{"id":2007,"date":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hippy.com\/hip\/other\/time-of-the-zombies\/"},"modified":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T22:25:10","slug":"time-of-the-zombies-by-shiloh-noone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/reviews\/time-of-the-zombies-by-shiloh-noone\/","title":{"rendered":"Time of The Zombies"},"content":{"rendered":"
If ever England was to impose knighthood upon a beat ensemble then undoubtedly the choice would be The Zombies,<\/strong> namely ex-grammar schoolboys, Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent<\/strong>. Strongly dominated by Rod\u2019s keyboard the Zombies <\/strong>powered homed into the charts with countless hit singles displaying a minor key coupled with an understated jazz scale. Blunstone<\/strong>\u2019s voice was one of the finest to come out of the UK , the English answer to Tommy James<\/strong>. The Zombies<\/strong> portrayed a vulnerable edge that charismatically gained sympathy from Pete Townshend<\/strong>, and Lennon<\/strong>. The Zombies<\/strong> comprised Rodney Argent<\/strong> (keyboards), Paul Atkinson<\/strong> (guitar), Colin Blunstone<\/strong>, (vocals) Hugh Grundy<\/strong> (drums), & Christopher Taylor<\/strong> (guitar). Initially the group started out as the Mustangs<\/strong> then Sundowners<\/strong>. Drummer Hugh Grundy<\/strong> played the Ludwig 400 drumkit like Ringo Starr,<\/strong>\u00a0 best heard on the Motown flavoured \u201cIs This The Dream\u201d. Officially the band started playing as early as 1961, but in terms of professional shows their first debut gig was at \u2018St. Albans County Grammar School\u2019 in 1962. The band\u2019s first original \u201cIts Alright With Me\u201d broke through an array of cover versions, namely Bob Bain\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019m Going Home\u201d and Gershwin<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cSummertime\u201d. By the mid sixties their style had changed due to Argent<\/strong> mastering the Vox Continental Organ, which he played in unison with the piano.<\/p>\n

Finally the Zombies<\/strong> topped the US #2 with the easy grooving \u201cShe\u2019s Not There\u201d, fortified in the mid seventies by the nimble fingered Carlos Santana<\/strong>. The Rod Argent<\/strong> penned \u201cShe\u2019s Not There\u201d had an edge that grooved dead centre. The governing riff was inspirationally drawn from John Lee Hooker\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cNo One Told Me\u201d, working title of the song up until its release.\u00a0 (\u201cNo One Told Me\u201d was plucked from the 1964\u00a0 album The Big Soul Of John Lee Hooker<\/em>.)\u00a0 The chord changes were also similarly absorbed from\u00a0 Bryan Hyland\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cSealed With A Kiss\u201d and produced in mono by Ken Jones. The US tour featured alongside The Nashville Teens<\/strong> and heads were turning. Fortune had arrived by 1965 when the notorious film director Otto Preminger<\/strong> who had directed the blockbuster Exodus<\/em> approached the group. Otto was keen to include a British group in his forthcoming film Bunny Lake is Missing<\/em>, which featured Lawrence Olivier<\/strong> and Keir Dullea<\/strong>. Blunstone<\/strong>\u2019s pen was dripping and the result was the urgent \u201cJust Out Of Reach\u201d with a magnificent organ break by Rod Argent<\/strong>. Also included was\u00a0 \u201cI Want You Back Again\u201d, released as a single to tie in with the soundtrack. The Zombies<\/strong> were on a roll with Chris White\u2019s<\/strong> deliberate \u201cLeave Me Be\u201d. The song had a solid melancholic minor key that rolled the soul through Paul Atkinson<\/strong> acoustic twelve string. Cover versions were numerous such as Muddy Waters\u2019<\/strong> \u201cGot my Mojo Working\u201d, \u201cYou Really Got a Hold On Me\u201d (Smokey Robinson<\/strong>) and\u00a0 \u201cRoadrunner\u201d (Bo Diddley<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Rod\u2019s recent purchase of the Vox Continental organ was baptised on his mid tempo beat number \u201cWoman\u201d. The organ riff rose up like an Indian cobra mating dance. The infectious \u201cTell Her No\u201d ripped defiantly into the US#10.. The lines in the song were actually a mistake but it didn\u2019t stop Del Shannon<\/strong> from covering it. The groups Begin Here<\/em> channeled revolutionary changes for the Zombies <\/strong>like the introduction of Atkinson<\/strong>\u2019s twelve – string\u00a0 which featured marvelously on Chris White\u2019s<\/strong> \u201cI Can\u2019t Make Up My Mind\u201d and \u201cI Don\u2019t Want To Know\u201d.Rod strikes deep into the minor key\u2019s on the vernacular \u201cI Remember When I Love You\u201d. The Zombies\u2019<\/strong> repetitive \u201cI Love You\u201d plastered the charts through The People<\/strong>, while in Japan the Carnabeats<\/strong> took it the top end\u00a0 in full Japanese translation. The group\u2019s two finest covers versions were ecstatically Gerschwin\u2019<\/strong>s \u201cSummer Time\u201d and \u201cGoin\u2019 Out Of My Head\u201d (Little Anthony & the Imperials<\/strong>), the latter co -written by Teddy Randazzo<\/strong> was reinstalled into the charts by the Lettermen <\/strong>in 1968. Frank Sinatra<\/strong> also covered it.<\/p>\n

