''Circus'' is the sixth studio album of

Argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions t ...

, released in March 1975 by Epic (PE 33422), and distributed by CBS. It was the last album as part of their contract with CBS Records and the first after the departure of founding member/lead vocalist/guitarist

Russ Ballard Russell Glyn Ballard (born 31 October 1945) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Originally coming to prominence as the lead singer and guitarist for the band Argent, Ballard became a songwriter and producer by the late 1970s. His co ...

. New lead vocalist

John Verity John Verity (born 3 July 1949) is an English guitarist and singer. Best known for as a member of Argent, a band formed by Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent. He joined the band alongside John Grimaldi, replacing Russ Ballard. Early life, family ...

was added at the recommendation of Ballard (Verity's band had supported Argent during their previous tour and had impressed Ballard). The album was recorded during an intense session after the new line up of the band workshopped and practised the material written largely by

Rod Argent Rodney Terence Argent (born 14 June 1945) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Argent came to prominence in the mid 1960s as the keyboardist, founder and leader of the ...

(bassist

Jim Rodford James Walter Rodford (7 July 1941 – 20 January 2018) was an English musician, who played bass for several British rock bands. He was a founding member of Argent, which was led by his cousin Rod Argent, and performed with them from their forma ...

wrote "Trapeze"). Prior to this album Argent had been working with his songwriting collaborator Chris White (the duo had written songs together and separately in The Zombies) on material for the band. The band quickly followed up with a second album '' Counterpoints'' the same year (1975) for RCA Records which has yet to be officially released on CD or in digital form. The album is a concept album using the circus as a metaphor for life. The album charted at 171 in Billboard. ''Circus'' received a CD release as an individual title and a two-album on one CD release from

Wounded Bird Records Wounded Bird Records is an American compact disc only re-issue record label that was founded in 1998 in Guilderland, New York. They re-release lesser known albums from popular and lesser known artists, including Paul Butterfield, Cactus, Herbie ...

in 2005.

Track listing

All songs composed by Rod Argent except where indicated.

Personnel

;Argent *

– Fender Rhodes electric piano, acoustic piano,

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014 ...

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...

, vocals *

– guitar, vocals * John Grimaldi – guitar, cover art *

– bass, vocals * Robert Henrit – drums, percussion ;Technical * Mike Ross-Trevor – engineer * Mark Williams – second engineer * Martin Springett - inner sleeve illustration

References

1975 albums Argent (band) albums Albums produced by Rod Argent Albums produced by Chris White (musician) Epic Records albums {{1970s-rock-album-stub