ALL TOGETHER NOW

Argent's third album "All Together Now" is one of the classic prog albums of all time. For some reason I never see this album getting the love it deserves but, nevertheless this album is wonderful. After their more eclectic/proggy sophomore album, "Ring of Hands," they turned to a more rock approach. This album still holds a lot of their progressive tendencies though, and I am actually a little confused about why Argent is considered crossover prog on this website. I think they are and completely sound like classic symphonic prog.

The album begins with the prog classic "Hold You Head Up," which was also the band's greatest hit, charting high in the US and UK. The version on the album is 10 times better than the single version though, because of Rod Argent's organ solo, which is one of the best ever played in my opinion. Rick Wakeman has even been quoted saying that the organ solo is the greatest of all time. An amazing opener, and sets the tone for the album. "Keep On Rollin" is by far the worst tune on here. This track is literally a complete filler track, similar to "Jeremy Bender" by ELP but much longer. It feels like a carbon copy of every blues song ever (namely "Run Run Rudolph").

"Tragedy" is the second hit on this album. I absolutely love this cut mostly because of the really great Russ Ballard vocal performance, with another great organ solo from Rod Argent as well. After the very weak "Keep on Rollin" this track saves the course of the album by delivering one of Argent's best tracks. "I Am The Dance Of Ages" is another amazing song off of this album. With a monotonous funeral march drum beat, organ-led chord progression, and thoughtful lyrics, this song could've easily been a 10 minutes+ prog epic, yet it is only a little under 4 minutes.

"Be, My Lover, Be my Friend" opens with a grand organ riff, which is then completely thrown out the window and replaced with a heavier Russ Ballard tune. Ballard sings some nice harmonies on this track and it does feature a nice chord progression when it branches off from the main rock theme, as well as another spectacular Hammond Organ solo from Rod Argent, which is its saving grace. "He's a Dynamo" is another very boogie-woogie-esque track similar to that of "Keep on Rollin." I'm not a huge fan of it either, just pretty mediocre.

"Pure Love" is the album's epic masterpiece. Clocking in at 13:00 minutes, it consists of 4 parts (Fantasia, Prelude, Pure Love, and Finale). It opens with one of the all-time classic organ intros, up there with "The Three Fates" by ELP. After the 5-minute solo (!!!!) the song enters a very good organ-led passage. The song weakens a little bit when the vocals enter. I feel as if the vocals throughout the album are overly bluesy and take away from some of the more complex sections.

Overall this is a great album, containing some of the greatest organ work of all time from Rod Argent. This was Argent's most popular album and had 4 songs that charted internationally. As much as I enjoy Ballard as a vocalist, his compositions on the album tend to be a bit lackluster compared to those of Rod Argent. After this LP, Argent would go on to release their magnum opus, "In Deep" in 1973. Highly recomend to all prog fans!