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NEWSY BITS:
- For all the latest updates via email from Colin Blunstone and The Zombies, contact andrew(dot)barnes(at)tesco(dot)net and ask to get on the mailing list.
- 2007, June 25: Today is the release date for Into the Afterlife, a collection of Zombies-related recordings made in the two years following The Zombies break-up. The CD is available from Amazon.com and the usual outlets. Andy Barnes passed on the following from the disc's compiler, Alec Palao: "Ten years is a long time for a compilation to come to fruition, but at Ace Records we firmly believe that it is well worth the wait to do things properly. Such in the case with Into the Afterlife. I had originally planned this collection of post-Zombies odds and sods to come out shortly after the release in October 1997 of Zombie Heaven, almost as a sort of adjunctal fifth disc. Some tracks on Afterlife had in fact at one time been contenders for inclusion on the box. However, one learns that not everything in life is quite so simple, and thus it has taken the best part of a decade to gather the appropriate clearances for the contents of Afterlife. I think you will agree, though, that it has indeed been well worth the wait.
This is technically not a Zombies album, though it does contain performances by Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White, Hugh Grundy and Paul Atkinson, together and separately. In their seven years together, the St Albans quintet had gone from rags to riches to rags again, both literally and metaphorically. As 1968 dawned, with an imminent dissolution of the five friends’ partnership, it seemed that for some of the participants at least, the Zombies had been a magical but ultimately fleeting adventure. Rather, Afterlife is, essentially, what the members of the Zombies did next. It documents the relatively brief but murky period between the end of the group, and the establishment of long term music careers by its main protagonists: two years that were also highlighted by the sudden re-emergence of the Zombies brand as a major commercial force, thanks to the belated and quite unexpected American success of the final single Time Of The Season and the group’s brilliant swansong, Odessey & Oracle.
It is thus a fascinating, if fleeting chapter, that draws from three different sets of repertoire: Rod and Chris’ initial demos on the way to the formation of Argent, pop experiments that on the one hand are markedly different to what these two exemplary writers had done in the past, yet bear the classy hallmark of the Odessey songbook; the augmented Zombies material that the duo prepared for the aborted R.I.P album; and the small cache of recordings Colin made as Neil MacArthur, including his revamp of She’s Not There which charted in the spring of 1969.
Virtually everything on Afterlife has not been reissued before, and over half has never been available anywhere.
The demos provide a chance to hear fabled lost songs such as Unhappy Girl and To Julia, which were deemed inappropriate for the direction the band Argent would take, as well as the embryonic versions of much-loved tunes like She Loves The Way They Love Her. The personnel utilized for the demo sessions was a dry-run for Rod’s planned new group, including Jim Rodford on bass and Hugh Grundy on drums. We also hear a rare Chris vocal on the legendary track Mr Galileo. The enviable harmonies of messrs Argent and White are also to the fore on the orchestral mixes of vintage Zombies outtakes redressed for R.I.P., remixed so as to showcase both the overdubbed vocals and Mike Vickers’ expert string and horn arrangements.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Afterlife are the Neil MacArthur sides, which are rarely discussed even by diehard fans of Mr Blunstone. Though they were unrelated to Chris and Rod’s concurrent activities and, as Colin himself explains in the liners, it was a most uncertain period in the singer’s career, this material nevertheless features some great and overlooked performances from one of the most distinctive voices in British pop. Overseen by producer Mike Hurst, we feature all six tracks originally released on three Deram singles in 1969, including exemplary versions of Nilsson’s Without Her and Billy Vera’s Don’t Try To Explain, and Hurst’s own World Of Glass. A special bonus was the discovery in the producer’s vault of two unreleased cuts from the sessions, including Colin’s absolutely gorgeous rendering of the Buffalo Springfield’s Hung Upside Down. The arrangements are all late 60s British record-making at its classiest.
Last but not least, there are a couple of continentally-flavoured bonus cuts: the super-rare Italian language version of She’s Not There, and Going To A Go Go, as performed live by the original Zombies on French TV in late 1966.
Though it consists of live rave-ups, bare-boned demos, or ultra-commercial items aimed squarely at the charts, Into The Afterlife actually hangs together in an oddly satisfying manner, a cohesion that could be expected of few others in pop at the time. As the last Zombies single of the 60s postulated, If It Don’t Work Out: a lot of what’s here indeed did not work out, but most other artists should be so lucky as to have ephemera of this calibre to throw away.
