The Zombies
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For the undead creature of Vodun lore, see zombie.
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The Zombies were a 1960s British pop music band known for complex harmonies and jazz-influenced music. They acheived radio success with the hit songs "She's Not There", "Tell Her No", and "Time of the Season", and their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle is widely considered to be one of the greatest of its time.
The group consisted of Rod Argent (keyboards), Paul Atkinson (guitar), Colin Blunstone (lead vocals), Hugh Grundy (drums), and Chris White (bass). Argent's flashy, jazzy piano leads and Blunstone's voice were the hallmarks of the band. Somewhat underrated during their lifetime, they are now regarded as one of the greatest of all 1960s British pop groups.
History
The group formed in 1961 in St Albans, England, and gained their initial reputation playing the Old Verulamians Rugby Club in that town. After winning a beat-group competition sponsored by the London Evening News, the Zombies signed to Decca and recorded their first hit, "She's Not There" (Argent's second song, written specifically for this session), which was released in mid-1964. In 1965, "Tell Her No" also became a huge seller in both England and the United States. Although subsequent recordings such as "I Love You," "Indication" and "Is This the Dream" were of uniformly high quality, none achieved the success of the previous two singles.
In 1967, the Zombies signed to CBS Records for one final LP, only the second of their career and the first one produced as a single unit. Their previous LP, Begin Here (1965), was a collection of early singles, half a dozen original songs combined with several R&B covers. The resulting album, Odessey and Oracle, was one of the very first to utilize a Mellotron keyboard, as the band's budget did not allow for the hiring of session musicians.
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By the time Odessey and Oracle was released in the spring of 1968, the band had broken up. The album sold little, and was only released in the US because musician Al Kooper vouched for it. An album track called "Time of the Season" was released as a single and later (1969) it became a huge hit when a DJ discovered it and put it in rotation. Since the group refused to re-form, various concocted groups tried to capitalize on the success and falsely toured under the band's name.
After The Zombies, Rod Argent formed a band called Argent, while Blunstone eventually launched a solo career. In 2003 Blunstone and Argent reunited to record and tour, and released an album in 2004 credited to the Zombies (As Far as I Can See...), which received generally poor reviews.
Guitarist Paul Atkinson died in Santa Monica, California on April 1, 2004.
Quotation
- "Over the course of the ensuing decades, [The Zombies'] final album...Odessey and Oracle - a beautifully arranged, harmony drenched pristine pop paean to memory, the changing seasons, the passage of time and lost love - slowly began to be recognised as one of the greatest albums of the 1960s." New York Times, 1998
Discography
- Begin Here (1965)
- Bunny Lake Is Missing - An Original Soundtrack Recording (1965) (contributed tracks)
- Odessey and Oracle (1968)
- New World (1991) (featuring Blunstone, White, Grundy, and Sebastian Santa-Maria. Rod Argent appears on "Time of the Season" remake.)
- As Far as I Can See..... (2004)de:The Zombies (Band)