Odessey and Oracle
The Zombies
Big Beat WIKD 181
1968
This is a 1997 English re-issue of the classic Zombies album originally released on CBS Records in England with lacquers cut from the original tapes. It sounds terrific. I saw a concert a couple of years ago where the four surviving members of the band played the album in its entirety from beginning to end. It was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life, at times my eyes were in tears at the joy of hearing this music live. As I mentioned in my post on "Time of the Zombies" this music thrilled me when I first heard it as a teenager. This entire album is on the second record in that album. For many years I figured that was a good enough format to have it in, especially since original copies of the album were so expensive and hard to find. Then it started getting re-issued. I still resisted buying it particularly since I had also acquired it on CD via the "Zombie Heaven" box set. But ultimately I succumbed, it was just too important to me not to have it by itself. As a teenager back in the 1970s I mostly learned about pop music from the radio. At first I listened to top 40 AM radio and then when I finally got an FM radio I listened to album oriented rock, which we now call "classic rock." Even as a young person I realized that this music was mostly crude and idiotic. I heard an endless stream of stupidity that drove me back to the music of the 1960s. In retrospect there was plenty of intelligent music in the 1970s, I just wasn't hearing it on the radio. It was much later that I heard groups like Big Star, Roxy Music, King Crimson and Sparks. That is why when I heard this album, it blew me away. It was so unlike anything I had ever heard, even my beloved Beatles. At first I didn't even know what to make of it, the lyrics were so unusual and the music was so delicate. I was almost embarrassed that I loved it so much, it was so different from the music that my friends liked. But ultimately I didn't care, this record spoke to me like no other. I treasured it. It is a flawless masterpiece, 12 brilliant and diverse songs that convey experiences and feelings with unwavering intelligence. It begins with Rod Argent's upbeat "Care of Cell 44" which joyously recounts a person looking forward to the return of their imprisoned lover. Swelling mellotron lines and a big bouncy bass riff drive this engaging song which also features a sweet vocal from Colin Blunstone supported by very appealing background vocals. Somehow this song stiffed when it was released as a single but I find it endlessly enticing. The record shifts gears for the melancholy of Argent's "A Rose For Emily," a tale of loneliness delivered with a sensitive vocal from Blunstone supported by simple piano accompaniment from Argent. Chris White's "Maybe After He's Gone" displays a stimulating soft/loud dynamic with an atmospheric arrangement that expresses the confused emotions depicted in the lyrics. White's "Beechwood Park" is a beautiful nostalgic song enhanced by a chamber pop arrangement that gives it extra resonance. White also wrote "Brief Candles" which is one of the songs that most impressed me when I first heard this record. The song's poetic portrait of a disintegrating relationship still sends me and I admire the exhilarating shifts from the piano driven chamber pop of the verses to the soaring mellotron bolstered choruses. White, Blunstone and Argent all take turns at the mike. Side one concludes with Argent's "Hung Up On a Dream." This album is sometimes labeled as being psychedelic which I don't think is true, but this song is definitely in that vein. The impressionistic lyrics are hallucinogenic and the dreamy music is driven by jangly guitars and surging mellotron runs. The evocative lead vocal gives credibility to the flower power imagery of the lyrics and the beautiful background vocals enhance the atmosphere of the song in the best British psychedelic style. This has always been one of my favorite Zombies tracks and when I first got "Time of the Zombies," I played this song over and over. Side two opens with White's "Changes" which is a gloomy chamber pop track lamenting the changes money has made in a woman the singer used to know. It is particularly notable for the elaborate ensemble vocal arrangement in the choruses. The record perks up with Argent's ebullient "I Want Her She Wants Me." The song is so catchy that it verges on sunshine pop and it inevitably perks me up when I hear it. This is equally true of White's "This Will Be Our Year" which should have been a hit single. The song's sunny optimism, cheerful piano runs and Blunstone's heartfelt vocal it make it the emotional highlight of the album. The album takes a darker turn with White's creepy "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)." It is an anti-war song with lyrics that vividly evoke the horrors of World War I sung by White in a shaky voice that conveys the pain expressed by the song. It is driven by Argent's ghostly harmonium playing adding to the menace of the lyrics. The song shocked me when I heard it as a teen and I still find it very powerful. When I saw the band performing it live, White's vocal gave me chills. Sunshine pop returns with White's jubilant "Friends of Mine" which celebrates the romances of the couples that the singer knows. This charming song also should have been a hit single. The album concludes with the band's actual hit single, Argent's "Time of the Season." As you probably know the song has a hypnotic melody punctuated by Argent's jazzy keyboard runs which rank among the finest instrumental work in his Zombie career. It is an outstanding finish to an outstanding album. This record is now 50 years old but it still sounds fresh and innovative to me. I loved it in my youth and I love it just as much now. I consider it one of the most influential and important albums in my life. I'm so grateful that I stumbled across that copy of "Time of the Zombies" all those years ago and decided to take a chance on it. Hearing this album opened my eyes to the artistic potential of pop music and along with the Beatles changed my life for the better. Recommended to people who believe that good music should have something to say.
