Odessey and Oracle
Encyclopedia
Odessey and Oracle is the third studio album by British pop rock
band The Zombies
, released on 19 April 1968 by Date Records
. It is among the most critically acclaimed albums of popular music.
label. While their first album included several cover version
s, Odessey consisted entirely of original compositions by Rod Argent
and Chris White
.
The group began work on the album in June 1967. Nine of the twelve songs were recorded at EMI
's Abbey Road Studios
, where earlier in the year The Beatles
had recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
and Pink Floyd
recorded The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
. This was the first time Abbey Road would be used for an independently produced (non-EMI) release.
In August, when Abbey Road was unavailable, The Zombies temporarily shifted base to Olympic Studios where they recorded "Beechwood Park", "Maybe After He's Gone", and "I Want Her She Wants Me". They returned to Abbey Road Studios in September. The sessions ended in November and the final two tracks to be recorded were "Time of the Season" and "Changes".
By then, morale within the band was at a low point. Two singles, "Care of Cell 44
" and "Friends of Mine", had been released to total indifference. Colin Blunstone
and Paul Atkinson
felt disillusioned and tempers flared during the recording of "Time of the Season". Blunstone wasn't at all keen on the song written by Argent, who insisted Colin sing it a certain way. Colin's patience snapped and he effectively told Argent to sing it himself. To everyone's relief, Blunstone finally sang the vocal as required. Little did they realize the song would become an enduring rock classic.
The album was recorded using a Studer four track machine — the same type of tape machine used on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
— and was mixed down in stereo using an experimental transistor console at EMI Studios in 1967.
Argent and White mixed the album down into mono, but when they handed the master to CBS, they were informed that a stereo mix was required. The recording budget having been spent, Argent and White were forced to dip into their songwriting royalties in order to pay for the time and resources needed to create the stereo mix. Unfortunately, this was the last straw for Paul Atkinson and Colin Blunstone, who quit and effectively split up the band. The stereo mix was completed on January 1, 1968, but by then the Zombies were no more.
One major problem arose when it came time to mix "This Will Be Our Year" into stereo. Zombies original producer Ken Jones had dubbed live horn parts directly onto a mono mixdown. With the horns not having been recorded on the multi-track beforehand, a faked stereo mix had to be made of the mono master, and it wasn't until the 1997 Zombie Heaven boxset that it was finally given a stereo mix, albeit minus the horns. This was made possible because The Zombies owned the multi track masters, which are in the possession of Chris White.
Because the album was recorded to a tight budget and deadline, The Zombies worked quickly in the studio, having rehearsed rigorously beforehand. This meant that there would be no outtakes or unused songs recorded during the sessions. Cello and Mellotron parts were added to "A Rose for Emily" but discarded at the final mixing stage. Alternate mixes of that song featuring the discarded overdubs can be heard on Zombie Heaven and the 30th anniversary release of the album.
Odessey and Oracle was released in the UK on April 19, 1968 and in the United States in June. The single "Time of the Season" became a surprise hit in early 1969, and Columbia Records
(in the United States) re-released Odessey in February, with a different album cover that severely cropped the original artwork.
American CBS boss Clive Davis initially decided not to release the album. However, at the urging of staff producer Al Kooper
, the U.S. CBS/Columbia Records label was eventually persuaded to release the album on their small Date Records
subsidiary label. Kooper had picked up a copy of the album during a trip to London and, when he returned to America and played the album, loved it and believed it contained three hit singles. CBS chose to release "Butcher's Tale" as the first single in the States, feeling the song's anti-war theme would resonate with record-buyers due to the Vietnam War
. After its release, "Time of the Season" slowly gained popularity before finally hitting big on the US charts in 1969, by which time Rod Argent and Chris White were busy with their new band, Argent
.
The first song on the album, "Care of Cell 44", has been covered by a number of artists including Elliott Smith
and Of Montreal
.
Velvet Crush
's singles compilation, A Single Odessey, is misspelled in emulation of the Zombies' album.