Alec Palao
Ace Records UK
2004, December 2: Here's a great web site dedicated to an
in-depth look at The Zombies recent tour of The Netherlands, featuring a brief voice-over by Colin Blunstone. The Zombies: The Dutch Tour 2004. [link verified 07/16/07]
2004, April 1: Sad news -- Paul
Atkinson died after a long illness. [link verified 11/26/04]
2003: Colin and Rod continue playing together
in the studio and on the road. For the latest Blunstone & Argent tour
info, please check out the Rod
Argent web site and the
Colin Blunstone web site. [links
verified 11/26/04]
Another source of Blunstone
and Argent tour dates. [links
verified 05/08/04]
2002: Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent continued
touring with their group, and they made landfall in the USA again
in September. Also, Alec Palao put together another Zombies CD collection,
collecting stereo mixes of the band's entire output during their years
on Decca Records. Read
Alec's description of the The Decca Stereo Anthology project.
2001: Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent teamed
up again and recorded a new album, Out of the Shadows (available
for sale at Amazon UK), early in the year. They
put together a band featuring Rod's cousin Jim Rodford (ex-Kinks,
ex-Argent) on bass, Rod's second cousin Steve Rodford (Jim's son)
on drums, and session star Mark Johns on guitar. The group toured
the UK to much success in the spring, and played four fantastic, sold-out
shows in New York City at The Village Underground from May 24-27.
This was the first time the two performed together (other than a three-song
one-off in 1997) in 34 years, and included selections from The Zombies,
Argent, and Blunstone's solo and collaborative work.
| BIOGRAPHICAL / HISTORICAL INFO: |
- The band's bio at Ultimate
Band List. [link verified 11/26/04]
- A short Zombies biography from radio station
Arrow
93. [link verified 05/08/04]
- A quick Zombies
biography and disocography on the British Beat Boom pages. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- The excellent Zombies
Page at Nostalgia Central . [link
verified 05/08/04]
- The
Zombies artist page at Launch Music. [link
verified on 05/08/04]
- The Zombies entry in the
Rockmine Ultimate Rock Cyclopedia. Scroll two thirds down the
page. There are entries for the band members, too, although it is
just names and dates - nothing else to read. There is a notable entry
for a Spanish band, also named The Zombies. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Listen to a 2004 BBC interview with Rod and Colin
(in RealAudio format). Part
1. Part
2. Read
the attendant article. [links
verified 08/15/04]
- A 1998
chat with Chris White on the Pause and Play music pages. [link
down as of 11/24/04]
- An April 2001 interview
with Colin and Rod at the Pause and Play site. [link verified 05/08/04]
- Crossfire Publications has released the book
Time Of The Season by Greg
Russo. [link verified
05/08/04]
- An Amazon.com
interview with Colin Blunstone about The Zombies. [link
down as of 11/24/04]
- Colin Blunstone did a 45-minute interview on
the National Public Radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross
on January 28, 1998. It's a wonderful interview and I think you
can order a tape from this site as well. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Check out info on the book Then Play On, by Mike Ober, which features an original,
34-page interview with Zombies bassist/composer Chris White. Write
to Mike first to confirm availability and current pricing. [link
verified 11/21/04]
- Kim Stitzel was very kind to transcribe the liner
notes for three recently issued collections: Odessey
and Oracle (1987 Rhino re-issue CD) by Rod Argent,
Greatest
Hits (1995 TransLuxe CD) by Robert John Jones, and
The
Collection (1988 Castle Communications CD) by John
Tobler. [links verified 05/08/04]
- The band is covered among the pop groups on the
Sixties
British Pop Culture page. [links
verified 05/08/04]
- A Colin
Blunstone interview in Flagpole magazine. [link
verified 03/15/01]
- Several of The Zombies' past TV appearances are
on videotapes, some for sale at Dead
End Records. [link verified 05/08/04]
- SAF Publishing has released a book by Claes Johansen,
a Zombies biography published in mid-2001, called The
Zombies: Hung Up On A Dream. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- The Zombies are covered in this (written in Japanese)
History
of the British Invasion. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- From Rod's site:
two bits of a 2001 TV interview with Colin and Rod. Click the pics (RealMedia format). [links
verified 05/08/04]
- An article on Zombies tour manager David
Blaylock. [link verified 05/08/04]
- Andy Barnes publishes a Colin Blunstone newsletter
called Photograph. He says, "Anyone interested in Colin Blunstone's
latest activities can write to me to recieve a copy of my newsletters.
