CIRCUS

To say I was disappointed with this album when it came out would be an understatement. It was only then that I realised just how big an influence the recently departed (from the band!) Russ Ballard had on the music of Argent. Not only was his song-writing and singing so obviously missing, his quality control was too.

Rod Argent took over all lead vocals, and gave the album a much looser, jazzier feel. Rod is a highly accomplished and talented musician, but his vocal abilities are limited, hence Russ Ballard had previously been the main rock singer for the band. The loss of Ballard can been seen in many ways as paralleling the way Supertramp went when Roger Hodgson left. In that case too, Hodgson was the better singer, but Rick Davies, who has a similarly jazz based voice, chose to take on all vocal duties himself after Hodgson's departure.

"Circus" starts reasonably promisingly, with the keyboards dominant on the title track. From there on however, the album drifts aimlessly from song to song, completely lacking the tight distinctive sound of the Ballard era.

The days of Argent as a force in rock music were clearly behind them, and things were to go further downhill yet.

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