Zombie Week continues with jason stives‘ look at a classic by The Zombies …
Of the many acts who prospered both home and abroad during the British Invasion, there a few acts that maintained a certain level of interest and popularity in their native land but simply endured being singles artists only. This goes for acts like The Hollies, The Move, and The Walker Brothers, to name a few. The St. Alban-based band Yhe Zombies were neither singles darlings nor creative album sultans. Their fame lies heavily in the presence of a few hit singles in America and a small level of interest in the U.K. thanks to tracks like their duel 1964 hits “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No.” Their legacy, however, was cemented with the track that was released after the band’s split in 1968, the psychedelic “Time Of The Seasons.” which was a Top 5 hit in the summer of 1969. But for purists, the album that said single resonated from, the high-concept Odyssey And Oracle holds more merit than any of their famed hits could conjure.
Recorded during 1967 at famed Abbey Road studios, Odyssey And Oracle is an album for a band faced with changing and declining trends. The British Invasion boom had been a prominent one post-Beatlemania, but now even the architects of the movement were transitioning into album-based creativity and less on the singles-factory front. Odyssey And Oracle ultimately was a phenomenal transition into the waiting arms of album-based music, but for a band with floundering popularity, it was never destined to be a hit, and the band promptly closed up shop by the time the record was released in the U.K. in April 1968.
Since then, the album has held court as one of the greatest albums of the ’60s and made Rolling Stones’ dubious list of the 500 greatest albums. The album is rich in orchestral flavor, a sound no doubt held in high authority by keyboardist Rod Argent. There is a reason Argent and singer Colin Blunstone have always been the permanent fixtures of every Zombies lineup, and that’s echoed in their prominence on this album. Take for instance the album’s opening number, “Care Of Cell 44” — a madcap romp about the release of the narrator’s loved one who is coming home after a lengthy stay in a mental hospital.
The subject in all its kitschy intent shows the broad stroke of developing different themes for the band beyond getting the girl and then eventually losing her. The band was no doubt influenced by the creative circles that had gone through Abbey Road earlier in the year with acts like The Beatles and Pink Floyd recording what would become monumental releases (the Fab Four’s Sgt. Pepper and Floyd’s Piper At The Gates Of Dawn). The song’s strange subject matter is complemented with upbeat pop blemishing between Blunstone’s overly enthusiastic vocals and Argent’s carol-of-the-bells-like piano tracking. Rounded out with a series of “mmm’s” and “ahhhs”, “Care Of Cell 44” was a masterful piece of pop music that showcased the grandiose capabilities of even what some may see as some of the most minimalist artists of this era.
For more on The Zombies, check out last year’s piece on The Zombies vs. White Zombie, written by Pop-Break co-founders Brent Johnson and Bill Bodkin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0s7zqYF8NU
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