, his son Steve Rodford on drums and Keith Airey on guitar. They performed various songs from the album, but to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release, in March 2008, Chris White and Hugh Grundy returned to perform three shows at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London during which they performed Odessey and Oracle in its entirety with assistance from Darian Sahanaja
and various friends. Paul Atkinson had died in 2004 so Keith Airey took his place.
The original 5 piece line up had reformed briefly in 1997 for the launch party of the Zombie Heaven boxset. Held in London's Jazz Café
, they performed "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season". There was one final reunion in 2004 at a benefit gig for Paul Atkinson and though Paul was very ill, he insisted on performing with them. The 2008 shows were the first time Argent, Blunstone, White and Grundy performed to the British public as a unit since the split back in December 1967.
The Zombies were insistent on being as authentic as possible, hence the extra singers, Darian filling in keyboard and mellotron
parts via use of a Memotron
and Argent himself played an original Mellotron on a couple of numbers. Argent also tracked down a Victorian Pump Organ dating from 1896 so they could recreate White's Butcher's Tale, the original organ having long since been given away or sold by Chris.
The concerts were sell outs and critically acclaimed. One of the shows was recorded and filmed and are now available on CD and DVD as Odessey and Oracle (Revisited). The reunion was so successful that they decided to reprise the show on a short 4 date British tour in April 2009, playing in Glasgow, Bristol, Manchester and ending on April 25 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London which Argent stated would be the very last time the album would be performed on stage.
placed Odessey in 80th place on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In addition it has appeared on a number of greatest albums lists:
's The Tempest.
The famous misspelling of "odyssey
" in the title was the result of a mistake by the designer of the LP cover, Terry Quirk (who was the flatmate of bass player Chris White). The band tried to cover this up at the time of release by claiming the misspelling was intentional.
Production notes:
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
band The Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
, released on 19 April 1968 by Date Records
Date Records
Date Records was a sub-label of Columbia Records which had two different incarnations. The first incarnation was a short-lived rockabilly label in 1958 which included a release by Billy "Crash" Craddock...
. It is among the most critically acclaimed albums of popular music.
Album information
Odessey and Oracle was recorded in 1967 after the Zombies signed to the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
label. While their first album included several cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s, Odessey consisted entirely of original compositions by Rod Argent
Rod Argent
Rod Argent is an English rock musician and a founding member of the 1960s English pop group The Zombies and the 1970s band Argent....
and Chris White
Chris White (musician)
Chris White was the bass guitarist and songwriter with the 60s British Invasion band The Zombies.Although born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, he was brought up in Markyate where his parents owned a village shop...
.
The group began work on the album in June 1967. Nine of the twelve songs were recorded at EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
's Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
, where earlier in the year The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
had recorded Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
and Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
recorded The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut album by the English rock group Pink Floyd, and the only one made under founding member Syd Barrett's leadership. The album contains whimsical lyrics about space, scarecrows, gnomes, bicycles and fairy tales, along with psychedelic instrumental songs...
. This was the first time Abbey Road would be used for an independently produced (non-EMI) release.
In August, when Abbey Road was unavailable, The Zombies temporarily shifted base to Olympic Studios where they recorded "Beechwood Park", "Maybe After He's Gone", and "I Want Her She Wants Me". They returned to Abbey Road Studios in September. The sessions ended in November and the final two tracks to be recorded were "Time of the Season" and "Changes".
By then, morale within the band was at a low point. Two singles, "Care of Cell 44
Care of Cell 44
"Care of Cell 44" is a single by The Zombies, from their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle. It was featured on Pitchfork Media's 200 Best Songs of the 1960s list, and has since been covered by modern artists including Elliott Smith and Of Montreal.-Content:...
" and "Friends of Mine", had been released to total indifference. Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone
Colin Blunstone is an English pop singer-songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group The Zombies, and for his participation on various albums with The Alan Parsons Project.-Biography:...
and Paul Atkinson
Paul Atkinson
Paul Atkinson was a 17th and 18th Century English Roman Catholic who is viewed as a martyr.One of the notable confessors of the English Church during the age which succeeded the persecution of blood. Having been condemned to perpetual imprisonment for his priesthood, about the year 1699, he died in...
felt disillusioned and tempers flared during the recording of "Time of the Season". Blunstone wasn't at all keen on the song written by Argent, who insisted Colin sing it a certain way. Colin's patience snapped and he effectively told Argent to sing it himself. To everyone's relief, Blunstone finally sang the vocal as required. Little did they realize the song would become an enduring rock classic.
