The Zombies: Odessey and Oracle

Week 26

THE PITCH

Band names don’t really matter. The first time you hear about a band you make some kind of association with the name, but once you take the time to listen to the music, the name doesn’t matter; eventually only the music matters. No one hears ‘The Beatles’ and thinks it’s a band with a ‘beat’ or gives a second thought to a not-so-clever insect pun, or a possible reference to the Crickets. They’re just the Beatles.

But I can’t help but think that if the Zombies had chosen just about any other name, they might have stood a better chance. It’s all too easy to hear ‘zombies’ and think ‘no thanks, not for me’. But the Zombies are for you. For everyone. Odessey and Oracle is for everyone as much as any great album of recorded music is for everyone.

This is a record of its time (1967), in all the best ways. The bright harmonies, the creative arrangements, the perfect balance of craft and playfulness. Mostly perhaps, in its use of the Mellotron. The Beatles made the Mellotron famous at the beginning of Strawberry Fields, but the Zombies were among the first to make it an integral part of their arrangements. Apparently, they wished to have actual strings and horns but couldn’t afford to, so used the Mellotron to fill in for those parts. I think the album is all the better for it.

So about the songs. I’ve listened to this album countless times, but while I was revisiting it I was struck by how syllabic (one note per syllable) the melodies are. Lots of pop music feels like a forced marriage between words and melody, but here it really feels like this word belongs with this note. It might sound obvious, but it’s not easy and many lesser songwriters seem not to bother.

I’m not going to write much about the lyrics. As I’ve said, they just belong. But there aren’t many pop songs with a line like ‘I knew her when summer was her crown, and autumn sad how brown her eyes’. And I can’t think of another song quite like Friends of Mine where the subject is other people so in love.

It all begins with a song about anticipating lover being released from prison. Not your typical 1967 fare. But I can’t think of a more joyful moment than when you first hear ‘feels so good, you’re coming home soon’. I’ve never grown tired of hearing that moment. I hope you enjoy it too.

Kevin Turbitt

MY RESPONSE

This is like pure essence of the 60s. Just look at the cover art! It makes me think of the Beach Boys and the Monkees; the layers of voices I suppose and the – I can’t think of a better word for it – the twiddliness of the music. I listened to this after listening to my birthday playlist (yes, you will definitely get a link to the birthday playlist at some point) and the thing about the birthday playlist was that the 60s and early 70s stuff is very much entrenched in my brain and I didn’t really have to think about what I was selecting, and I think this Zombies sound was a sort of run-on from that in my head. ‘Vibey’, I want to say, definitely vibey. For the first few days I was listening first thing in the morning as I swam in a pool overlooking the Tuscan hills (first thing, obviously, meant mostly about 9, but on the morning we left there it was before seven and the water was still warm). Can you picture it? Definitely vibey. These last couple of days we’ve been in Florence where the temperature is hovering about 35°C and I’ve listened in the afternoon in a dark room with the aircon on trying to recover from being too hot before we went out and I got too hot all over again. What can I say? Vibey.

I like the way the lyrics take a sideways look at the expected stuff of love songs. There’s the one you mentioned about other people being in love; Maybe After He’s Gone is about waiting for the girl you’ve fallen for to fall out of love with the person she’s currently in love with; Brief Candles is about people who have loved and lost being able to take pleasure in the sadness because it means that they have loved. There are straight-up love songs too (nothing simpler than I Want Her She Wants Me and how it sticks in your head). Hung Up On a Dream and Time of the Season evoke the flower children mood of the late 60s. Changes and Butcher’s Tale have a folk song feeling.

Having said all this about the lyrics, in fact I found myself listening to this album while I was reading which is a first for me this year (apart from the Chopin). Am I finally starting to be able to have music playing in the background or is it a quality of this particular album? Maybe it’s because this album has such a strong vibe that I can tune into that without actually ‘listening’.

WHAT ELSE I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO

Nothing but other people’s playlists