Whilst there are few albums from the late sixties that I don’t admire in some way or another, there are even fewer that Idistinctly recall hearing for the first time. As that period yielded one of the finest musical harvests, most of what I heard was almost too much to really appreciate upon initial discovery. Yet some moments have pressed themselves whole like a dried flower into my memory. I know it was love at first hearing for the bucolicVillage Green Preservation Society, but I couldn’t tell you exactly when and how this love-struck, much the same forThe Piper At The Gates Of Dawn,Are You Experienced,Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake … Yet, the exact moment I heard The Zombies’Odessey And Oracle has remained with me, not only as a musical epiphany but also as a moment of sheer serenity. It was summer, the weather was bright and hopeful, there was promise in the air. And something had changed by the time the record finished …
It would have been enough if The Zombies only ever achieved the profound beauty of that album; creating at least two classic singles before it, and continuing to be both a live and recording act of both power and imagination, sweetens their afterlife even more.
The Zombies
In another life, The Zombies might have gone on to be bankers, art lecturers, English teachers, and anthropologists, or at least if you believe their early publicity. Much ado was made of their (supposedly) prodigious number of O Levels and promised, but deferred, university places. However, winning The Herts Beat Competition in May of 1964 changed this completely; not only had The Zombies garnered an impressive local reputation and a dedicated following, they’d won £250 and a recording contract. They were now just six months away from an American number one …
At least two of The Zombies came from musical backgrounds: keyboardist Rod Argent’s father had led The Les Argent Quartet and then Les Argent and his Rhythm Kings; meanwhile, Ted, the uncle of bassist Chris White, was a renowned saxophonist and composer, and White’s dad Harold had also played double bass in swing bands. It might not be surprising then that Argent and White would go on to be the chief songwriters for the band, although White was the last to join.
Rodney Terence Argent was born on 14 June 1945 to Les and Molly in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Molly was one of eight children, providing Argent with a large extended family that would also prove to be helpful in his career because cousin and bassist Jim Rodford was a vital influence and champion – he’d also go on to be a latter-day Zombie. It was at Rodford’s house that Argent heard Elvis Presley, sparking an interest in rock ‘n’ roll that would last a lifetime. Argent described it as ‘two and a half minutes of music that changed my life’. He first learnt the harmonica at around the age of seven before moving on to the piano, and although he took formal lessons as a child, his passion first fired when, by ear, he managed to work out ‘Swinging Shepherd Blues’ by the Canadian saxophonist Moe Koffman, discovering how to harmonise around triads in the process. Not
