{"id":29763,"date":"2025-09-11T05:30:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29763"},"modified":"2025-08-14T13:49:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:49:32","slug":"take-five-great-guest-spots-featuring-rod-argent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/11\/take-five-great-guest-spots-featuring-rod-argent\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: Great Guest Spots featuring Rod Argent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rod Argent is one of the most versatile and creative musicians in rock. As a founding member of The Zombies, he was responsible for memorable hits like \u201cShe\u2019s Not There,\u201d \u201cTell Her No\u201d and the belatedly-recognized-as-monumental 1967 album <em>Odessey and Oracle<\/em>. After The Zombies ended their original run, he launched a new, namesake group in a more progressive vein. That group, Argent, scored hits with \u201cHold Your Head Up\u201d and \u201cGod Gave Rock and Roll To You.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beyond those two landmark projects, Rod Argent has enjoyed a creatively fertile solo career. His talents have led him to be enlisted in many other artists\u2019 projects as well, from Duffy Power\u2019s early bluesy work to decidedly non-rock sessions with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Argent sustained a stroke last year and has retired from live performance with The Zombies, though reports say he\u2019s recovering nicely. On the occasion of Rod Argent\u2019s 80th birthday this month, here are five notable and varied guest spots featuring his keyboard artistry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cCoast to Coast\u201d from Trapeze\u2019s You Are the Music\u2026 We\u2019re Just the Band (1972)<\/strong><br \/>\nFrom Cannock, England, hard rockers Trapeze got their start on The Moody Blues\u2019 Threshold Records; Moodys\u2019 bassist John Lodge produced their first two albums. The band headed in a more mainstream direction for their well-received third LP, which featured guest spots from steel guitarist B.J. Cole and Rod Argent on electric piano. Written by band member (and future vocalist for Deep Purple and Black Sabbath) Glenn Hughes, \u201cCoast to Coast\u201d explored the band\u2019s subtler, more melodic side.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rlGLgZCUFzw?si=_SDwL7Z98_plJ3PD\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cTouch My Soul\u201d from Michael Fennelly\u2019s <em>Lane Changer<\/em> (1974)<\/strong><br \/>\nMichael Fennelly is one of those musicians who \u2013 while perhaps not a household name \u2013 is highly respected among those in the know. He was a key player in two critically-lauded (if commercially overlooked) bands, The Millennium and Crabby Appleton. After the latter group broke up, Fennelly worked with producer Chris White to create his solo debut, <em>Lane Changer<\/em>. White called up his old Zombies band mate Rod Argent, who played on \u201cTouch My Soul,\u201d a track also released as a single.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hT34JYh8oTo?si=hn0RH2oAuZK8wM0_\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWho Are You\u201d from The Who\u2019s <em>Who Are You<\/em> (1978)<\/strong><br \/>\nBy the time The Who were working on their eighth studio album \u2013 and last before drummer Keith Moon\u2019s death \u2013 guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend was using longtime auxiliary member John \u201cRabbit\u201d Bundrick as keyboardist for live and studio work. But when Bundrick broke his arm, Townshend called old friend Rod Argent in for work on the four unfinished songs. One of them, the album\u2019s title track, features Argent\u2019s intricate and inventive piano work. Released as a single, \u201cWho Are You\u201d climbed to #14 on the U.S. singles chart; it found new life decades later when used in the title sequence for early 2000s TV series <em>CSI: Crime Scene Investigation<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PNbBDrceCy8?si=oR27T4IHx724HjcQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cRiders on the Storm\u201d from Nektar\u2019s A Spoonful of Time (2012<\/strong>)<br \/>\nA group of British expats based in Germany, Nektar came around in the late \u201860s with a winning mix of psychedelia and progressive rock. By 2012, two founding members of the group \u2013 guitarist\/vocalist Roye Albrighton and drummer Ron Howden \u2013 teamed up with a Who\u2019s Who of rock and prog heroes. Using the Nektar name, they made an album of cover tunes. Some choices were inspired (Roxy Music\u2019s \u201cOut of the Blue,\u201d The Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201c2000 Light Years From Home\u201d) while others \u2013 like Toto\u2019s \u201cAfrica\u201d \u2013 were questionable. Bassist Billy Sheehan of Mr. Big joined Rod Argent, Yes utility man Billy Sherwood and the Nektar duo for a credible reading of the Doors classic. It\u2019s a highlight of the album.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m8Eq_Z-dKfc?si=qhE2KcURzytc6wfy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cHaunted\u201d from Matthew Sweet\u2019s <em>Tomorrow Forever<\/em> (2017)<\/strong><br \/>\nNebraska-born Matthew Sweet immersed himself in the Athens, Georgia alternative rock scene before charting his own path in the \u201890s and beyond as a master of melodic power pop with muscle. A superb songwriter and musician, Sweet has long surrounded himself with other excellent musicians \u2013 Richard Lloyd and Susannah Hoffs among them \u2013 to help realize his artistic visions. Sweet\u2019s highly regarded 2017 release<em> Tomorrow Forever<\/em> was financed through a remarkably successful fan-funded effort. In addition to his core ensemble of Ric Menck and Paul Chastain (both of Velvet Crush), Gary Louris and John Moremen, the album featured Rod Argent on piano.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OlaRM5d77ik?si=qI9iO-96hqJnFprj\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Rod Argent is one of the most versatile and creative musicians in rock. As a founding member of The Zombies, he was responsible for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1872],"class_list":["post-29763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-rod-argent","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29764,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29763\/revisions\/29764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}