgotten now, Nexuswas the culmination of Argents own magical mystery tour of British rock.