Zombie Heaven
The Zombies
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THE SONGS: DISC TWO
ODESSEY & ORACLE and THE LOST ALBUM
Universally regarded as one of the best albums of the 1960s, Odessey & Oracle is a work of remarkable depth and significance. Ironic then that it began as an almost desperate attempt to achieve some kind of artistic autonomy, and was recorded under circumstances of some duress. In addition to reprising the magnificence of Odessey in the best quality yet heard, this disc also collects together the pot pourri of material that was to form the posthumous R.I.P. project.
1. CARE OF CELL 44
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 16 & 17 August 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3
Take 5 reduction of Take 4
CBS LP S63280 - 19 Apri11968
From the tack piano intro to the massed chorale at the end, 'Care Of Cell 44' is the perfect opener to a perfect album, and it has remained one of the most popular tracks with fans. Recorded under the working title 'Prison Song', the track's engaging melody and unusual lyrics marked it as a strong choice for a single. Of particular note is Chris' bouncy bass, often submerged on earlier records. The song was released as an unsuccessful single in November of 1967.
Rod: "There was no inspiration behind it really, it was just a story of a situation. It was very much a third party sort of song. The idea came first of writing to someone who's coming out of prison, and being excited that they're coming out, with an unusual slant on things; no more than that really. Just trying to imagine yourself in the place of somebody who is living on the outside and has to suffer that condition, and then the feeling of excitement that someone is about to come out."
Chris: '''Care Of Cell 44' was originally called 'Care Of Cell 69', but our American publisher, Al Gallico, said 'you can't call it that!' It was he that actually named it '44', we didn't. We'd employed David Block as publicity while we were making the album, and he got someone to teach us how to perform 'Care Of Cell 44'. He'd said 'I really like this record and I'd like to put some money into promotion and get someone to routine it with you.' The guy was a television comedy actor that David knew and we all went over and rehearsed in his room in Barnes."
2. A ROSE FOR EMILY
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 1 June & 10 July 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3 Take 5 reduction of Take 3
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
A delicate piano-based ballad, yet ironically one of the few songs from Odessey that the band attempted to perform live.
Rod: "I remember the day that was written actually. I was still living at home and I was going through one of my periodic things of thinking, 'Right, I've got to get down to work, got to get down to some writing. I'm going to get up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning and I'm going to start writing and not let anything distract me.' I'd been reading a William Faulkner short story called A Rose For Emily and while the song's got nothing to do with that, I liked the way the title sounded. So I got up really early and I just started to write the song from that. It was one of those songs where I think I almost just plucked it out of the air and let the lines follow themselves, let the story build up from nothing. There's a particularly nice change that I liked as it came out of the chorus and went into the verse again. There's a modulation where the melody line at the end of the chorus merges into the beginning of the next verse."
3. MAYBE AFTER HE'S GONE
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded July or August 1967
Olympic Studios, Barnes
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
Like 'Beechwood Park' and 'I Want Her She Wants Me', 'Maybe After He's Gone' was recorded at the Stones-favoured Olympic Studios when Abbey Road was not available. The choral effect towards the end of the song is particularly breathtaking.
4. BEECHWOOD PARK
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded July or August 1967
Olympic Studios, Barnes
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
The moody 'Beechwood Park' was one of the earliest songs slated for the album, as Chris had written it the previous year but had yet to complete it.
Chris: "Beechwood Park was near Markyate. It was a girls' boarding school, Beechwood House, with big gates and its own grounds out in the wilds, miles from anywhere. It was also used for the location of The Dirty Dozen, they built the whole set there. The idea of the song was based at Beechwood Park but didn't have a point to anchor it to. I just remembered all the country lanes around there, it was just one of those pictures. Later someone from the school came down and complained to my mum, [posh woman's voice] 'We ought to get some royalties for this!’”
