COUNTERPOINTS

This is an unfairly dismissed, but nonetheless excellent, progressive rock album. Much more heavily fusion oriented than previous Argent albums, Counterpoints has some wonderful playing. In particular, the guitar playing is quite to the fore, with many lovely solos from John Grimaldi, and a few intricate instrumentals. Rod Argent's singing is still superb, and the overall production is clear and defined. I suppose many fans of the band's earlier albums would find the jazzier Brand X style excursions a little difficult to come to terms with. However, there are still some wonderful, solid rock songs like On My Feet Again, Be Strong and Rock and Roll Show. The gorgeous harmonies on Time hark back to the band's earlier style, while the lyrical guitar solos on Road Back Home are worthy of attention. A very fine album from a band that was trying to move ahead.