‘Odessey’ tour breathes new life into Zombies
What could be more perfect than a band called the Zombies thriving in the afterlife?
With no slight meant to the Stones or The Who — OK, maybe just a little slight — you won’t hear a better preserved British Invasionera band than the Zombies. When they return to the Wilbur next week and play their cult-classic album “Odessey & Oracle” in its entirety, wait for singer Colin Blunstone to hit the jubilant high notes on the opening “Care of Cell 44,” or for Rod Argent’s keyboard workout on “Time of the Season,” and try to avoid goosebumps. The fact that both musicians are 71 barely registers.
It’s a timely resurrection for an album that flopped upon its initial 1968 release.
“I couldn’t listen to it for years after that happened,” Argent said last week. “1967 was a wonderful time for youth culture and music generally, all sorts of things were in the air that we couldn’t help but soak up. We wanted to make an album our own way, and it got great reviews, but it just didn’t sell.
“Over the years, there was a real resurgence, and that’s when I started listening again,” he said. “I remember reading that Paul Weller, who was an early champion of the album, said it had an autumnal English feel. And I thought, ‘Really, does it?’ Then I played it and said, ‘My God, he’s right.’ ”
There are numerous legends surrounding the album. For one thing, it’s so titled because the cover artist misspelled “odyssey” and there was no Photoshop back then. For another, the label’s first choice for a single was “Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914),” the least commercial track by a long shot.
“We never got an explanation for that,” Argent said. “And it’s a wonderful song, but ... And it’s true that (producer) Al Kooper was in the label’s office and told them that ‘Time of the Season’ had to be the next single. And by the time it went No. 1, we had already broken up.”
This week’s show will feature two Zombies lineups, both fronted by Argent and Blunstone. For “Odessey,” they’ll reunite the original band, with bassist Chris White and drummer Hugh Grundy (guitarist Paul Atkinson died in 2004). The modern lineup, which formed about a decade ago, will play the first set. This version still makes new music (their latest album, “Still Got That Hunger,” came out last year), and will continue once the “Odessey” tour wraps.
“Since this is the 50th anniversary, we thought, ‘Why don’t we just blitz it, celebrate it, and then draw a line under it and move on? The band always got on fantastically well, and it’s an album that I’m very proud of. But, on the other hand, we’re looking at something that happened 50 years ago, and you can’t constantly do that. It’s a lovely sentimental moment for us, and people will hear us play every single part, including the pump organ on ‘Butcher’s Tale.’ But once this is done, we will carry on with undiminished energy.”