A thread to one of the best and overlooked groups of the 60's.
They are mostly know for a few hit songs, including "She's Not There", "Tell Her No" and "Time of the Season". The latter, ironically, became a hit song in 1968, long after the group had broken up in 1967. Even more ironically, the group broke up due to a lack of commercial success and intended their masterpiece,
"Odessey and Oracle", to be their swan song (which it was). The album flopped, predictably, but it didn't stop Time of the Season from going to #3 on the charts a year later.
It just so happens that Odessey and Oracle (the typo in the first word was unintentional: the artist misspelled the word on the cover and the band did not have the money to have it re-done) is one of the greatest albums ever made. I've always found most of The Zombies work to be darker, a little harder edged than most, and the album mixes that with elements of psychedelia, rock, and baroque pop, with a hint of Beatles and Beach Boys harmony/production. Listen to the pop symphony sound of
Care of Cell 44, especially the acapella breaks, the sad Rose for Emily, which sounds to me like a mix of 'For No One' and 'Eleanor Rigby'.
Maybe After He's Gone is heartbreakingly beautiful, reminiscent of the melancholy found in some of Brian Wilson's best work. The intensely psychedelic
Hung Up On a Dream, haunting
Beechwood Park and the sad but surprisingly mature look at the end of a relationship in
Brief Candles. The beautiful, uplifting
This Will Be Our Year is also a highlight. A few tracks are simply expertly done pop, and a couple are only partially successful experiments, but overall, the Odessey and Oracle's stature as one of the great works of our time continues to grow (ranked #100 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goDxhJl1UJESome other songs of theirs that I enjoy:
Whenever You're Ready:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olIJsQ6LiXQGirl, Help Me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug40FLvNGhkThe Way I Feel Inside:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QG1frfRywcRod Argent and Chris White are both excellent songwriters and instrumentalists, as Colin Blunstone is one of my favorite singers as well. I'm not overly familiar with their solo catalog but the band 'Argent' (with songwriting and production help from White) had a huge hit with 'Hold Your Head Up' and Argent went on to record some apparently good solo albums. Maybe The Zombies weren't a revolutionary band, as they tended to follow trends rather than creating their own, they were still a top notch group, one of the best ever, and deserved better than a couple of hits before disbanding.
What do you guys think? Any Zombie related thoughts?