Rock Roots
The Zombies
Decca Roots 2
1976
Here's a post for Halloween. Just kidding, aside from their name, the Zombies with their tender and romantic records could hardly be farther from the spirit of Halloween. I saw them give a wonderful show at the Troubadour back in September. Well they were calling themselves the Zombies but it was really just Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent with some side men one of whom was Jim Rodford so they could have just as accurately called themselves Argent (they actually did perform "Hold Your Head Up.") Although Blunstone looks more like a head master nowadays, he still sings with the angelic voice of a schoolboy. He looks great compared to Argent and Rodford though who are definitely showing their age. It was an old crowd too, it was the first time I've been to a show where everyone rushed up to the balcony to get one of the few seats available because no one wanted to stand. I was well back in line and I still got right up front in the pit. I'm glad they are still working, they've been one of my favorite groups since I was a teenager. As I mentioned in my post on "Time of the Zombies" the box set of "Zombie Heaven" has rendered all Zombies compilations obsolete and this one is no exception, all of it is on the box. Of course the box is a bunch of CDs and this is vinyl so it has value to me. I was thrilled when I found it at Aron's Records back in the 1980s. Although the liner notes claim that 10 of the 16 songs on the album had never been released on an LP prior to this album, they are referring to England (this is an import.) This claim is untrue since one of those 10 tracks ("I Remember When I Loved Her") appeared on the Zombies' English debut album, "Begin Here." In the American market 4 of the non-album tracks on here are on "Time of the Zombies" and 2 others appear on the London Records compilation "Early Days." Since the album consists largely of the Zombies' Decca singles, the later See For Miles Zombies singles collection has almost all of it as well. Be that as it may, I'm still glad I have it since I don't have the See For Miles compilation. Side one is wonderful. It kicks off with their 1964 classic hit single "She's Not There" and its B-side the Beatlesque "You Make Me Feel Good" which is so good it sounds like it could have been an A-side in its own right. It has a brief bit of studio noise before it starts which I haven't heard on any other recording of the song. Their 1964 follow up single "Leave Me Be" is next. The single flopped but I think it is a great song, one of my favorites in their catalog. I like the contrast between the delicate verses and the driving chorus led by Argent's dynamic organ line. "Indication" from 1966 tanked as well but it is another excellent song. It is one of the hardest rocking songs they ever did and the organ and guitar interplay at the end of the song is very exciting. Although the liner notes indicate the 2.07 running time of the abbreviated American version of the single, this is the full length 2.59 version of the song. "How We Were Before" was its flip side. It is the sort of delicate, wistful song the Zombies excelled at and unlike most of their songs it is guitar driven with bongos providing percussion. It is one of the few Zombies songs written by Colin Blunstone as opposed to Chris White or Rod Argent. "I Remember When I Loved Her" is in a similar vein, a quiet, sad song full of atmosphere. It was the B-side of a 1965 U. S. single in addition to its appearance on "Begin Here." "Is This The Dream" was a 1965 single. It is a punchy, uptempo tune with a strong vocal from Blunstone and a brief but powerful electric piano solo from Argent. It reminds me of the Animals. The side concludes with "Woman" which was the B-side of "Leave Me Be." It is a propulsive riff-driven tune with an energetic organ solo from Argent as well as one of Paul Atkinson's best guitar solos. Side two opens with the Zombies' other hit single for Decca, "Tell Her No" released in January 1965. Blunstone's vocal really sends me on this one. "Whenever You're Ready" was an unsuccessful single from 1965, but it deserved a better fate. It has that special Zombies mixture of tenderness and power with a strong melody and plenty of instrumental force. It is followed by its B-side, "I Love You" which was a hit for the American group the People in 1968. I like the Zombies' version much better, particularly Blunstone's vocal. It is followed by the only non-singles on the record, "Summertime" and "I Can't Make Up My Mind" which appeared on "Begin Here" in 1965. "Summertime" is also on the group's American debut album, but as far as I am aware "I Can't Make Up My Mind" was never on vinyl in the United States. "Summertime" is the Gershwin classic that has been covered countless times but the Zombies' jazzy version is one of my favorites with a fabulous breathy vocal from Blunstone and a terrific piano solo from Argent. It was one of the highlights of their show at the Troubadour. "I Can't Make Up My Mind" has a weird bit of studio chatter at the beginning of the take. It is a moody song driven by a melodic jangly guitar riff that is one of my favorite songs on "Begin Here." "Remember You" was a single from the soundtrack for the movie "Bunny Lake