Artist Spotlight

For sure, the sixties were a flourishing time for rock. From Dylan to the Beatles to Hendrix, an incredible foundation for creativity was set in place, and thanks to an ever-growing youth culture, there would be plenty of time and money to support the even more radical changes to come in the seventies. As we’ve had the time to look back on those two incredible decades, unsung groups have resurfaced. Some time in the eighties, for instance, The Kinks suddenly became a household name in America. But one group — and one of The Kinks’ British Invasion cousins — that has never quite been given its share of the limelight is The Zombies.

Founded in ’61 and disbanded in ’67, The Zombies only made it big in the States with their smash hit “Time of the Season,” the last track on the incredible Odessey and Oracle LP that would be released in ’68 — months after the group had called it quits. This particular song stands out from The Zombies’ repertoire as a nominally psychedelic (or at least San Francisco-style) tune, but it is one they are best remembered for because of its posthumous popularity during the Summer of Love and the following year of Woodstock. But really, The Zombies were pop musicians of a far higher caliber than “Time of the Season” lets on. Where that song sounds in retrospect like a cynical attempt to grab the ears of LSD-addled fans of The Byrds, their other work is made up of some of the most pristine pop you’ve ever heard, and often their later melodies fool listeners into thinking they’re hearing a new indie group and not a band that broke up over forty years ago.

Listening to The Zombies is a joyful experience, but they’re no shallow bubblegum group. One of their most finger-snappingly happy tunes, “Care of Cell 44,” is the monologue of a forlorn lover writing to his girlfriend who just happens to be in prison. The spare and beautiful “Rose for Emily,” harmonizes the tale of a depressed young woman left utterly alone in a dark world. Even the innocently titled “I Love You” tells the story of a man silenced by fear and incapable of releasing his emotions before it’s too late. “Imagine the Swan,” one of the most gut-wrenching break-up songs ever penned, shows another man living in daydreams in order to weather the pain of seeing his ex-girlfriend in public.

Their songs range from harpsichord-led dirges like “Smokey Day” to upbeat piano-and-mellotron rave-ups like “If It Don’t Work Out.” Some tracks, like “Walking in the Sun” and “I’ll Call You Mine” resemble the simple power and inverted sweetness of The Velvet Underground’s Loaded. Of course, there are also the quintessentially British Invasion hits like the haunting “She’s Not There” and the lounge-rock shout of “Tell Her No.”

The best place for a first-time listener to start would be with Odessey and Oracle, one of the greatest pop albums ever recorded and one that should sit comfortably on a shelf beside Revolver, Pet Sounds and Village Green Preservation Society. Featuring incredible songs like the heartbreaking “Brief Candles,” the pre-prog dream “Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914),” as well as two of the downright prettiest songs in rock history—“This Will Be Our Year” and “Friends of Mine” – Odessey is one that shouldn’t be missed. Aside from ‘65’s Begin Here, the rest of The Zombies’ recordings can be found in this or that compilation, any of which will be a boon to your ears.

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