dukeopolis's Full Review: Odessey & Oracle by The Zombies
It amazes me that it took me 25 years to come around to this record. Of course I'd heard the Zombies' music ("Time of the Season," "Tell Her No," "She's Not There"), but the band's name never registered with me. Quite frankly, "Time of the Season" (their most well-known song) really annoyed me outside the context of this record. I kept thinking about stinky, dancing hippies and summer of love nonsense.
In the last couple of years, I've submerged myself in original British Invasion music. My interest was spawned by the most recent wave of American bands (including Apples In Stereo, Lilys, Beachwood Sparks, Elf Power, Beulah) that pay homage to British Invasion music. "Odyssey & Oracle" is definitely an essential purchase for anybody interested in the history of rock/pop music.
The album is full of songs dripping with lyrics of happiness and love. Even if the lyrics are not complex, the songs do not come off as hippy-dippy or cheesy. This is one of those great albums from the 60s (along with the Stones, Pet Sounds, Beatles, The Who, and the Kinks) that I can put on and listen to all the way through without thinking that some of the music is just seriously dated. Don't get me wrong, it's totally a product of the 60s, but in a very good way. It can definitely turn that frown upside down.
The first track, "Care of Cell 44" sets a great tone for the rest of the album. It's a man's love letter to his woman in prison. You may be singing along to Colin Blunstone's breathy vocals before you even understand the twistedness of the lyrics.
The album continues with catchy love song after love song with slightly different themes- "A Rose for Emily," "Maybe After He's Gone," "I Want Her, She Wants Me," "This Will Be Our Year," and "Friends of Mine." They're all really pleasant. Happy lyrics but slightly melancholic music. There are a couple of slightly darker songs, "Beechwood Park" (part of the inspiration for the Beachwood Sparks' name?), "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)," that complement the happy songs quite well. The album ends with the previously mentioned "Time of the Season." Somehow, within the context of these other songs, and after hearing it hundreds of times before, I was able to hear it in a totally new way. All the nuances came out. The lyrics make it sound dated ("what's your name, who's your daddy") but it still works for me.
Sadly, this was the Zombies only real album. Somehow they never really broke through in the U.K. Colin Blunstone went on to release some solo music, while Rod Argent went on to form the 70's band Argent. Sadly, neither of those guys ever produced another fully-realized album like this.
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