is Missing." It was an A-side in England, but in the U.S. it was the B-side to the another song from the film "Just Out of Reach" which was left off this album for some reason. I actually prefer "Just Out of Reach" myself but "Remember You" has its virtues, in particular its jazzy rhythm and some memorable piano work from Argent. "Gotta Get A Hold of Myself" was the Zombies' penultimate single for Decca in 1966. I don't believe this was ever released in the U.S. on vinyl. It was written by Clint Ballard Jr. (who wrote the Hollies' hit "I'm Alive") in collaboration with Angela Riela and had been a single for Dee Dee Warwick in 1965. The group manage to make it sound Zombieish but it depresses me that they felt compelled to do covers to try and get a hit and it didn't even work. "The album concludes with another cover, the final Zombies Decca single, "Goin' Out Of My Head" from 1967 which also went unreleased in the American market. I like it better than the hit version by Little Anthony and the Imperials, if only because it is less melodramatic. It decidedly isn't very Zombieish, the flip side "She Does Everything For Me" (not on this record alas) is much better. It was a disappointing finish to their run at Decca. It is hard to believe that a few months later they would be recording "Odessey and Oracle" creating the best music of their career. I'm not sure what the point of this record was, as a singles collection it is missing several tracks and as a greatest hits on Decca record it has the very obvious omission of "She's Coming Home." Nonetheless I'm happy to have it. When I bought it I hadn't heard many of the songs on it and even now I still enjoy listening to it. It sounds great, nine of the tracks are in mono and it is a quality pressing. Aside from "Goin' Out of My Head" every track is good and many are great. Recommended to Zombie fans who prefer vinyl over CDs.
Time of the Zombies
The Zombies
Epic KEG 32861
1974
Kind of a creepy album cover for a record that is so sweet and sensitive, but I guess it fits with the irony of the Zombies name itself - the most erudite and tenderest of the British Invasion bands chose to name themselves after mindless monsters. "Zombie Heaven" basically rendered this obsolete, but as much as I love that CD box set, I still have a lot of regard for this double album. I knew very little about the Zombies when I bought it as a teenager aside from their hit singles, but you couldn't ask for a better introduction to the group, every song is great, this record was compiled with a lot of care and intelligence. At first I was a little perturbed that the group was so nerdy looking and that the liner notes were going on about how educated they were, but when I gave it a spin all my doubts vanished. The band played with so much style and verve, Rod Argent's keyboard work was inventive and exciting, Colin Blunstone had such a heart breaking and expressive voice. I'd never heard pop music like this. Instead of the raw, driving, rhythm and blues inspired music I was accustomed to hearing from the British Invasion bands, I heard music from the hearts of poets - melancholy, observant, aching, yearning. These songs really spoke to me, I related to the Zombies the way I never could to the Yardbirds or the Animals or the Stones. I shared their world view, their cultural values, their middle class background. Groups like the Eagles and Led Zeppelin might as well be from Mars as far as I was concerned, but these guys I could imagine talking to or hanging out with. This was well before college rock, it was so refreshing to encounter a group I could identify with, one so unlike the macho pretty boys, hippie half-wits and drug-addled neanderthals that populated the rock scene of the 1970s. Such great songs. Side 3 and 4 feature "Odessey and Oracle" in its entirety, restoring that lost masterpiece to the catalog that it never should have left. It is now justly recognized for its greatness, but back in the 1970s it was little known aside from "Time of the Season." I was amazed by it. The music was so eclectic, it was so different from every other record I had heard, it was my first serious encounter with chamber pop, aside from the occasional Beatles effort in that vein. The lyrics were so intelligent - songs about World War I and convicts and loneliness and alienation. I was dazzled by the imagery and atmosphere of songs like "Hung Up On A Dream," "Maybe After He's Gone," and "Brief Candles." What other 60s band would do a song ("Friends of Mine") about how happy they are that their friends are in love and then actually name the friends? "Odessey and Oracle" is chock full of these unusual and heartfelt songs. A great, great album. Side one and two cherry pick through the rest of the Zombies catalog including the hits "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" and adding such wonderful lesser known tracks as "Imagine the Swan," "I Know She Will," "Is This The Dream," "She Loves The Way They Love Her" and so many more. I could just go on and on about how every song is terrific. The liner notes by Pete Frame are first rate, with some vintage clippings and comments from the group. One of my all-time favorite albums. Recommended to anyone who ever wished that rock wasn't so stupid sometimes.
