Word: argent
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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France's King Henri III first dropped in for dinner on March 4, 1582, and became a regular patron of the Parisian hostelry. Since Harry's day, its habitues have ranged from musketeers to movie stars, presidents to prelates. Withal, La Tour d'Argent has remained one of the brightest, most tenacious stars in world gastronomy.* Kingdoms and republics have passed, boulevards and bridges have been renamed, heroes have risen and fallen-and been denied tables -but La Tour d'Argent has remained as immutable as its name, a tower of salivary silver. To this...
...Tour d'Argent, a 515-page book about the restaurant to be published next month, Claude Terrail, its proprietor, makes clear that it is not quite the place for a Texas oilman in search of a sirloin and fries. Even Lyndon Johnson, then Vice President, was accorded a rather undistinguished table. Undaunted, he asked, "Don't you serve the same food at all the tables?" The food is indeed succulent anywhere on the premises, especially La Tour's famous leg of lamb Claude Terrail and pressed ducks-of which the restaurant has served 468,800 since proprietors...
...Terrail's Tour, the menu is not all that commands attention. As Sacha Guitry, the French playwright, observed, "You go to La Tour d'Argent to dine. Once there, you look" at the scene. Shirley Temple Black, unable to flag a cab on a rainy day, was conveyed to the restaurant by gallant gendarmes in a Black Maria. Terrail also relates that a distinguished Roman Catholic prelate, Monsignor Fernand Maillet, loved late dinners at La Tour. "As he was obliged by ecclesiastical rules to stop eating at midnight so that he could conduct early morning Mass," Terrail says...
...Lover" is similarly structured. It begins with a full organ opening leading to an excellent basic riff from the rhythm section. (Ballard's chording is exceptional here, as it is on his own songs, and throughout.) Argent's gradual entry into the song for the break emphasizes his tendency to build a solo. There's a certain unpredictability in his explorations, both here and on "Hold Your Head Up," that results in an increased interest on the part of the listener. Argent's influences are subtle, and echo so well the texture of his solo that the finished whole...
...Argent's tendency to lighten everything they do has lessened their importance. They are one of the five best unknown rock bands in creation by choice. They seem content to play in the rave-up mainstream of English rock: albums of two rave-ups, mediocre blues, and a couple of tunes to acknowledge roots in R and B. Argent's strong point is simply that they do what they do so well with the assistance of one of rock's finer keyboard players in the tradition established by Steve Winwood. It's not a taxing, or particularly innovative music...