OUT OF THE SHADOWS
For the Zombies, it's the time of the season for a reunion

THE ZOMBIES recorded some boldly unique '60s pop music in a decade crowded with innovation and talent. Few bands boast the outstanding personality and immediate distinction of the Zombies' off-kilter rhythms, unorthodox harmonies and addictively catchy melodies. From the opening “boomboomboom-tikAhhhhhhhh,” their biggest hit “Time of the Season” is immediately identifiable to anyone marginally familiar with '60s oldies.

Their fun yet complex music was frequently laced with entertainingly dysfunctional relationship angst in big hits like “Tell Her No” and “She's Not There.” Furthermore, they recorded a psychedelically misspelled 1967 LP called Odessey & Oracle, which is often ranked among the most beloved pop masterworks of the era. Unfortunately, due to that album's poor sales, the disillusioned band decided to break up, right before the last-ditch “Time of the Season” single would become a worldwide runaway hit.

Since the Zombies claim one of the friendliest breakups in rock history, a resurrected Zombies with a new studio album and tour makes some sense. In a recent transatlantic phone conversation, original Zombies vocalist Colin Blunstone recalled the climate after the release of Odessey & Oracle.

“At the end of it, I really felt like that was the best work we could do,” he says. “Part of that feeling made me a little bit sad, in that it didn't sell in the quantities that we all hoped for, including the record company, of course. When it wasn't particularly successful, it did seem as though there was a message there for us that maybe we had reached the end of a creative cycle, it was time to move on, and we should try other projects. In fact, that's what we did, each going off and trying our own things.”

Even then, they remained friends and didn't stray far from each other. The main Zombies songwriters/producers, keyboardist Rod Argent and bassist Chris White, made significant contributions to three early-'70s Blunstone solo albums. And Blunstone and White reciprocally contributed to recordings by Argent's eponymous arena-rock group. While the Blunstone albums continued the Zombies' lush, melodic pop and vocal sensibilities, the Argent band was miles away from a recognizably Zombies sound with songs like “Hold Your Head Up.”

But Zombies members have always felt uncomfortable reviving the group by name, considering it a cheesy, backward career move — at least until late last year.
“About three years ago, there was a series of coincidences that found Rod and I doing a series of six dates together,” says Blunstone. “It was amazing because we hadn't played a concert together since 1967, and here we were, about 35 years later, and it felt as if we'd played the night before. From the first concert we played together, it just felt very, very natural.

“During that summer, we felt, maybe we should just try something in the studio, and we started recording again,” he continues. “Rod and I did an album called Out of the Shadows, where we put my voice on tracks that Rod had already written and recorded. At that time we put a band together, and that band that went on the road with us has recorded the whole of this new album, called As Far As I Can See. That contributed to us using the name the Zombies, because it really does have a band feel — it's not like me being a singer and Rod being the producer/writer and getting backing musicians in. We all contributed equally to ideas in the studio.”

The current band lineup includes Argent's cousin and Argent bassist Jim Rodford, who, while not an original Zombie, was a key figure in the band's early years. Original Zombie bassist Chris White contributed backing vocals to the new album, and original guitarist Paul Atkinson (who died tragically of cancer this past April) was closely involved in getting the album off the ground.

“So there were four [original] Zombies involved in this project, and also, when Rod and I were in the studio listening to the takes coming back, there seemed to be a strong link — to us anyway — of what we did before,” Blunstone says. “It gradually dawned on us that it seemed honest for the first time to use the Zombies name again.”

The band has made it clear with this new release it wasn't in any way “pretending this stuff is identical to a '60s Zombies album.” But it definitely feels like it's picking up where it last left off, sounding a lot like an unreleased '70s Colin Blunstone solo album. The production and R&B pop sensibilities are so dated that it's difficult to believe it wasn't recorded in 1973. It's nice on the ears and internally consistent, but it's not 21st- century Zombies either, and you've got to wonder where future projects may yet lead.

In the meantime, Argent and Blunstone have discussed a live tour of the complete Odessey and Oracle album, perhaps sometime in 2005. And Monday night, Blunstone and Argent hit the Beachland Ballroom. The ingredients promise an amazing show: Argent and other sharp musicians carrying Blunstone's wizard-like stage presence and awe-inspiringly rich voice through an exceptional repertoire of vintage and new tunes. If that weren't enough, the Zombies co-headline the show with rock veterans Love, which shares a cult status similar to the Zombies', with its epic psych-pop 1968 LP, Forever Changes.

(Originally published in The Cleveland Free Times, October 6, 2004)