ON THE TURNTABLE:The Zombies-“Odessey and Oracle” 1968

ON THE TURNTABLE:The Zombies-“Odessey and Oracle” 1968

North Vietnam and the Viet Cong troops launched the TET OFFENSIVE on The Lunar New Year, late January striking villages and towns throughout South Vietnam. The My Lai Massacre occurred March 16 but was not news until later that autumn, somehow it never made the news when it occurred but when it hit the news…

One morning, April 4, 1968 I was awaken to the news that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr , the Nobel Prize winner, was killed. Then, Robert Kennedy was assassinated. LBJ signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, USSR invades Czechoslovakia, and LBJ ends the “Rollin Thunder” bombing of North Vietnam. He also announces he will “not seek” another term for President. The BLACK POWER salute is seen during the Summer Olympics in Mexico, viewed throughout America and the world in “living color”.Students overtake Columbia University, Apollo 8 orbits the moon, and The Beatles release THE BEATLES aka as the White Album.

Strange how sometimes it takes months, maybe years before someone appreciates a good/great piece of music. That is the case with THE ZOMBIES “Odessey and Oracle”, complete with the misspelling of the word “odyssey” in the title and printed as such on the cover.

THE ZOMBIES, one of the original band of the BRITISH INVASION was a short lived group in The States, 1964-68 and basically a non-entity in their homeland. Their first American release(October 64) was “She’s Not There” b/w “You Make Me Feel So Good”, a 45 on PARROT RECORDS. It took a run (November 7-#22, November 14-#9, November 21-#5, November28-#4,December 5-#4, December 12-#2) to the top of the charts (#2) in BILLBOARD being bested by BOBBY VINTON’S “Mr. Lonely”. Also during the tune’s nine week run in the TOP TWENTY were the #1 hits “Do Wah Diddy”,”Baby Love”, Leader of The Pack”,Lorne Greene’s “Ringo”, “Come See About Me”,and “I Feel Fine”.

The ZOMBIES,like many other British hit makers, were sent to the States to promote their hit single. They appeared at the 1964 MURRAY THE K CHRISTMAS Shows at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre along with CHUCK JACKSON,BEN E.KING,THE DRIFTER,THE SHIRELLES, DICK AND DEE DEE, THE VIBRATIONS,DIONNE WARWICK,THE NASHVILLE TEENS AND THE HULLABALOOS. To THE ZOMBIES this was an amazing experience later chronicled on their 2015 “STILL GOT THE HUNGER” album in a song entitled “New York” which describes their welcome by others, particularly PATTI LABELE and all those wondrous nights of performing seven shows a day.

JANUARY 12, 1965, The Zombies appeared on the very first episode of NBC’s “Hullabaloo” where they performed “She’s Not There” and introduced the follow-up, “Tell Her No” (b/w “Leave Me Be” Parrot Records). Funny how I remember the aftermath of that show, trying to recreate the drum part for our next band rehearsal.

Two US hits and The Zombies basically disappear.Sure they had numerous releases but never hit the charts again whether it was at home in England or in the States. As a matter of fact “Tell He No” did not chart in the UK. FUN FACT:The word “No” is mentioned a total of 63 times in the lyrics of the song,count ‘em.

February of 1968 I hear a song on “CKLW- The Big 8” by a band called PEOPLE, the name of the song is “I Love You”. Released by Capitol Records I find it and buy it. It is not until months later that I discovered that that very single was written (Chris White) and recorded previously by The Zombies. To the utter dismay of the Zombies, this recording by PEOPLE climbs the American/Canadian charts. To make matters worse it was originally the b-side of PEOPLE’s single “Somebody Tell Me My Name. Some dj liked the b-side so he played it and…

Late 1967 the unsuccessful ZOMBIES,dropped by DECCA RECORDS, seek and receive a new contract with CBSRecords and are working on a self produced “second” album. They settle in EMI ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, using the same 4 track machine THE BEATLES employed a few months before on “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Some internal friction and disharmony causes huge rifts in the band and after finishing the album (December 1967) they disband. A few tunes released as singles bomb and CBS is reluctant to release the finished “Odessey and Oracle” until AL KOOPER, working for the label, convinced the bosses for a release in April 1968 under the DATE RECORDS subsidiary label. And just like the singles,it bombed.

Summer of 1968 at a record store on Wall Street, NYC, I see the poster for “O and O” with the phrase “THE ZOMBIES” printed boldly on it. I bought it then and there. When it first came out, to me, it was a delight, to others it was a bizarre strange record.”Care of Cell 44”, “A Rose for Emily”,”Beechwood Park”, “This Will Be Our Year” are all gems but that final track “Time Of The Season” was phenomenal.