Andy Nye (Chris White's nephew): "I remember helping my grandfather in the shop one day when the 'lady' of the village came in. She had heard Chris's song on the radio and had immediately stormed down to the shop to tell my grandfather that she hadn't been asked permission! She was furious and threatened to go to court to have the song removed from the album, though it never came to that."
5. BRIEF CANDLES
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 16 &17 August 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3
Take 10 reduction of Take 9
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
Chris: "I was looking for a title for a song, and I remembered Aldous Huxley's collection of stories Brief Candles. So I thought of ideas for little stories, and Rod, myself and Colin sang them in succession."
6. HUNG UP ON A DREAM
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 10 & II July 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3 Take 7 reduction of take 3
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
Notable for its remarkable atmosphere, 'Dream' was perhaps the "trippiest" of Odessey's songs, but it owed little to then contemporary influences. Never were the angelic choirboy voices of the band put to better use than the backing vocals on this cut, echoing the main lyric.
Chris: "'Hung Up On A Dream' was our token flower power song, but we were never influenced by psychedelic drugs or any drugs whatsoever. There was this one period where there was this incredible hope; around the time of Monterey, and we believed in it too, it wasn't cynical."
Rod: "The song wasn't at all about an acid trip. I always hated the idea of taking drugs, it seemed a crude way to mess with the mind. We were all very straight. All I remember about the writing of that song was that we'd just discovered the mellotron, and that was a bit of an inspiration."
Paul: "My favourite track on the whole album was 'Hung Up On A Dream', plus I had a solo in it!"
7. CHANGES
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 7 November 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3
Take 5
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
Rod: "That was the excitement of producing the album ourselves. If we wanted to do a mass vocal thing like we did on 'Changes', with all the harmony lines equal, we could because we were doing it ourselves. We were very 'up' about all that."
Chris: "On 'Changes', Paul and Hugh are singing because we couldn't bounce down the vocals."
Hugh: "The one and only track I ever sang on, bottom harmony in unison!" Colin: "They were very, very strict at Abbey Road; reminded me of the Civil Service. Sessions went from 10-1, 2-5 and 7-10. We were doing some harmonies [on 'Changes'], it was coming up to five o'clock, we were actually singing on the mike, and two guys came in long white coats and took this piano out, right by us! It was like, 'You alright Jim, you got that end?', and we were still singing and the red light was on' This was for real, but we kept going, so presumably it's on the tape."
8. I WANT HER SHE WANTS ME
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded July Or August 1967
Olympic Studio, Barnes
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
The oldest song on Odessey, having been written and demo'ed by the band almost a year prior in September 1966, and released as a single by the Mindbenders shortly thereafter. Sung by Rod in very much a pop mode, the track features the sound textures of Olympic's electric harpsichord.
9. THIS WILL BE OUR YEAR
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 2 June 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3 Take 4
Brass section overdubbed 15 August 1967
CBS LP 63280 - April 1968
This particular cut has never appeared in true stereo, largely because the brass band overdub - arranged by Ken Jones - was added in the mixdown to mono stage. When the album came to he remixed for stereo, a reprocessed version was substituted. Here we use the mono version.
10. BUTCHER'S TALE (WESTERN FRONT 1914)
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 20 July 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3 Take 1
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
Certainly the most experimental track that the Zombies ever recorded. Stemming from Chris' interest in the history of the First World War, the subject matter of 'Butcher's Tale' was greatly enhanced by the instrumentation and special effects.
Chris: "I wanted Colin to sing it but they got me to sing because they said 'Your weak trembley little voice suits the song'. We used this old American pedal organ that I'd bought in a junk store, and if you listen closely you can hear Rod's fingernails, because it's all miked up. We also had some musique concrete, which I actually nicked off a Pierre Boulez record, reversed the tape and sped it up. We 'adapted' it. One of the influences on that was '1941 New York Mining Disaster' by the Bee Gees, which I thought was a great way of telling a story, very evocative."
