1973- "Christmas For The Free"

.....For a stadium-filling, anthem-pioneering, pedigreed major label rock band, Argent seems strangely to have fallen off the map. I'm not a big video game player, so I have no idea if their songs have been licensed for games such as "Rock Band" or "Guitar Hero" or their imitators and spin-offs. [Jan. 15 edit-- There's nothing by Argent mentioned on the websites of either game. Wow.] In light of that, it's not so surprising that their Christmas song, released off season as an album track and B-side, appears to have been forgotten.

• -N/A- "GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU" (Russ Ballard)
• 04:13 b/w "CHRISTMAS FOR THE FREE" (Rod Argent, Chris White)
• original source: 7" Epic S EPC 1243 (UK) 3/73 or 7" Epic 5-10972 (US) 1973
• as well as: LP IN DEEP Epic S EPC 65475 (UK) 3/73 or Epic KE32195 (US) 3/73
• and my source: CD ALL TOGETHER NOW Koch International/ Sony Music Special Products KOC-CD-7941 (US) 1997

.....Both sides of the single appear on the album LP IN DEEP, but the A-side "GOD GAVE ROCK AND ROLL TO YOU" runs 6:41 on the album and is edited to 3:30 for the 7" single. "CHRISTMAS FOR THE FREE" is the same edit for both formats. The LP edits for both songs appear as bonus tracks on the budget release of the previous album, ALL TOGETHER NOW. In fact, that CD is almost half bonus tracks, providing every single A and B from 1971 to mid 1973 in addition to the 1972 album. Conveniently, the outer jacket photo from that earlier album had been used in 1973 to create the picture sleeve for this post's single when it was released in Holland instead of using art from the contemporary album on which the songs appear. I haven't found any picture sleeves online for the US or UK.

.....In the early days of the British beat groups a band named the Roulettes worked mostly as backing for singer/teen idol Adam Faith. When trends gravitated to smoother soul and R&B, two members of the Roulettes formed the band Unit 4+2. Two other members, Russ Ballard and Robert Henrit, helped out on their biggest hit, "CONCRETE AND CLAY" and later in the decade briefly joined them full-time. By that time, however, straight R&B in England had receded while both psychedelics and hard rock gained commercial ground. The Zombies had little to indicate that their last project, the LP ODYSSEY AND ORACLE, would yield their biggest hit ("TIME OF THE SEASON", #3 in US, 1969) since their first single ("TELL HER NO", #2 in US, 1964). They had made arrangements to disband in 1967 before it was released. Organist Rod Argent and bassist Chris White signed on as producers for the CBS label before hearing about the single's success in America and Argent wanted to get back into the game when he learned he still had an audience waiting. Vocalist Colin Blunstone already had a solo career and White preferred production. Argent made do with replacement bassist Jim Rodford (his cousin) for a brief Zombies tour before considering that total reinvention might be preferable to compromise. Argent and Rodford recruited guitarist Ballard and drummer Henrit to form the full-time band Argent. Argent and White fulfilled their label obligations by co-producing the group and co-writing many of the songs, with Ballard writing most of the rest.

.....A visit to Ballard's website (streamlined and easily navigable) provided a biography with career highlights. What little I knew beforehand included his reputation as a writer and producer, which was already in place by the mid-1970's. What he filled in for me was that activity grew out of a feverish work schedule. By his account, at some time during the band Argent's first three albums (1969-1972) he was not only playing live and in the studio for the band but writing for them and others and getting by on three to four hours of sleep per day. By the time of their fourth album, IN DEEP, he was writing and producing for both Leo Sayer and Roger Daltrey. It was only in retrospect that he could recognize all this, years later, as a manifestation of depression, an inability to break out of patterns. It came out in a plaintive flavor in his songs and sometimes flowed over into Argent's and White's writing, too, as was the case with "CHRISTMAS FOR THE FREE". The lyrics are currently available on the Zombies' website:.....

http://thezombies.net/lyrics/cftf.php

.....There's a combination of hope for what could be with despair for what is. Unlike Jethro Tull's "CHRISTMAS SONG" or Greg Lake's "I BELIEVE IN FATHER CHRISTMAS" it doesn't sound like it has an undercurrent of moral outrage over the disparity between what Christmas ideally should be and what our world has become (or had become; I have to keep reminding myself this is nearly forty years old). But it certainly doesn't have the optimism of John Lennon assuring as that "War is over...If you want it". It doesn't expect to find any of the answers inside. Or the blame, as with Tull or Lake. It looks outwardly for solutions, to Jesus, to others, "someone to smile", "the people who promised us comfort", etc. Even though it's one of the few songs not released seasonally it resembles more than most the ancient pre-Restoration carols in the sense that the self or the individual is dwarfed by the 'glory'. The romantic is ignored in favor of the epic, a trend that's been reversing since Dickens (in Christmas music anyway).

.....If Ballard's condition at the time was being reflected in Argent's and White's writing, I can't say for sure. I can say that illness prevented him from recording this track. The band turned to former Artwoods guitarist Derek Griffiths to fill in for him. The Artwoods had been less successful contemporaries of the Zombies who also included Jon Lord (later in Deep Purple) and Keef Hartley (later with John Mayall), so Griffiths definitely had his references. The final credits for the track were:

• Rod Argent- Piano, lead vocals
• Derek Griffiths- Guitar solo
• Jim Rodford- Bass guitar, vocals
• Robert Henrit- Drums

.....Amazon has a few compact disc editions of IN DEEP available, all manufactured since the 1997 Special Products CD I noted above. The song "CHRISTMAS FOR THE FREE" also appears on the budget compilation CD HOLD YOUR HEAD UP Sony Music Special Products A31052 (US) 2000. It also downloadable. A reunited Zombies released a newly recorded album in May 2011 entitled BREATHE OUT, BREATHE IN which includes a new recording of the song I haven't heard yet. Their appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's television show (playing another number; you can see it online) last fall went well so it shouldn't sound too shabby. But I suspect that higher visibility will do very little to work this into many more Yuletide playlists.