Yeah, I am definitely into a Zombie's kick at the moment. There is magic around every corner, on the B-side of neglected singles, even on the post-breakup songs recorded by Rod Argent and Chris White to take advantage of the success of Time Of The Season.
For example, take She Does Everything For Me, the B-side to their November 1966 UK-only single with a slap-dash version of Goin' Out Of My Head on the A. Give a listen to this unbelievable rave-up. From the opening keyboard riff, to the vaguely middle eastern sounding guitar riff, to the wonderful Hollies-inspired harmonies this is a killer song. And that last note - wow!
Closed for (Ocular) Monkey Business
20 hours ago
4 comments:
I'd never heard this one before -- thanks for sharing!
After hearing the big three singles constantly on oldies radio, I bought (and still love) the great Time of the Zombies compilation. I didn't know it at the time, but that double-record set has the entire Odessey & Oracle album on the second disk (and a bunch of early A&B sides of singles on disk one).
Lots of great stuff there, but this post makes me realize there's still a lot left to explore...
This is the first and most probably the very last time I can claim to have heard & loved something before Alex did -- but that's only because I'm way older than he is and more importantly because the Greatest Hits collection that i happened to pick up in the day (2003 Dual Layered Hybrid! Super Audio Compact Disc! Fully Compatible With All CD Players!) just happened to luckily include this gem -- I'd never heard the song before then either. Odessey & Oracle is a permanent fixture on my iPod shuffle, but like Alex i know there's tons i'm still missing.
You are welcome Alex. I bought Time of the Zombies when it came out, based on the Stereo Review article by Steve Simels (tip-o-the-hat to Steve for the zillionenth time). And yeah, although it was not made clear by the packaging, indeed all of Odessey And Oracle is there. That was from sometime around 1974, and from that point forward I was hooked.
Who Am Us - I am giving you a run for your money for being the "elder" here. Love your description of that super special compact disc format. Marketing folks are something else, aren't they?
HA! In the Zombies Compilation Smackdown, I offer you the 4-disc Zombie Heaven box set -- 120 tracks, give or take, including outtakes and BBC appearances and every demo they ever made. I love the Zombies. In the great scrum of the British Invasion, nobody else came close to that sweet, achingly pure sound -- a combination of Rod Argent's great keyboard work and songwriting and Colin Blunstone's amazing choirboy voice. She's Not There was the first single I ever bought, but they disappeared from the scene so fast -- and were so little appreciated in the US -- that I didn't know their music much at all until the past 5 years, when Colin and Rod reunited and started touring as the Zombies again. They are still amazing (and have some excellent new songs). See them if you get a chance!
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