Peter Vince (engineer): "For the most part they weren't into strange Sounds, but on 'Butcher's Tale' the sounds of guns and wartime things were tried: just ordinary sound effects rather than trying to be overly clever. Basically, the Zombies were legit, writing good quality material, and they didn't get into the ilk of the Floyd or Beatles who often went for effect rather than the song or performance."
Colin: "I wish I'd sung 'Butcher's Tale'. I think I was a bit negative about that song at the time, I didn't think the theme was appropriate for what we were doing, and I regret that, because it's a really good song."
Rod: "I think it's right with Chris singing 'Butcher's Tale', it's got a real character of its own. That was the song that Al Kooper really picked up on, that and ‘A Rose For Emily'."
Chris: It was the first single from the album in the States, as an anti-Vietnam war thing. Al Kooper and the others thought it was a very political to put it out then but it was a weird choice for a single. I'd written it as 'Western Front 1916' but somehow the title got misprinted on the album cover. There were no complaints, but I complained, because I was heavily into the First World War, and 1916 is when the battle took place. Nobody could make out what the words were. They’re all place names on the Western Front: Gommecourt, Thiepval, Mametz Wood."
11. FRIENDS OF MINE
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 1 June 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3 Take 10
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
The first single released from the album sessions in September 1967 and a marvellous pop song, with the novel idea of mentioning actual friends of the band in the backing vocals.
Colin: "With 'Friends of Mine' I thought it was a little bit sweet, so right at the end of the song there's a little 'aah', which lent a little bit of irony to it. All those couples are genuine couples, and most of the ones I knew split up shortly afterwards. Liz Evans and Brian Baldwin, I was best man at their wedding. Brian was another guy I went to school with, and he's now in the foreign office."
Chris: "The names on 'Friends Of Mine' - all divorced or dead now, except for Jim and Jean Rodford. Colin 'Duffy' Coke and Terry Quirk I was at art school with, and I was sharing a flat with them in North Finchley. David Jones is now a lawyer and screenwriter."
For the record, the couples are as follows:
Joyce Vale & Terry Quirk, Paul Atkinson & Molly Molloy, Liz Evans & Brian Baldwin, Joy Whitman & David Jones, Kim Elliot & Maggie Downing, June Browne & Duffy Coke, Jean Rodford & Jim Rodford, Jim Oakley & Christine Oakley
12. TIME OF THE SEASON
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded August 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3
CBS LP S63280 - 19 April 1968
One of the biggest selling records of 1969 in the US when it was released as a 'posthumous' single, 'Season' was actually quickly thrown together to complete the running order of Odessey, and in some ways is structurally a throwback to Rod's earlier writing style. The title was derived from the Miracles' song 'The Tracks Of My Tears', which the Zombies performed in their stage act.
Rod: "I remember the band coming around to rehearse 'Time Of The Season' because we had to record it, and I was still living at home. I had to send them all off down the pub while I finished the lyrics' With my faulty hearing, for years where Smokey sings 'if you look closer it's easy to trace' in 'Tracks Of My Tears', I thought was 'it's the time of the season to trace'. I felt cheated when I found out the real words, but I thought I'd use that phrase. Then you've got the weird choral part, the 'loving' bit, so the song has a weird hybrid of influences."
Colin: "I think 'Time Of The Season' was one of our last sessions, and as I remember, the song was written very close to the session, maybe even finetuned the morning before the afternoon session. Rod was always a stickler for making sure the phrasing and the melody was exactly right. Rod taught me to try to be a bit more precise about what I was singing, and he was being very precise from the control room about how this song should be sung. And it wasn't a particular favourite of mine. Rod was saying 'No, for the umpteenth time, the melody line is this!' So I said 'Listen, if you're so good, you come in here and you sing it!' The language was as extreme as you can imagine! But he insisted, 'You are the singer, you are going to sing this thing'. And obviously looking back now after it was such a huge hit, I just give a most genuine thank you to whoever kept me there and made me sing it. It sounds like quite a relaxed vocal, but it was tense at the time. Rod did the 'aahs'."
