Monday, September 11, 2006

The Zombies: Odessey and Oracle

I keep discovering wonderful albums from the sixties that I knew nothing about.

A few years ago it was Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by the Small Faces - which features the wonderful Stanley Unwin. Deep joy.

Then it was The Village Green Preservation Society by The Kinks.

And now it is Odessey and Oracle by The Zombies.

Incidentally, I discovered the latter two albums via a CD given away free with Uncut magazine in 2004: The Roots of Tommy.

3 comments:

Liberal Neil said...

All three are excellent.

What I don't understand is how you could possibly have missed the first two which are both well known and widely recognised classics.

Did you live a sheltered childhood?

Or did you slip into Lord bonkers mode and start muttering about 'popular beat combos' m'lud?

Jonathan Calder said...

In the 1960s the single was the dominant medium for pop music. By the time I was old enough to buy LPs the sixties were long past. What records from earlier eras you discover is always something of a lottery.

The Village Green Preservation Society is acknowledged as a classic now, but I seem to recall that it suffered a long period of obscurity.

Finally, my Labour-voting friends never get Lord Bonkers, seeing him simply as a right-wing old buffer. I am a litte concerned to see you making the same mistake! :-)

Onlinefocus Team said...

I remember borrowing the "Time of the Zombies" album from Southend Library back in the 70s. I think it had a lot of stuff on it from "Oddesey and Oracle".

"Changes" was very poignant but I think "Friends of Mine" was my favourite.