Zombies - Odessey and Oracle

[j]

I know there are a couple threads about music and I've mentioned it before, but I decided to spam to emphasize how much everyone should get this album right now. I've been listening to it obsessively the last few days and it just slams it out over and over again. Get it. Listen to it. Love it. Thanks.
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[tlmusic]

This is one of my favorite rock albums of all time!

An interesting thing is that it was recorded at Abbey Road Studio right after Sgt. Pepper's and Pink Floyd's Piper at the Gates of Dawn. The expermental techniques and sounds that the recording engineers picked up from working on the Beatles and Floyd were also used on the Zombies own relatively low budget album. Listen to the tack piano on "Care of Cell 44" and compare it to the piano tracks on Sgt. Pepper.

Experts can feel free to correct me, but I understand the Zombies wanted to use live orchestral backing (strings and horns), but their budget wouldn't allow for it. So they opted to use the newest high-tech substitute--the Mellotron. The Mellotron is an amazing instrument that has a bank of pre-recorded tapes for each key. Probably the first sampler. The Mellotron has a wicked eerie sound which adds greatly to O & O.

 

[Johnny Amiga]

Great thread, great record!

Odessey & The Oracle is EPIC. One of the best and most underrated records from the 60's.

 

[Full Canvas]

The Zombies were the epitome of "cool" in pop music during the 1960s. I saw them live at the San Jose Civic Auditorium in 1966. Rod Argent is the true talent behind the Zombies in my opinion. That's him on the keyboards in the Time of the Season clip you embedded. He was classically trained to some degree in piano before forming the group.

After the Zombies "disbanded", he formed a new group, Argent. Later, he even recorded an album of classical piano pieces. He is also quite a talented music producer.

___

 

[constantine.]

this record is unstoppable. for some reason i listen to the kinks' "village green preservation society" afterwards.

 

[Pennglock]

It's a classic, up there with anything the Beatles and Kinks did. Better than most Beatles and Kinks actually. It must be one of the most underrated albums of all time.

 

[Nouveau Pauvre]

+1. There is absolutely something otherwordly about it. Any time I find myself distracted by some flavor-of-the-month indie pop outfit, I throw this record on. My soul is cleansed and the indie pop group receives the scorn they so richly deserve.

 

[unicornwarrior]

Originally Posted by Johnny Amiga

Great thread, great record!

Odessey & The Oracle is EPIC. One of the best and most underrated records from the 60's.

+1

The band as a whole is one of the most underrated bands, in relation to other's of the era. It is sad that they're really only known for "Time of the Season" when they had plenty of other great songs.

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

I am posting in this thread to declare my allegiance to this record. I will go home and listen to it today. To add to tlmusic's observation about the abbey road studio/sgt. pepper/oracle nexus, one must not leave out the Pretty Things' SF Sorrow concept album, also recorded at Abbey Road in 1967.

 

[j]

I'm going to get all the other stuff mentioned in this thread. Keep it coming. I posted about the Kinks' VGPS a while back but that's another excellent one with the same feel. Couple more clips
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[Guy Burgess]

My favourite record from the 60s by far. Butchers Tale (Western Front 1914) is genius.

 

[tlmusic]

An original UK mono LP of Odessey and Oracle just sold for 421GBP on ebay. That's over $600 at the time of the auction! The mono version of the LP was never released in the United States. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=300286305881

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

LOVE---Forever Changes
is a classic 60s record that is head and shoulders above the rest
but to be honest i am not sure what this thread is about anymore

 

[why]

Yep, awesome. Wish I had the vinyl version.

 

[Pangolin]

To go back to the Zombies, Colin Blunstone's first solo albums after the band disbanded are worth listening too. I think they were (at least partly) produced by Rod Argent.