Paul: "We were all very testy at that time. We knew we were going to break up, so it was 'Let's get this thing finished, let's get out of here'. Rod had gone in there and sung it great, so we said 'Colin [pause], are you sure you don't want to sing this song?' He says 'OK, I think I can do it now" Because he knew it was a good song. I don't think any of us thought that it was going to be a single, however."
Rod: "We were comfortable producing Odessey from the technical point of view, because we had a good engineer - generally Peter Vince, occasionally Geoff Emerick - and we just left it to them really. On 'Time Of The Season' there's a snare beat before the solo each time, and I recall taking the treble pot [control] and just wrapping it around the clock. Probably because we were virgins in terms of studio technique, we would tend to be quite outrageous in that respect: an engineer would probably say 'add some top at that point' and he'd just add a bit, just to give the snare a bit of an extra crisp thing; we'd just smash it all the way around! Things like that can actually work quite well sometimes."
Peter Vince: "Initially, though Chris and Rod were very much into the technological side, they were not very knowledgeable about it, and it was therefore accepted that we were a team. In all fairness they did rely on me, and I was left to get the sound unless they didn't like it."
13. I'LL CALL YOU MINE
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded May 1966
Lansdowne Take 13
CBS 3380 - 5 April 1968
Unusual for a Chris White composition in that it hangs around a piano figure, 'I'll Call You Mine' had been recorded almost two years prior to release, at the same session as 'Indication' and 'Gotta Get A Hold Of Myself'.
14. IMAGINE THE SWAN
(Rod Argent, Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 18 December 1968
Morgan Studios, Willesden Take 6
CBS 4242 - May 1969
With pressure upon Rod and Chris to capitalise on the unprecedented success of 'Time Of The Season', this new composition of Chris' was released as by the Zombies while in fact it featured the personnel of the soon-to-be named Argent: Russ Ballard on guitar, Jim Rodford on bass and Bob Henrit on drums. Nevertheless, it is a natural progression of the Zombies' style, albeit with a beefier production feel. 'Imagine The Swan' was also the first record to bear the joint composer credit of Argent-White, even though Rod and Chris continued to write separately and were merely sharing the credit a la Lennon-McCartney.
Rod: "'Imagine The Swan' was written from the chord sequence of the first Bach prelude in 'The Well-Tempered Clavier', Well, actually it was Chris' chord sequence but we did it like that."
15. CONVERSATION OFF FLORAL STREET
(Rod Argent, Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 1968 Central Sound, Denmark Street, London
Overdubs added Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
CBS 4242 - May 1969
Only the second instrumental released under the Zombies name, 'Conversation' was recorded in the interim period between the split of the Zombies and the formation of Argent. The track was intended as a dance piece with the working title of 'Bonnie & Clyde'. It features only Rod, Chris and Hugh Grundy on drums. Additional percussion was later added at Morgan to ready it for commercial release.
Chris: "Rod's girlfriend [and future wife] Cathy was a dancer with Paul's wife Molly, and the rehearsal room they used to use was in Floral Street, round the back of Covent Garden, I think they wanted a dance piece, so that's how that came about."
16. IF IT DON'T WORK OUT
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 8 July 1965 Decca No 2 Take 2
Vocal and string overdubs recorded Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
(US) Date 1648 - June 1969
One of two songs that the Zombies "gave away" at the time, the other being Rod's instrumental 'Shadows'. Dusty Springfield's cover of this track, recorded for the wonderful 1965 album Ev'rything's Coming Up Dusty, is certainly amongst the highpoints of her career, and was at one time slated as a single. In the event, the band's own attempt languished in the vault until Rod, Chris and Gus Dudgeon revamped it as the final 'Zombies' single in 1969.
