Odessey And Oracle - Zombies (The)

Its seems rather unfortunate and at least unfair that The Zombies are regarded as little more than a footnote to pop and rocks golden days of the 1960,s ,true they did have to compete with the Beatles and The Kinks and The Who just for starters ,but of course this thing of rare and singular beauty could never have been borne from the triviality of competition or catch up ,at the heart of "Odessey and Oracle " are a centurys dead and the ...
...,its melancholic sounds echo the crumbling beauty of summers end and the yearning loss of summers endless promise ,never delivered ,lost in hibernation as winter like love sometimes gets colder leaving just a memory ,of course i could go on but you would have no real idea of what this breath taking record actually sounds like .

The clarity of this record is immediately striking based around piano and vocal harmonies with little and ... more

Its seems rather unfortunate and at least unfair that The Zombies are regarded as little more than a footnote to pop and rocks golden days of the 1960,s ,true they did have to compete with the Beatles and The Kinks and The Who just for starters ,but of course this thing of rare and singular beauty could never have been borne from the triviality of competition or catch up ,at the heart of "Odessey and Oracle " are a centurys dead and the mist of a n English autumn in an English town ,its melancholic sounds echo the crumbling beauty of summers end and the yearning loss of summers endless promise ,never delivered ,lost in hibernation as winter like love sometimes gets colder leaving just a memory ,of course i could go on but you would have no real idea of what this breath taking record actually sounds like .

The clarity of this record is immediately striking based around piano and vocal harmonies with little and at times no room for guitars ,perhaps if Brian Wilson had hailed from St Albans instead of his Californian circumstance then you might just begin to get an idea of this unique records vision and ambition ,a record as beautiful and bold as "Pet Sounds "but tinged with austerity and a little less sunshine of course .

The opening track "Care of Cell 44" concerns itself with a boyfriend/lover writing to his girlfriend in prison ,the most up beat song on the album is buoyed along by an harpsichord and irresistable vocal harmonies as it stops and starts and swoops and falls straight into "A Rose for Emily" a close relative to The Beatles "Elanor Rigby" in sentiment and theme of lonliness ,its this track in particular which establishes "Odessey,s" rich meancholia .

The term "psychedelic" in this instance is only a wider convenient label,sure the swirly front cover with its pastel paisley,s and victorian oddities fits the bill ,but inside the record there exists an almost resolute avoidance of the musical cliches which adorned every release in the wake of Sgt Pepper,the remaining tracks have a tuneful simplicity adorned with only what was deemed necessary,the biggest concession to the sound of the times was the extensive use of the "mellotron" a rather wobbly sample machine which threw out the sound of flutes and strings ,giving the whole album a slightly lost and distant feel .

For anyone unfamiliar with "Odessey and Oracle" you may be at least on nodding terms with its closing track "Time of theSeason" a sun kissed conclusion to the rest of the records seasonal changes and a huge American number one long after this records original release and the group were no more ,perhaps the sadness which tinges this masterpiece echoes the fact that The Zombies were at the end of their musical tether often broke and forced into packaage tours ,the commercial failiure of "Odessey and Oracle finally did for the group and there would be no more opportunities to extend on this beautiful sound which i suppose why it is unique like a paintuing .

This respectful and loving re creation exceeds itself by including 16 bonus tracks ,thats more than the actual album and none of them are demo,s or alternate versions ,and many of them display similar qualities to the original package ,an absolute must as an introduction and a genuine bonus for the initiated .

Like other slow burning masterpieces such as The Kinks "Village Green" or Nick Drakes "Five Leaves Left " The Zombies appeal lies in an opportunity to sample and buy into a time that never was even when it "was",it lets your mind wander back to its childhood dreams and to acknowledge that sad and beautiful can occasionally be the perfect partners for each other. 

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