ALL TOGETHER NOW

After the encouraging second album where clearly their prog potential was starting to ooze out of their pores, the band's third album All Together Now became a huge success with the amazing (but not very complicated) Hold Your Head Up single (although it was abridged compared with the 6-min album version). While the bland gatefold artwork was nothing to warn fans that the group was indeed taking a prog turn, the group was indeed maturing, but they were definitely not finished the metamorphose.

Past the opening huge organ-drenched Hold Your Head Up, came a full-out Rock And Roll track, which would also become a live favourite. Another superb track is the slow-paced Dance Of The Age, full of drama and filled with inspired lyrics! This song was to be yet another live milestone in their concert receiving superb elongated versions lasting up to triple its original length. Ballard comes through with Tragedy, the slightly too long Be My Lover and Dynamo, but while Russ would one day write Argent's most enduring hit single, he's not yet reached top form here, even if Tragedy does hold its own. But most of the flipside is held by the four-part 13-min Pure Love mini-suite. And unfortunately I must say that the promises that this was proposing are not really held. Heavy on the organ and light on everything else, there is not much substance in this failed experiment. The one thing that became apparent is that while a good songwriter, Rod's virtuoso qualities being un-denied, his inspiration is a little too obvious and unfortunately he appears derivative (avoiding to say the next step upwards on this scale).

Definitely not yet at cruising speed, but well on the way there, Argent's ATN is the first of the classic album, but I wouldn't call it essential just yet.