The album was recorded using a Studer four track machine — the same type of tape machine used on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
— and was mixed down in stereo using an experimental transistor console at EMI Studios in 1967.
Argent and White mixed the album down into mono, but when they handed the master to CBS, they were informed that a stereo mix was required. The recording budget having been spent, Argent and White were forced to dip into their songwriting royalties in order to pay for the time and resources needed to create the stereo mix. Unfortunately, this was the last straw for Paul Atkinson and Colin Blunstone, who quit and effectively split up the band. The stereo mix was completed on January 1, 1968, but by then the Zombies were no more.
One major problem arose when it came time to mix "This Will Be Our Year" into stereo. Zombies original producer Ken Jones had dubbed live horn parts directly onto a mono mixdown. With the horns not having been recorded on the multi-track beforehand, a faked stereo mix had to be made of the mono master, and it wasn't until the 1997 Zombie Heaven boxset that it was finally given a stereo mix, albeit minus the horns. This was made possible because The Zombies owned the multi track masters, which are in the possession of Chris White.
Because the album was recorded to a tight budget and deadline, The Zombies worked quickly in the studio, having rehearsed rigorously beforehand. This meant that there would be no outtakes or unused songs recorded during the sessions. Cello and Mellotron parts were added to "A Rose for Emily" but discarded at the final mixing stage. Alternate mixes of that song featuring the discarded overdubs can be heard on Zombie Heaven and the 30th anniversary release of the album.
Odessey and Oracle was released in the UK on April 19, 1968 and in the United States in June. The single "Time of the Season" became a surprise hit in early 1969, and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
(in the United States) re-released Odessey in February, with a different album cover that severely cropped the original artwork.
American CBS boss Clive Davis initially decided not to release the album. However, at the urging of staff producer Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
, the U.S. CBS/Columbia Records label was eventually persuaded to release the album on their small Date Records
Date Records
Date Records was a sub-label of Columbia Records which had two different incarnations. The first incarnation was a short-lived rockabilly label in 1958 which included a release by Billy "Crash" Craddock...
subsidiary label. Kooper had picked up a copy of the album during a trip to London and, when he returned to America and played the album, loved it and believed it contained three hit singles. CBS chose to release "Butcher's Tale" as the first single in the States, feeling the song's anti-war theme would resonate with record-buyers due to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. After its release, "Time of the Season" slowly gained popularity before finally hitting big on the US charts in 1969, by which time Rod Argent and Chris White were busy with their new band, Argent
Argent (band)
Argent are an English rock band founded in 1969 by keyboardist Rod Argent, formerly of The Zombies.-Career:The first three demos from Argent, recorded in the autumn of 1968 featured Mac MacLeod on bass guitar though he was not meant to become a member of the group.Original members of the band were...
.
The first song on the album, "Care of Cell 44", has been covered by a number of artists including Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
and Of Montreal
Of Montreal
Of Montreal is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. It was founded by frontman Kevin Barnes in 1996, named after a failed romance with a woman "of Montreal." The band is one of the bands of the Elephant 6 collective...
.
Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush
Velvet Crush is a power pop band from Rhode Island that achieved prominence in indie-rock circles in the early- and mid-1990s. The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and have continued to record, releasing their most recent album in 2004...
's singles compilation, A Single Odessey, is misspelled in emulation of the Zombies' album.
Track listing
Reunion performances
Because the band split before the album was released, they never performed any of the songs onstage. Colin Blunstone and Argent reunited in 2001 and over the next few years resurrected The Zombies as a recording and touring unit with ex-Argent bassist Jim RodfordJim Rodford
Jim Rodford is a musician who played with The Kinks, The Swinging Blue Jeans and was a founding member of Argent...
