THE ZOMBIES - Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies were formed by Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Hugh Grundy and Paul Atkinson whilst they were still at St Albans Grammar School, Hertfortshire, in 1963. Their original bass player was Paul Arnold, but he left the same year to concentrate on his exams and later qualified as a doctor. He was replaced by Chris White whose dad let them use a room above a store he owned for rehearsals. This certainly accelerated their development and before the year was thThe group enjoyed the greater artistic freedom which CBS had promised them and started work on an album, which they co-financed with the label. In retrospect, they became prematurely disillusioned when their first two CBS singles, Friends Of Mine and Care Of Cell 44 enjoyed negligible sales and split up. CBS still went ahead and issued the Odessey And Oracle album (Odessey was a deliberate mispelling, it's normally Odyssey) and the classic Time Of The Season, which was probably their best 45 since She's Not There. It featured more of those exquisite breathy vocals of Blunstone. Both recordings were well received in the UK but failed to chart. They only got a US release on the CBS soul subsidiary Date after badgering from Al Kooper but after persistent airplay Time Of The Season deservedly became their second US million seller, rising to No 3. The album is an exquisite delight. Full of Blunstone's breathy vocals and lovely melodies every track's a winner. Aside from Time Of The Season, highlights are Care Of Cell 44, A Rose For Emily (with its simple piano backing and lovely harmonies), Beechwood Park (another song of stunning simplicity), Hung Up On A Dream (more complex even trippy, with gorgeous orchestration and lovely dreamy vocals), the happy-go-lucky I Want Her She Wants Me and Butchers Tale (Western Front 1914) with its catchy fairground-style organ. rough they'd already undertaken a number of gigs around the Hertfordshire area.