1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: 119. The Zombies – Odessey and Oracle (1968)

 

The Zombies are one of those bands where the name belies the kind of music they play. Named after flesh-eating undead, this album starts off with chirpy pop songs instead (see also Massive Attack, Savage Garden, and The Killers for bands with violent names and safe music).

And the tracks aren’t bad, having something a bit more like Herman’s Hermits made a refreshing change from the experimental psychedelia and art-house stuff we’ve had recently. When some of the slower tracks started and there was some flute, I was worried we were back to Haight-Ashbury hippy noodlings, but thankfully not. We’re about as dangerous as Sgt. Pepper here. There’s a dip into folkiness with the anti-war Butcher’s Tale, which with its accordion accompaniment sounds more like Spiers and Boden/Bellowhead, and then the album finishes with the probably the most famous track, the almost impossibly laid-back Time of the Season. I think I first heard this as part of a film soundtrack – 1969, maybe. Anyway, that tune alone is worth the price of admission and although most of the others may not be stupendously original, they’re all pretty good.

Just ... that spelling error in the title (which apparently the band claimed was deliberate). Makes my pedant muscle twitch. I assumed it was maybe some cunning play on the fact that the album included “odes”, but alas perhaps not.