The zombies odessey and oracle album cover

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That said, the Latin flavor and breathy vocals are so “She’s Not There” that at times the song feels out-of-place on this album. White adopts an Everyman vocal style that gives the lyrics immediate credibility, and those lyrics cut straight to the gut as he reflects on the horror of a World War I battlefield:

A butcher yes that was my trade
But the king’s shilling is now my fee
A butcher I may as well have stayed
For the slaughter that I see

And the preacher in his pulpit
Sermon: “Go and fight, do what is right”
But he don’t have to hear these guns
And I’ll bet he sleeps at night

And I .

The use of mellotron colors things beautifully, and the vocal harmonies are on par with the Beach Boys. My dad’s copy of Odessey and Oracle has a horizontal slit on the upper left part of the cover, hence the term “cutout.” He considers it one of the greatest finds of his life, right up there with my mother, and always talks about both discoveries with beaming pride.

As he should.

On the other hand, one could easily argue that the three-part harmonies in the chorus most certainly fit with this most harmonic of records. The Olympic songs seem to have more of a natural echo effect, the kind you might hear in a small church. It may not be the most pleasant listening experience, but “Butcher’s Tale” is both moving and memorable.

The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle is one of those cult records that even cultists like me missed out on. I think it’s a great song, superbly performed, and one of the few romance songs that qualify as both sexy and sweet. One clear advantage The Zombies did have is Geoff Emerick and Peter Vince at the controls in the booth, using the same kind of 4-track tape machine Emerick had used for Sgt.

Rod Argent wrote these first two numbers, demonstrating his exceptional compositional range.

Remind me again—why did this album flop?

“Maybe After He’s Gone” is one of the three tunes recorded at Olympic Studios, and the different acoustics are quite noticeable. Two singles from the album failed to chart.

. The album, meanwhile, found its way to something called the “cutout bins,” the place in the record stores of the day where people like my father would spend hours flipping through stacks of obscure LPs that had become lonely orphans, victims of commercial indifference. The second time through you pay a bit more attention and find that the relationship is a bit more complicated:

Saved you the room you used to stay in every Sunday
The one that is warmed by sunshine every day
And we’ll get to know each other for a second time
And then you can tell me ’bout your prison stay .

It died along with the album. Due to the time and budget limitations, Odessey and Oracle was not as demanding an affair as Sgt. Help! Good stuff. Internal politics and the usual group tensions had put an end to one of the British invasion's most distinct acts. Its delicate, immaculately-crafted pop proved hugely influential on the next five decades of music.

Part of its legend is the cover, a painting done by Terry Quirk, a friend of Zombies bassist Chris White.

The blonde part of my brain is approaching overload!