[SIZE="6"]Odessy and Oracle[/SIZE]
Listening to this album, I wonder why The Zombies aren’t more popular, why they aren’t remembered more as one of the masters of the 60s sound. The first song,
Care of Cell 44 is the most 60s sounding song I’ve ever heard. And it’s about waiting for someone to get out of prison, but only if you are not too busy taking acid and not showering to notice.
A Rose For Emily is a sad little ballad with brilliant vocal harmonies. Everything on this album goes down smooth.
Maybe After He’s Gone is the third track, and The Zombies are 3 for 3 so far in the album in terms of songs that are quality musically with really great musicianship and melodies. They are one of those bands that have great choruses but don’t rely solely on them (Coldplay anyone?)
Beechwood Park is a song dripping in that hazy 60s nostalgia, with slow distorted guitars saturated with echo and reverb. It’s one of the weaker songs on a brilliant album, although when I say weaker, I mean weaker in comparison to the other songs, because on its own it’s a very good song.
Brief Candles on the other hand is one of the better songs on the album. You know that whole Pixies loud/quiet/loud thing? Yeah they didn’t invent that. I don’t know if The Zombies did, but this is a proto-loud/quiet/loud type song, like Helter Skelter was to Metal.
Hung Up on A Dream keeps building and building until it finally reaches it’s chorus. I just want to point out that this album sounds more like the 60s than ANY album I’ve ever heard, but in a good way.
Changes, when I first listened to the album, instantly hypnotized me. This song shows The Zombies can compete with bands like The Beatles or The Beach Boys vocally. It’s a really dark song yet still catchy and somehow uplifting all at the same song, like some tribal chant, then turning into a mass or something.
I Want Her She Wants Me is another very strong song. Notice the totally 60s use of harpsichord. I like how you think the hook is going one way, but in the middle of a phrase, the actual hook comes, for instance:
and life seems kinda – I want her she wants me.
This Will Be Our Year seems like it should be the theme song for a TV show or a movie about high school. The piano chord has that nostalgic thing going on.
Butcher’s Tale shows The Zombies’ talents come to full flourish. While everyone else was writing anti-war songs set in Vietnam or alluding to Vietnam, The Zombies write an anti-war song set in World War I, sounding like a twisted carnival song, and in my mind, packs more of a punch than all of the other 60s anti-war songs. The chorus is especially brilliant. Listen to it now.
Friends of Mine is tied with Beechwood Park as the weakest song on the album. It lists a bunch of names that the band is friends with. It’s a good song, but just good.
Time of the Season could be in the running for the coolest, smoothest and most arrogant song of the sixties. It has a f*cking great line:
What’s your name? Who’s your daddy? Is he rich like me? This band doesn’t get enough credit when people look back at the sixties. Although this may have been their only album solely comprised of original compositions, The Zombies made it count, it’s one of the best albums of the sixties.
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