Tonight I had the pleasure of listening to some absolutely fantastic music. It’s old, 1968, but it was new to me. I recently purchased a gorgeous-sounding repress of The Zombies’ “Odessey and Oracle” (the spelling mistake is theirs, not mine, artist Terry Quirk misspelled the title when he created the cover art!). This is an album that should absolutely be in anyone’s collection if you’re a fan of classic rock, but especially if you like The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, Nick Drake, or Iron Butterfly.
Although it was more or less ignored at the time of release, it has gone on to become an essential classic, even making it into the top 100 of Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Don’t let the crazy colourful cover art fool you into thinking this is a psychedelic album, it has far more in common with the baroque stylings of The Kinks’ “Village Green Preservation Society” or The Doors’ “L.A. Woman” than with the guitar freakouts of Iron Butterfly’s “Inna Gadda Da Vida”. Its lush sounds and charming melodies are also reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian, who were clearly influenced by it.
If you’re not familiar with The Zombies, you have at the very least heard “She’s Not There”, or the last track on side two of this album: “Time of the Season.” To me, this song is quintessential sixties music. It has that groovy feel with just a hint of danger lurking beneath the surface. It features in just about every American film set in the sixties, and was apparently something of an anthem for American kids fighting in Vietnam. The keyboards are gorgeous and remind me of The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm.” Remarkably, the song wasn’t even meant to be released as a single, though recorded and released with the album in 1967, it only came out as a single in early 1969, becoming a surprise hit just as the band finally called it quits.
In fact, it was such a hit that imposter bands calling themselves The Zombies ended up touring in support of the single in order to cash in! Fun fact: one of the imposter bands was a four-piece that included Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, who would go on to form ZZ Top with Billy Gibbons later that year. Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent said years later that The Zombies ought to repay the compliment by forming a ZZ Top tribute band.
Although “Odessey and Oracle” was only The Zombies’ second proper album, it was also, sadly, their last. Recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles had just completed “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and Pink Floyd had recorded “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn”, “Odessey and Oracle” is essentially a time capsule of the Summer of Love. It was also the first time an independently produced release, i.e. not EMI, was recorded there!
Originally mixed in mono by Zombies band members Rod Argent and Chris White, the stereo version only came about when they delivered the master to CBS and were told in no uncertain terms that a stereo mix was required. Back into the studios they went, but since the recording budget had already been spent, Argent and White had to pay out of pocket to produce the stereo masters. It’s interesting to note that, even though the stereo seems to have been done as an afterthought, it is really sublime. It just goes to show you what can happen when the artists themselves are involved in mixing the masters.
Tired of constant arguments with their record company over musical direction, and struggling to make the music they actually wanted to make, they split up shortly after its release. If you’re going to call it quits, you might as well do it while you’re on top, they may not have felt that way at the time, but time has proven them right: this album is a stunner.
I also recently picked up a great retrospective compilation called, no surprise. “Time of the Season” (Not Bad Records, BAD2LP206). It includes many of the tracks from “Odessey and Oracle”, a number of non-album singles, and a few great gems from the band’s first album, 1965’s “Begin Here”. If you’re looking for a good place to start, you really can’t go wrong with this collection, though I guarantee you’ll end up wanting to track down a proper pressing of “Odessey and Oracle” itself.
Mine is a beautiful 180gr half-speed master from Repertoire Records (REP 2207, 2013), available in both stereo and mono. I went for the stereo version having previewed the songs and knowing I preferred that mix. Whatever version ends up on Spotify, they all sound great played loud, do yourself a favour and have a listen. You won’t be disappointed.
#MusicBoxTW
