Argent-Nexus (1974)

Argent's fifth album, "Nexus", represented their most progressive offering, a departure from the mainstream rock indulgences of the monumental hits "Hold Your Head Up" (1972) and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" (1973). While the band had already begun to steer their music toward a more complex style with their previous album, "In Deep" (1973), on "Nexus" Rod Argent takes the reins of much of the songwriting, dominated by keyboards, as demonstrated in the album's first three instrumental tracks: "The Coming of Kohoutek", "Once Around the Sun", and "Infinite Wanderer". In these songs, Argent unleashes his organ solos, frenetic keyboards, and stellar contributions from a resurgent Russ Ballard on guitar. The progressive epic "Music From the Spheres" follows a similar path, with the simple ballad "Love" completing the first part. The second side of the album is entirely dominated by Russ Ballard's compositions, all of them predominantly heavy and powerful hard rock tracks like "Thunder and Lightning" and "Keeper of the Flame", as well as songs closer to pom-pom rock such as "Man for All Reasons" and blues rock like "Gonna Meet My Maker". After this album, internal disputes between Rod Argent and Russ Ballard regarding the musical direction they should take led to Ballard's departure, and the band entered a creative crisis, releasing several more albums without much impact, such as "Circus" and "Counterpoints" (1975), both of which served as epitaphs for this legendary band.