The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle - 1968

Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Bach...and I suppose Pink too.

The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle - 1968

Postby Roland Bru » Sat Sep 27, 2008 2:55 pm

Great 60’s pop!

Yes it’s more conventional and less aggressive (less electric guitars) than the Beatles and can become a little monotonous. Yes there is less harmony singing than contemporary Beach boys albums and arrangements are (relatively) conservative. Yes the lyrics are nice but don’t set new standards in any respect. Yes relative flops at the time of release tend to be overrated as ‘lost classics’ when a next-gen reviewer hails it as a masterpiece.

Some history: before this album, the Zombies enjoyed moderate success with r’n’b type music: carefully crafted, but nothing special except for major hit She’s not there (fifteen years later covered by Santana). With this album they made it big in the USA at the end in 1968, but unfortunately they had broken up just before the release in april 1968. One could call this bad timing or just plain stupid. Perhaps it’s artistic integrity as well, because they may have brought this music to its logical end stage, a bit like the drastic changes both the Beatles and the Beach Boys opted for in 1968, although for different reasons.

This is very well crafted pop music, with lovely performances from Rod Argent and Chris White (song writing) and Colin Bluntstone and Rod as singers. The songs tend to sound a little bit the same, with a few exceptions: A rose for Emily stands out as a beautiful love song, Changes introduces a flute and a little less piano, I want her she wants me adds more drums and electric bass, which gives it a somewhat more rocky feeling which is not very appropriate as it is soon demolished by sweet backing vocals and the vocal melody on the verses in general. Butcher’s tale adds sound effects. Time of the season is again more up-tempo and introduces the aggressive sigh as a rhythm instrument. It was a famous hit single, and justifiably so!
Roland Bru
 
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