Colin: "I liked 'If It Don't Work Out', I think it's brilliant. A marvellous song," Paul: "It was at a Thank Your Lucky Stars that Dusty came up to us and said she loved our stuff, and asked Rod if he'd write something for her. So he did 'If It Don't Work Out' and we liked it too, and we rehearsed it a lot but he said 'I'm going to give it to Dusty', I was upset about that, because I thought it could be a hit for us."
Rod: "To be honest we never really pitched songs to others, we were more concerned with ourselves and making our own songs work for ourselves. But sometimes we were in an individual situation, like when we were on tour with Dusty and she said to me 'I'm recording at the moment, will you write something for me?' So I wrote her a song over the weekend which was 'If It Don't Work Out', and that was quite good really because I had her voice in mind, I played the song to her in the studio and she loved it. Unfortunately I had to go on holiday the next day, so I just left them with the demo, Not that she did a bad version, but I would have loved to have been around just to throw a couple of ideas into the pot while she was recording it."
Jim Rodford: "In the early stages of Argent we rehearsed quite a few Zombies things that Rod and Chris were going to re-do, and put us on them if they'd done basic demos of them, which they had, I remember rehearsing 'If It Don't Work Out' and liking it a great deal. There was talk of re-recording it but Chris and Rod decided to stay with the original."
17. DON'T CRY FOR ME
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 8 July 1965 Decca No 2 Take 5
Vocal overdubs recorded Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
(US) Date 1648 June 1969
Along with the A-side, 'Don't Cry For Me' was excerpted from the batch of older material that was being worked upon at the time for the 'posthumous' Zombies' album R.I.P. In this case the vocal overdubs add a further dimension to an already superlative track, particularly with the "I'm in tears no more" overlay. Additionally, the chugging rhythm feel in the middle section gives the cut a fresh, contemporaneous feel that belies its origin as an outtake.
18. I KNOW SHE WILL
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded Decca No 2 8 July 1965 Take 6
Vocal and string overdubs added Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
Epic LP 68262 - October 1973
19. WALKING IN THE SUN
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded Decca No 2 25 November 1964
Take 6 Vocal and string overdubs added Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
Epic LP 68262 - October 1973
Amazing to think that the Zombies had such an embarrassment of riches that such songs could languish in the vaults. All four of the above, along with 'If It Don't Work Out' and 'Don't Cry For Me' were Decca-era recordings not used at the time, and dusted off for the aborted R.I.P. album. String and horn arrangements were written all overseen by former Manfred Mann guitarist Mike Vickers, backing vocal and/or piano overdubs also added, and in the case of 'Walking In The Sun', Colin actually came in and re-did his original vocal. While the album was mixed and an album master prepared, the advent of Argent probably stopped its release.
Interested listeners wishing to hear R.I.P. as it would have sounded should programme its tracks from this disc in the following order: 23, 14, 22, 24, 25, 15, 16, 21, 20, 18, 17, 19.
20. I'LL KEEP TRYING
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded Decca No 2 24 June 1965 Take 8
Vocal overdubs added Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
(US) Back Trac P 17703 1984
21. I'LL CALL YOU MINE
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded May 1966 Lansdowne Take 13
Piano and vocal overdubs added Morgan Studios, Willesden December 1968
Epic EPe 3380 - September 1973
Rod: “All those songs already existed as out-takes, and we were just adding to them at Morgan with Gus. I especially remember going over them at the flat Chris and I shared, and a lot of the vocal arrangements were worked out there and written out ready to be put on."
Gus Dudgeon [engineer]: "I was incredibly disappointed that I wasn't involved in Odessey & Oracle, but they'd left Decca and at the time I was still a Decca engineer, and there was no freelancing. I think they just approached me to help produce these tracks on the basis of the past, and anyway I'd always shown an interest in their career because I thought they were one of the best bands I'd ever worked with. R.I.P. is what the album was to be called, and what I remember most is this amazing thing where Rod and Chris just walked in and said 'here are the chords'. They had all the vocal parts written out, and I thought that was incredible. I've never seen anyone do that before or since, it just blew me away. But nothing ever came out at the time, except for the single of 'If It Don't Work Out', ironically enough!"