, his son Steve Rodford on drums and Keith Airey on guitar. They performed various songs from the album, but to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release, in March 2008, Chris White and Hugh Grundy returned to perform three shows at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London during which they performed Odessey and Oracle in its entirety with assistance from Darian Sahanaja
Darian Sahanaja
Darian Sahanaja is a singer, songwriter, and is currently playing in the Brian Wilson band with The Wondermints. He has also collaborated with numerous other artists in the genre of orchestral/underground pop, including Baby Lemonade, Wonderboy, Aimee Mann, Now People, Lisa Mychols and Donna Summer...
and various friends. Paul Atkinson had died in 2004 so Keith Airey took his place.
The original 5 piece line up had reformed briefly in 1997 for the launch party of the Zombie Heaven boxset. Held in London's Jazz Café
Jazz Café
The Jazz Café is a music venue in Parkway in Camden Town, London, England. It opened in 1990, in the former premises of Barclays Bank, and has been run by Mean Fiddler Music Group since 1992, now a subsidiary of the MAMA Group.-History:...
, they performed "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season". There was one final reunion in 2004 at a benefit gig for Paul Atkinson and though Paul was very ill, he insisted on performing with them. The 2008 shows were the first time Argent, Blunstone, White and Grundy performed to the British public as a unit since the split back in December 1967.
The Zombies were insistent on being as authentic as possible, hence the extra singers, Darian filling in keyboard and mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
parts via use of a Memotron
Memotron
The memotron is a virtual mellotron, based on digitized samples from the original keyboard's sounds,manufactured by Manikin Electronic. It is used by Jordan Rudess in many shows with Dream Theater....
and Argent himself played an original Mellotron on a couple of numbers. Argent also tracked down a Victorian Pump Organ dating from 1896 so they could recreate White's Butcher's Tale, the original organ having long since been given away or sold by Chris.
The concerts were sell outs and critically acclaimed. One of the shows was recorded and filmed and are now available on CD and DVD as Odessey and Oracle (Revisited). The reunion was so successful that they decided to reprise the show on a short 4 date British tour in April 2009, playing in Glasgow, Bristol, Manchester and ending on April 25 at the Hammersmith Apollo in London which Argent stated would be the very last time the album would be performed on stage.
Reception
In 2003, Rolling StoneRolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
placed Odessey in 80th place on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In addition it has appeared on a number of greatest albums lists:
- StylusStylus MagazineStylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
magazine selected it as #196 on their 200 Favorite Albums list. - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
placed it at #77 on their "Alternative Top Albums Ever" list. - MojoMojo (magazine)MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
magazine named it the 97th greatest album ever made. - NMENMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
placed it at #32 on their list. - QQ (magazine)Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine placed it at #51 on their list of the greatest British albums ever. - Rate Your MusicRate Your MusicRate Your Music is a metadata database where musical albums, EPs, singles, videos, bootlegs, and movies are rated and reviewed by users. This data is then used to generate recommendations for users and to create rated lists of albums...
consistently ranks Odessey in the top 50 on its constantly changing "Top Albums of All-time" list.
Album sleeve
The album sleeve contains a short text written by keyboard player Argent quoting William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Tempest.
The famous misspelling of "odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
" in the title was the result of a mistake by the designer of the LP cover, Terry Quirk (who was the flatmate of bass player Chris White). The band tried to cover this up at the time of release by claiming the misspelling was intentional.
Personnel
- Colin Blunstone – vocals
- Rod Argent – organ, piano, Mellotron, vocals (lead vocals on "I Want Her, She Wants Me")
- Paul Atkinson – guitar, vocals (on "Changes")
- Chris White – bass, vocals (lead vocals on "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" and one verse of "Brief Candles")
- Hugh Grundy – drums, vocals (on "Changes")
Production notes:
- Geoff EmerickGeoff EmerickGeoffrey Emerick is an English recording studio audio engineer, who is best known for his work with The Beatles' albums Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road...
– engineer - Peter Vince – engineer
- Jools DeVere – design
External links
- Odessey and Oracle on Last.fmLast.fmLast.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....