Time of The Zombies

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’s keyboard the Zombies powered homed into the charts with countless hit singles displaying a minor key coupled with an understated jazz scale. Blunstone’s voice was one of the finest to come out of the UK , the English answer to Tommy James. The Zombies portrayed a vulnerable edge that charismatically gained sympathy from Pete Townshend, and Lennon. The Zombies comprised Rodney Argent (keyboards), Paul Atkinson (guitar), Colin Blunstone, (vocals) Hugh Grundy (drums), & Christopher Taylor (guitar). Initially the group started out as the Mustangs then Sundowners. Drummer Hugh Grundy played the Ludwig 400 drumkit like Ringo Starr,  best heard on the Motown flavoured “Is This The Dream”. Officially the band started playing as early as 1961, but in terms of professional shows their first debut gig was at ‘St. Albans County Grammar School’ in 1962. The band’s first original “Its Alright With Me” broke through an array of cover versions, namely Bob Bain’s “I’m Going Home” and Gershwin’s “Summertime”. By the mid sixties their style had changed due to Argent mastering the Vox Continental Organ, which he played in unison with the piano.

Finally the Zombies topped the US #2 with the easy grooving “She’s Not There”, fortified in the mid seventies by the nimble fingered Carlos Santana. The Rod Argent penned “She’s Not There” had an edge that grooved dead centre. The governing riff was inspirationally drawn from John Lee Hooker’s “No One Told Me”, working title of the song up until its release.  (“No One Told Me” was plucked from the 1964  album The Big Soul Of John Lee Hooker.)  The chord changes were also similarly absorbed from  Bryan Hyland’s “Sealed With A Kiss” and produced in mono by Ken Jones. The US tour featured alongside The Nashville Teens and heads were turning. Fortune had arrived by 1965 when the notorious film director Otto Preminger who had directed the blockbuster Exodus approached the group. Otto was keen to include a British group in his forthcoming film Bunny Lake is Missing, which featured Lawrence Olivier and Keir Dullea. Blunstone’s pen was dripping and the result was the urgent “Just Out Of Reach” with a magnificent organ break by Rod Argent. Also included was  “I Want You Back Again”, released as a single to tie in with the soundtrack. The Zombies were on a roll with Chris White’s deliberate “Leave Me Be”. The song had a solid melancholic minor key that rolled the soul through Paul Atkinson acoustic twelve string. Cover versions were numerous such as Muddy Waters’ “Got my Mojo Working”, “You Really Got a Hold On Me” (Smokey Robinson) and  “Roadrunner” (Bo Diddley).

Rod’s recent purchase of the Vox Continental organ was baptised on his mid tempo beat number “Woman”. The organ riff rose up like an Indian cobra mating dance. The infectious “Tell Her No” ripped defiantly into the US#10.. The lines in the song were actually a mistake but it didn’t stop Del Shannon from covering it. The groups Begin Here channeled revolutionary changes for the Zombies like the introduction of Atkinson’s twelve – string  which featured marvelously on Chris White’s “I Can’t Make Up My Mind” and “I Don’t Want To Know”.Rod strikes deep into the minor key’s on the vernacular “I Remember When I Love You”. The Zombies’ repetitive “I Love You” plastered the charts through The People, while in Japan the Carnabeats took it the top end  in full Japanese translation. The group’s two finest covers versions were ecstatically Gerschwin’s “Summer Time” and “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (Little Anthony & the Imperials), the latter co -written by Teddy Randazzo was reinstalled into the charts by the Lettermen in 1968. Frank Sinatra also covered it.

This major breakthrough gave rise to a flow of classy originals such as  “Tell Her No” and “Leave Me Be”.  John Peel on the ‘BBC Radio One’ dominantly exposed most of these.  During the late sixties the masterpiece Odyssey & Oracle branded the Zombies 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 keyboardist Al Kooper. Odyssey & Oracle (first independent album free from EMI control) yielded the vivacious “Time of the Season”  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 “Season”. The title was derived from a song by the Miracles called “The Tracks of My Tears”.

It is this album that holds Argent’s flower power tribute “Hung Up On A Dream” neatly wrapped around his seething mellotron and one of Atkinson’s few guitar solos. It is emphatically their ultimate breath inhaled from the dreams of ‘Monterey’. “Hung Up On A Dream” oozed infectiously after the Huxley influenced “Brief Candles”.

After the release of Odyssey the Mindbenders released a cover of “I Want Her She Want’s Me”. B S & Tears founder Al Kooper picked up on the fertile “A Rose For Emily” and “Butcher’s Tale”  (Western Front 1914) inspired by the Bee Gees “1941 New York Mining Disaster”. Odyssey also unravelled a paisley nugget called “Smokey Days” with Rod on vox, yet for those that indulge in strawberries & cream at Wimbledon the chirpy “Care Of Cell 44” would be their bright morning single. Under the working title “Prison Song” with pounding bass by Chris this unusual melody held all the ingredients to kick the charts, but it trickled past unnoticed. Odyssey titillated with gems such as the Victorian “Beechwood Park”- A Girls Boarding School  where the Dirty Dozen was filmed. Rod’s mellotron was also wonderfully curved on the instrumental “Shadows” which Dusty Springfield revived as “Everything Coming Up Dusty”.

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’s wife. In departure Rod paid tribute to his faithful colleague by recording a farewell jingle for ‘Radio One’, the last march of the Zombies. Rod & Grundy were joined by ex-Mike Cotton Sound bassist Jim Rodford & guitarist Rick Birkett for their epitaph “Imagine The Swan”, a creation equal to any Fab Four zenith. Odyssey & Oracle remains the infinity of sixties magic, epitomized by “Maybe After He‘s Gone”. The closest Odyssey & Oracle contestant, ironically also recorded in 1968 was The Love Cycle by Forever Amber , a group initially know as Country Cousins.