This major breakthrough gave rise to a flow of classy originals such as\u00a0 \u201cTell Her No\u201d and \u201cLeave Me Be\u201d.\u00a0 John Peel<\/strong> on the \u2018BBC Radio One\u2019 dominantly exposed most of these.\u00a0 During the late sixties the masterpiece Odyssey & Oracle<\/em> branded the Zombies <\/strong>with an English milestone in the paisley arena. This magnificent and vastly underrated project released in June 1968, and re-issued in Feb 1969 was a major stimulus for Blues Project<\/strong> keyboardist Al Kooper<\/strong>. Odyssey & Oracle<\/em> (first independent album free from EMI control) yielded the vivacious \u201cTime of the Season\u201d\u00a0 which sadly only hit the charts after the group had already depleted.Strangely the song was released as a posthumous single and then included on the album to complete the running order. Even sadder is that it charted in the US and not in the UK. Originally the single was released as \u201cSeason\u201d. The title was derived from a song by the Miracles<\/strong> called \u201cThe Tracks of My Tears\u201d.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
It is this album that holds Argent<\/strong>\u2019s flower power tribute \u201cHung Up On A Dream\u201d neatly wrapped around his seething mellotron and one of Atkinson\u2019s few guitar solos. It is emphatically their ultimate breath inhaled from the dreams of \u2018Monterey\u2019. \u201cHung Up On A Dream\u201d oozed infectiously after the Huxley <\/strong>influenced \u201cBrief Candles\u201d.<\/p>\n

After the release of Odyssey <\/em>the Mindbenders <\/strong>released a cover of \u201cI Want Her She Want\u2019s Me\u201d. B S & Tears<\/strong> founder Al Kooper<\/strong> picked up on the fertile \u201cA Rose For Emily\u201d and \u201cButcher\u2019s Tale\u201d\u00a0 (Western Front 1914) inspired by the Bee Gees<\/strong> \u201c1941 New York Mining Disaster\u201d. Odyssey<\/em> also unravelled a paisley nugget called \u201cSmokey Days\u201d with Rod on vox, yet for those that indulge in strawberries & cream at Wimbledon the chirpy \u201cCare Of Cell 44\u201d would be their bright morning single. Under the working title \u201cPrison Song\u201d with pounding bass by Chris this unusual melody held all the ingredients to kick the charts, but it trickled past unnoticed. Odyssey <\/em>titillated with gems such as the Victorian \u201cBeechwood Park\u201d- A Girls Boarding School\u00a0 where the Dirty Dozen<\/em> was filmed. Rod\u2019s mellotron was also wonderfully curved on the instrumental \u201cShadows\u201d which Dusty Springfield revived as \u201cEverything Coming Up Dusty\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Their most avid supporter DJ Kenny Everett who fronted their jingles had sadly been fired from the BBC for making slanderous remarks about Harold Wilson\u2019s wife. In departure Rod paid tribute to his faithful colleague by recording a farewell jingle for \u2018Radio One\u2019, the last march of the Zombies<\/strong>. Rod & Grundy were joined by ex-Mike Cotton Sound<\/strong> bassist Jim Rodford<\/strong> & guitarist Rick Birkett<\/strong> for their epitaph \u201cImagine The Swan\u201d, a creation equal to any Fab Four<\/strong> zenith. Odyssey & Oracle<\/em> remains the infinity of sixties magic, epitomized by \u201cMaybe After He\u2018s Gone\u201d. The closest Odyssey & Oracle<\/em> contestant, ironically also recorded in 1968 was The Love Cycle<\/em> by Forever Amber<\/strong> , a group initially know as Country Cousins<\/strong>.<\/div>\n

Added:<\/b> December 21st 2010
\nReviewer:<\/b> Shiloh Noone<\/a> | See all reviews<\/a> by Shiloh Noone
\nCategory:<\/b> Music<\/a>
\nScore:<\/b> \"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"
\nRelated Link:<\/b> Seekers Guide To The Rhythm Of Yesteryear<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If ever England was to impose knighthood upon a beat ensemble then undoubtedly the choice would be The Zombies, namely ex-grammar schoolboys, Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent. Strongly dominated by Rod\u2019s keyboard the Zombies powered homed into the charts with countless hit singles displaying a minor key coupled with an understated jazz scale. Blunstone\u2019s voice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hipplanet.com\/hip\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}