Shaped in 1962 by St Albans schoolboys Rod Argent (piano, organ vocals) and Colin Blunstone (vocals), The Zombies had been a part of the mid-60s wave of British invasion bands. However in contrast to their R&B-dominated counterparts, the pair leant extra in direction of melodies, harmonies and jazz influences – as their singles She’s Not There (1964) and Each time You’re Prepared (1965) illustrated.
When the hits dried up, The Zombies signed to CBS to make Odessey And Oracle in 1967. Not solely did it turn into their final album of the 60s, however it grew to become a poignant, multi-layered swansong for the last decade.
The recording passed off at two iconic studios, Abbey Highway and Olympic, utilizing new expertise mixed with conventional devices and tune constructions. The ‘new’ got here within the type of the Mellotron, which supplied a stately, otherworldly really feel to the music. But it surely was used partly out of necessity, as there was no cash for session musicians.
For probably the most half, the chirpy toe-tappers are gone, changed by considerate conceptuality and folk-laden elegies, typified by the Victorian pump organ performed by Argent on Butcher’s Story, including grim emphasis to a despairing soldier’s letter from the Western Entrance throughout World Struggle I.
Nothing is ever fairly because it appears: the harmonies in Care Of Cell 44 are carefree and joyous, till they provide option to the realisation that you just’re listening to a jail letter.
Much less visceral however nonetheless stark is A Rose For Emily, a lament for ‘all of the lonely individuals’ and for lives that quietly cross with out coming into bloom. Blunstone’s high-pitched, wistful vocal is at its finest on this companion piece to The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby.
The litany of loss continues with the mournful psychedelia of Temporary Candles (‘his unhappiness makes him smile’) and Possibly After He’s Gone, expressing misplaced optimism {that a} wayward lover will return. Solely This Will Be Our 12 months breaks via the clouds in a burst of rousing optimism.
The passing of the seasons is one other classical theme – the tip of summer season in Beechwood Park or the haunting Modifications. The latter makes use of baroque and madrigal kinds, probably stemming from Argent’s background as a chorister.
As an affect for Midlake, Flaming Lips and numerous psychedelic indie troupes reminiscent of Beechwood Sparks (see what they did there?), Odessey And Oracle earns a genteel seat on the desk of prog alongside The Moody Blues’ Days Of Future Handed.
And though demise, loss and ruined goals loom giant, the songs are delivered superbly, culminating in Time Of The Season, which accommodates the seeds of the Zombies’ demise.
Blunstone disliked the tune intensely, arguing with Argent over the vocal supply, which triggered the discord that buried the band in December 1967. By the point the album was seized upon the legion of followers who hail it as a proto-prog basic, the band – no less than in the interim – had been already gone.
