Francais | English | Espanõl

The Zombies

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
For the undead creature of Vodun lore, see zombie.


The Zombies <tr style="text-align: center;"><td colspan="3">Image:The zombies.jpg
</td></tr>
Background information

<tr><td>Origin</td><td colspan="2">St. Albans, England</td></tr><tr><td>Genre(s)</td><td colspan="2">Pop
Psychedelic pop
British Invasion</td></tr><tr><td>Years active</td><td colspan="2">1961 - 1967</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-right: 1em;">Label(s)</td><td colspan="2">Decca Records
CBS Records</td></tr><tr><td textalign="top" style="padding-right: 1em;">Associated
acts</td><td colspan="2">Argent</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #b0c4de;" colspan="3">Members</th></tr><tr><td style="text-align: center;" colspan="3">Rod Argent
Paul Atkinson
Colin Blunstone
Chris White
Hugh Grundy</td></tr>

The Zombies, formed in 1961 in St. Albans, were an English pop-rock band.

Led by Rod Argent on piano and Colin Blunstone on vocals, the band scored hits in the mid-1960s with "She's Not There," "Tell Her No," and "Time of the Season." Although they never rose to the prominence of other British invasion bands, The Zombies are a favourite of music critics for their complex musical arrangements and vocal harmonies. Their 1968 album Odessey and Oracle is now considered one of the best of its time.

Contents

[edit] Line-up

[edit] History

The group formed in 1961 in St Albans, England, and gained their initial reputation playing the Old Verulamians Rugby Club in that town. After winning a beat-group competition sponsored by the London Evening News, the Zombies signed to Decca and recorded their first hit, "She's Not There" (Argent's second song, written specifically for this session), which was released in mid-1964 and peaked at number 12 in the UK, where it would be their only Top 40 hit. The minor-key, jazz-tinged single was first played in the United States during the first week in August 1964 on New York City rock station WINS by Stan Z. Burns, who debuted the song on his daily noontime "Hot Spot" segment during which new songs were played. The tune began to catch on in early fall and eventually reached number two.

In 1965, "Tell Her No" became a huge seller in the United States, but had failed to make the Top 40 in the band's native United Kingdom. Although subsequent recordings such as "I Love You," "Indication," "Whenever You're Ready," and "Is This the Dream" were of uniformly high quality, none achieved the success of the previous two singles.

In 1967, the Zombies signed to CBS Records for one final LP, only the second of their career and the first one produced as a single unit. Their previous LP, Begin Here (1965), was a collection of early singles, half a dozen original songs combined with several R&B covers. The resulting album, Odessey and Oracle, was one of the very first to utilize a Mellotron keyboard, as the band's budget did not allow for the hiring of session musicians.

Odessey and Oracle By the time Odessey and Oracle was released in April 1968, the band had broken up. The album sold little, and was only released in the U.S. because musician Al Kooper vouched for it. An album track called "Time of the Season" was released as a single and later (1969) it became a huge hit when a DJ discovered it and put it in rotation. Since the group refused to re-form, various concocted groups tried to capitalize on the success and falsely toured under the band's name.

After The Zombies, Rod Argent formed a band called Argent, while Blunstone eventually launched a solo career. In 2003 Blunstone and Argent reunited to record and tour, and released an album in 2004 credited to the Zombies (As Far as I Can See...), which received generally poor reviews. A 120-track compilation of the original band's work, Zombie Heaven, was much better regarded.

Use of the Begin Here album track "The Way I Feel Inside" in the soundtrack to the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou has spurred on another generation to seek out and revive their music.

Many of their songs are used in the film Dear Wendy.

Guitarist Paul Atkinson died in Santa Monica, California, on April 1, 2004.

In 2006 the Zombies reformed and went on tour. Earlier in the year, one of the band's songs "This Will be Our Year," was featured in a Nike advertisement dedicated to Tiger Woods' late father.

[edit] Quotation

  • "Over the course of the ensuing decades, [The Zombies'] final album...Odessey and Oracle - a beautifully arranged, harmony drenched pristine pop paean to memory, the changing seasons, the passage of time and lost love - slowly began to be recognised as one of the greatest albums of the 1960s." New York Times, 1998

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Hit singles

  • "She's Not There" (1965) #12 UK, #2 U.S.
  • "Tell Her No" (1965) #42 UK, # 6 U.S.
  • "Time of the Season" (1969) #3 U.S.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

es:The Zombies fr:The Zombies ja:ゾンビーズ nl:The Zombies pt:The Zombies sv:The Zombies

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/The_Zombies"
Personal tools