March of 69, fifteen months after THE ZOMBIES break-up, one full year after their album bombs at home and abroad, the single release of “Time of the Season” soars up the American/Canadian charts, #1 in CASHBOX, #2 BILLBOARD “forcing” COLUMBIA RECORDS to re-release the album (under the Columbia Records label this time) however using a faulty cropped cover.(record collectors love this shit, we do).

Congratulations go to THE ZOMBIES for their induction into the Rock N Roll HALL OF FAME 2019.God knows they of all deserve some recognition. They are still performing, and as I wrote a few reviews of their performances “they are no oldies act”. Enjoy.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: CHAPTER 13: A CHANGE IS GONNA COME (1965)

It’s now 1965 and A CHANGE IS GONNA COME not only as a song but as a way of life in America, but first the song. Sam Cooke’s hit from that year inspired Bob Dylan to begin writing a more personal selection of tunes. Bob Dylan recorded BRING IT ALL BACK HOME over a two day period with one 8 hour session recording side one (the electric side), followed by the second day recording side 2 the acoustic side. When released this landmark album set the bar higher for all other artists. This his fifth LP was his first Top Ten (#6 BILLBOARD) album. The sheer audacity of Dylan to release an album without “fillers” was unique. Dylan challenged his past (folk) while confronting his future (electric). Other artists upon hearing this album were inspired and challenged at the very least to experiment more with their music.

NOTE: Sam Cooke’s debuted the song A CHANGE IS GONNA COME on THE TONIGHT SHOW, February 7, 1964. Received well that performance’s review was unfortunately lost in the press as The Beatles debuted on Ed Sullivan two nights later.

For me the memorable songs of 1965 including the entire Motown mega-roster of hits, the Rolling Stones HEART OF STONE (a “re-make of Otis Redding’s PAIN MY HEART) and of course the “most played single of all time” The Righteous Brothers YOU’VE LOST THAT  LOVING FEELING, a Phil Spector WALL OF SOUND song written by Brill Building’s team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Rumor has it that this tune(YLTLF) is a response to the heartaches expressed in The Four Tops BABY I NEED YOUR LOVIN. This Spector (label) record capitalized on a phrase “something beautiful is dying”. The actual recording clocks in at a whopping 3:45 but is falsely listed on the label as 3:05 in hopes of capturing the program directors attention of being only a “3 minute” song, the standard for the day.

My philosophy about listening to music has been to “listen eagerly, to sit in the stillness, the quietness of the space, so that you can hear only the music; that is the melody and the words. Simply rest in the presence of the music”. From the time of the white AM radio in the kitchen to the transistor I received for Christmas that is what I attempted to do.

In the beginning of the year prior to his inaugural address LBJ delivered the “State of the Union” thus declaring our time as” the great Society” . A few months later Grace Slick, her husband, and her brother-in-law would form a rock band in San Francisco using that same name. But were we truly a Great Society?

Our neighbors to the north, Canada, had recently changed their flag losing the Union Jack and adopting the Maple Leaf, a smack at the imperialistic past associated with Great Britain.

Promised as it was, the USA was running neck and neck with the USSR in the”space race”, the ultimate prize being to successfully land a man on the moon. To this end the USA purposely”crashed” Ranger B on the moon’s surface while it was photographing possible lunar landing sites.

In the far east the U.S. started bombing North Vietnam (Rolling Thunder), a deed that will continue for 3+ years. 3500 additional ground troops were sent, followed by doubling the draft quota from 17,000 to 35,000 soldiers per month. At home men started to burn their draft cards, later an act which would be classified as illegal. Civil rights activists clashed in Selma, Alabama leading LBJ to announce the basis for the Voting Rights Act of 65. The SDS (Students For A Democratic Society) marched  on Washington as “teach-ins” were being held at major universities.

The movie HELP is released featuring the song of the same name which  authored by John Lennon was meant as a true cry out for help. SATISFACTION by The Rolling Stones is Number One on the charts as Bob Dylan stuns the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival by plugging it. His 1965 release HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED yields the hit LIKE A ROLLING STONE.

The War on Poverty, another LBJ initiative a.k.a. the Social Security Act of 1965, offers Medicare and Medicaid, meanwhile the streets of Watts are burning.  The Beatles play SHEA STADIUM, the very first stadium show, to 55,600 screaming fans as TV audiences are preparing to view one of the worst programs ever made, MY MOTHER THE CAR. Not to be outdone by the Beatles, Pope Paul VI holds mass at Yankee Stadium. A few weeks later, a 25-year-old Catholic Worker Movement  member sets himself on fire at the United Nations.

RUBBER SOUL is released in December, for a total of four BEATLE albums in 1965.

November brought the GREAT BLACKOUT to the Northeast and Canada. We, The Great Society as proclaimed only a few months before by LBJ, yet I’m not too sure.

See you next time….Chapter14: SWEET SOUL MUSIC .Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com