Chris: "We transferred the originals from four to eight track and added the overdubs. I remember going round to Mike Vickers' place near Baker Street tube station and going over the arrangements there. We did get Colin in to redo the vocal on that version of 'Walking In The Sun'. I always liked the middle bit of that song, but the French horn player we used sounded like an elephant on that one: we had to get him to turn down a bit'"
22. SMOKEY DAY
(Rod Argent, Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 18 December 1968
Morgan Studios, Willesden Take 5
Epic LP 68262 - October 1973
Along with 'She Loves The Way They Love Her', another pre-Argent out-take, written by Chris and intended for the R.I.P. album. The flute was added by Mike Vickers.
Rod: "Mike loved 'Smokey Day', and I recall him raving about the chords in the middle eight, because they were all in fourths rather than thirds."
23. SHE LOVES THE WAY THEY LOVE HER
(Rod Argent, Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 16 December 1968
Trident Studios, Wardour Street, London
Take 8 with intra section Take 5
Epic LP 68262 - October 1973
This strong commercial number from the pen of Rod Argent demonstrated that he had lost none of his Zombies-era pop sensibility in the metamorphosis to Argent, Less than two years later the Argent personnel reprised a similar arrangement for Colin's One Year album, which also contained a lovely orchestral version of 'Smokey Day'.
Rod: "The inspiration behind 'She Loves The Way They Love Her' is nothing more than what's in the lyrics. It's just an image again, there's no story in it, I'm sorry to say!"
24. GIRL HELP ME
(Rod Argent, Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 1968 Morgan Studios, Willesden
(US) Back Trac P17703 1984
Two songs again from the nebulous pre-Argent 'Nexus' period, and unissued until the I980s. While Rod's 'I Could Spend The Day', with its subtle lift from Beethoven in the piano break, is an out-take from the 'Imagine The Swan' session - and therefore definitely features the future Argent line-up - 'Girl Help Me' dates from earlier in the year and may feature different personnel. Both were included in the line up for the R.I.P. album.
25. I COULD SPEND THE DAY
(Rod Argent, Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 18 December 1968 Morgan Studios. Willesden Take 14
(US) Back Trac PI7703 1984
Jim Rodford: "Those sessions were held fairly soon after we got together. We were trying to get the band tight live and make itself into a unit that could get something done in the studio, rather than go straight in cold to record. It was always this thing about how everything should be live, first of all. We weren't thinking so much about songs for ourselves to record at that point, so we had time to get to know each other in the studio by working on stuff for another project. It does seem cut and dried that that was what happened then. We all wanted to get on with the main project, but obviously were under a bit of pressure to get the stuff down for another Zombies' album. It was a fun period because it was my first extended period in the studio, and I thoroughly enjoyed it."
26. A ROSE FOR EMILY
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded I June & 10 July 1967
EMI Abbey Road No 3 Take 5 reduction of Take 3
Previously unissued alternative version
Examination of the Odessey session tapes reveals a supporting cello part to ‘A Rose For Emily' that was included in some initial mixes but eventually discarded.
Chris: "Rod wrote the cello part but it was a session man that actually played. It was dropped because it sounded too 'Disney'!"
27. THIS WILL BE OUR YEAR
(Chris White) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Recorded 2 June 1967
EM! Abbey Road No 3 Take 4
Previously unissued stereo mix
28 TIME OF THE SEASON US Radio Spot
(Rod Argent) Verulam Music Co Ltd
Previously unissued
As mentioned above, every stereo issue of Odessey & Oracle has carried a reprocessed 'mock stereo' version of this song. With access to the original multi-track, we present a true stereo mix, minus the brass overdub.