All I ask is that SAE / 2 x IRCs are sent to: "Photograph", P. O.
Box 336, Cheltenham, Glos., GL51 6YP, England." I'm sure you can write
to him for more info, too. I'd email him first for details, at andrew.barnes
@ tesco.net.
| THE
RECORDS / THE SONGS / THE MUSIC: |
- Rhino Records release
announcement for the 2004 album As Far As I Can See --
text as it appeared on the Rhino site. [link
verified 08/15/04]
- A Zombies
discography compiled by John C Falstaff. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Modern re-releases of The Zombies material are
available via Ace/Big
Beat Records. Scroll all the way down and click on The Zombies.
[link verified 05/08/04]
- At Amazon.com, the Zombie Heaven CD box set has scored an average
customer review of five out of five stars! [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Read about the Zombies' fabled Lost Album
at
Stylus Magazine. Scroll about a quarter of the way down the page
to find the article. [link verified
05/08/04]
- There's a Zombies tribute CD called Wake Up
Your Windows: A Zombies Tribute on Zapruder Groove Records of
Norway. Check it out here, and you may still be able to buy it at HHBTM.
[links verified 05/08/04]
- Check out a November 2003 Zombies tribute CD
from The
Loser's Lounge of New York City. [link
verified 05/20/04]
- See the Inkblot Magazine review of The Zombies
Singles
Collection [link verified 05/08/04]
- Liner
notes for Zombies compilation CD Absolutely The Best
on Fuel2000 Records. [link verified
11/21/04]
- See John Reed's review of Zombie Heaven,
originally published in The
Boston Globe. [link verified
05/08/04]
- If you sign up for a free Day Pass and do a search,
you might find Dawn Eden's review of Zombie Heaven in Salon
Magazine. [link verified
05/08/04]
- Billboard
review of Zombie Heaven as it appeared on AOL in January
1998. [link verified 05/08/04]
- Read some fab reviews of the 2001 Argent/Blunstone
album, Out of the Shadows at Amazon.co.uk.
Do a search on the album title if this link fails you. [link
updateed 05/08/04]
- A review of Zombie Heaven in Pause
& Play, near the bottom of the page. [link
verified 03/15/01]
- Odessy and Oracle dissected on the Marmalade
Skies pages, but they were still down for construction
as of 11/24/04.
- A new Odessy and Oracle review, in French. [link
verified 11/19/04]
- An in-depth interview
with Zombie Heaven compiler Alec Palao, courtesy of Amplifier
magazine. [link verified 05/08/04]
- A review of Absolutely
the Best, a recent Zombies compilation CD appears in
this issue of Jam!. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- You may like to check out recollection.co.uk
(then click on Colin's photo), which has an excellent album-by-album
synopsis of Colin's solo career. It is up-to-date and accurate. Great
photos of all the album sleeves, etc. [link
verified 06/19/04]
- Billboard and Cashbox Chart
Positions reached by Zombies singles. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Check out Wilson
& Alroy's Record Reviews for some opinions on the band's albums.
[link verified 05/08/04]
- Collins
Crapo's Zombies Page has a review of a greatest hits album. [link verified 05/08/04]
- Three Zombies songs have been honored on BMI's
"Million-airs" list for airplay. Tell Her No has over a million
plays, She's Not There has over two million plays, and Time
of the Season has over three million plays. Figures as of mid-2001.
Links at the BMI site are now gone.
- A Time
of the Season guitar tab by Shredmaster. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- A review of Odessey
and Oracle from Lasse Brundin's music page. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Odessey and Oracle turns up on the
Mojo Magazine 100 Greatest Albums list (as of 1995). [link
verified 05/08/04]
- At Amazon.com, check out sound clips and customer comments on Zombie Heaven. link
verified 05/08/04]
- Zombies records are among the greatest as determined
by these other lists: Top of the Pops Albums 1963-1971, Top of the
Pops Singles 1963-1971, Mojo Magazine, and Rolling Stone magazine. [all links gone as of 05/08/04]
- In 1996, Colin Blunstone was a guest vocalist
for one track on Steve Hackett's Watcher
of the Skies album, in which the Genesis guitarist re-made
several early Genesis classics. There are reviews, and
another review here about halfway down the page. [links
verified 05/08/04]
- Argent scored a track on the 5-CD compilation
Supernatural
Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- The Zombies appear on three different 60s compilation
CDs available from Rhino Records: Rolling
Stone Presents: The Early Years and Billboard
Top Rock'n'Roll Hits: 1964 and Billboard
Top Rock'n'Roll Hits: 1969 [links
verified 05/08/04]
- Conversation Off Floral Street makes the
Mods
List Music Picks list (about two thirds of the way down the page).
