The Zombies’ music is still alive and kicking
Last updated 05:34, Friday, 16 May 2008
They couldn’t have known it when the band was formed way back in 1961, but The Zombies has turned out to be a very appropriate name. This is, after all, the band that came back from the dead.
Rewind 40 years. As the Sixties near their end, so do The Zombies. Great songs, loved by critics, but the band has managed just one hit in their native Britain. Even in America, where they were the second British band after the Beatles to have a number one single, the hits have dried up. They separate: disillusioned, short of money, bitter about their lack of recognition.
So how come 2008 sees The Zombies playing to sell-out crowds, lauded by celebrity fans and acclaimed as one of the greatest bands of all time?
The reappraisal began while The Zombies’ body was still warm. In 1968 the band had just split up when DJs in America began playing a song from Odessey and Oracle, their second and final album.
Time of the Season is perhaps the coolest three minutes ever applied to vinyl. Pop and jazz melt together with the keyboards of the band’s main songwriter Rod Argent and the lilting, Nick Drake-esque vocals of Colin Blunstone. The single reached number three in the USA. The Zombies’ reputation continued to grow as Argent and Blunstone both enjoyed solo success. In 2001 they reunited for an album and tour. Three years later they began playing under The Zombies name again.
The band, with three new members, comes to Carlisle’s Sands Centre tomorrow night. They are supported by The Yardbirds, whose former members include Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.
The Zombies’ current tour comes 40 years after Odyssey and Oracle was released. Largely ignored at the time, it has since been named by Vanity Fair as the defining pop album of the Sixties and ranked at number 80 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 greatest albums of all time.
“I find that very difficult to comprehend,” says Colin Blunstone. “I hadn’t played live for 23 years. I was talking to Rod and I said ‘Do you fancy doing these six dates?’ Those six have grown into eight years.”
Tickets cost £22.50-£24.50 from www.ticketweb.co.uk or by calling 01228 625222.