[link verified 05/08/04]
- A few people have written to tell me there was
a tribute album of Zombies songs done in late 1994 by a bunch of current
Seattle bands. The World of the Zombies features The Posies,
Flop, The Fastbacks, The Young Fresh Fellows, The Sneeches, The Model
Rockets, The Steam Kings and Zumpano. The Posies' take on "Leave Me
Be" seems to be a favorite.
- Conrad wrote to say, "If you're interested in
Zombies tributes, you should know about the Chrysanthemums, a sort
of psychedelic indie band with a really wry sense of humor. I believe
it was in 1990 that they released their Odyssey and Oracle
album in which they covered the entire Zombies album and added some
covers of other Zombies songs." I don't currently have a link to information
about this record.
- A band called Life
in General covered Time of the Season on a 60s tribute
album in 2000. [link verifed 05/08/04]
- Time of the Season is included in the
piano sheet music book 80
Years of Popular Music - The Sixties. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Zombie Heaven makes the Alibi
Readers Top Records of 1998 list. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- The U.K.
Subs Discography reveals that they covered She's Not There.
[link verified 05/08/04]
- The Zombies make Duval
Central's Greatest Rock and Roll Songs list. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- You can look for original Zombies vinyl LPs and
7" singles at these sites: California
Albums | Golden
Apple Comics | Hot
Platters | Krohn's
Boulevard Records | Midnight
Records | Neighbor
Gabor's Records | Stardust
Classic | Vinyl
Vendors | Whirlin'
Disc | World
Wide Wax | CD
Discounters | Vinal
Edge | Millennium
Records | Sweet
Memories (UK), and of course, everything in the world at GEMM.com.
[link verifed 05/08/04]
- Check out the band known as the Japanese Zombies: The
Carnabeats. [link verified 07/20/07]
- This Billy
Joel article quotes him naming The Zombies as his favorite band
in the 60s. [link verified 05/08/04]
- Rod's keyboard playing is applauded on this page
on electric
piano music. [link verified 05/08/04]
- On the Byrd
Watcher page, it is noted that Roger McGuinn credited Rod Argent
with showing the world that jazz-inspired playing could be incorporated
into popular rock music. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Zombies
Personally Handwritten Autographed Song Lyrics By Chris White or Colin
Blunstone For Sale [link verified
11/21/04]
- The Knowhere
Guide to St. Albans, which is, of course, the Zombies' home town
(band birthplace). [link verified
05/08/04]
- There's a fascinating archive of
Beatles-related Dates that documents a Beatles appearance at The
Cavern Club on 20 September 1961 with another group called The Zombies
- who apparently pre-date the band of the same name that became famous.
[link verified 05/08/04]
- Chris
White talks about Irish musician Francie Conway. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- A few musings from Rod Argent are recalled by
folk artist Nanci Griffith in the liner
notes on the CD that Rod Argent produced for her. [link
verified 05/08/04]
- Rod's birthday is noted on this list of a rock
birthdays. [link verified
11/24/04]
- This page tells you how to get that Zombies organ
sound on your Kurzweil
K2000 synthesizer. [link verified
05/08/04]
- Veteran session musician Joe McGinty (Ramones,
Psychedelic Furs, Richard Davies, Deborah Harry, Chris von Sneidern,
Pizzicato Five, Jules Shear, Lotion, countless others) organized an
Odessy and Oracle tribute show with collaborating band The
Kustard Kings. Other Zombies hits and even some Colin Blunstone solo
material were also featured. This was in New York City at Fez under
Time Cafe on February 13, 14, and 15th, 1998. Here is a review
by Dave Goldsman. [link verified
11/21/04]
- John
Verity played with Argent and on various Blunstone and White recordings.
[link verified 05/08/04]
- For those who want to know what the word "zombies"
means, they're hypothetical creatures described fully on the Zombies
Invade Philosophy page. [link
verified 05/08/04]
Please let me know if you
have anything to add or correct.
Email
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