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The original line up: Colin Blunstone (lead vocals), Rod Argent (organ), Paul Atkinson (guitar), Chris White (bass) and Hugh Grundy (drums) met at school and started playing locally at Rugby clubs in their hometown. Early in their career the band were invited to play in a battle of the bands competition hosted by London Evening News which they went onto win, eventually scoring a record deal with Decca Records. Here they released their first chart success with “She’s Not There” in 1964 which peaked in the charts at number 12. Later that year it was released in the US and achieved similar success proving popular on many radio stations.
Following in the footsteps of the British invasion, the band embarked on their first US trip as they promoted the new single release by playing up to seven performances a day. It was their injection of jazz and Blunstone’s distinctive raspy vocals which made them stand out in the current trend of British rock music which was lapped up across the pond. In 1965 The Zombies made their debut US television appearance on the show Hullabaloo performing the hit single “She’s Not There” in front of an audience of screaming teenage girls, hysteria had definitely set in.
With the US market embracing the band, they released their next single “Tell Her No” which peaked in the US charts at number six but failed to reach the top 40 in their homeland. In 1965 The Zombies released their debut album “Begin Here” which contained a mixture of original and classic R&B covers.
In 1967 the band signed to CBS Records with whom they recorded the follow up album “Odessey and Oracle” released the following year. With the album being recorded on a tight budget and time frame, tensions were high in the band during the recording process as disagreements arose regarding creative differences. So much so that the band called it quits before the album was even released. The album only received a US release and despite no longer being a functioning band, the single “Time of the Season” went to number three on the Billboard charts in 1969.
Following the split of The Zombies, Rob Argent pursued his own project called Argent in 1968 with Chris White joining him as principal songwriter. While Colin Blunstone embarked on a solo career, Paul Atkinson and Hugh Grundy stepped out of the spotlight working behind the scenes with Columbia Records.
In 1990 the band briefly reformed with Blunstone, Grundy and White to record the 1991 album “New World” alongside Argent and Atkinson and featured several guests on guitar. In 1997 The Zombies released their ultimate greatest hits compilation “Zombie Heaven” featuring a staggering 120 tracks which included some previously unreleased material. To promote its release, the band joined Blunstone at his solo performance at London’s Jazz Café to perform their hit singles “She’s Not Here” and “Time of the Season”.
In honour of the 40th anniversary of the album “Odessey and Oracle” the surviving members Blunstone and Argent accompanied by Keith Airey and Jim and Steve Rodford, the band performed three nights at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2008 which was recorded and released as a live DVD.
The band continue to tour the US, Canada and Europe annually and in their prolific career have influenced the likes of Super Furry Animals, Badly Drawn Boys and Arctic Monkeys.
Críticas en vivo
The Zombies perhaps deliver one of the most sophisticated performances out there today, playing each tune in their setlist with a delicate yet captivating delivery.
Lead vocalist, Colin Blunstone, proves himself to be a true gentleman with his well-kept appearance wearing a suit on stage and politely complimenting the great qualities of his band members. Blunstone’s voice also carries a gentle, serene quality that is hauntingly beautiful and adds a great depth to each song. This can clearly be depicted in the song “A Rose for Emily”, which might leave a tear in the audience’s eye after hearing Blunstone’s angelic voice. However the most defining aspect of the Zombies’ sound might be Rod Argent’s keyboard playing. Argent uses the keyboards and organ to create various sounds, which helped define the Zombies unique blend of styles ranging from psychedelic, jazz, and baroque pop. The organ solo in “Time of the Season” might be one of the most pristinely presented organ solos in musical history.
The audience at the Zombies’ concert had a great time dancing to hits such as “Tell Her No” and She’s Not There”, and the crowd nearly went into a full fledged freak-out when “Time of the Season” was performed. The other members in the band also accommodated Rod Argent at the show by performing songs from his other band, Argent, which included a performance of the song “Hold Your Head Up” with the audience enthusiastically singing the chorus word for word. The setlist also consisted of quite a few songs off the critically revered album, Odessey and Oracle, which Rolling Stone magazine has included on its list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and Rod Argent was sure to inform the audience how David Grohl from the Foo Fighters stated that it was his favorite album of all time. The Zombies are seasoned professionals that know how to entertain a crowd and play their music with great precision and enthusiasm. Everyone in the band always seemed to be having a good time when on stage and always acted courteously and graciously towards the audience, who accepted their warm personality and delightful music with great enthusiasm.
wjmcc
The Zombies concert last evening at the Danforth Music Hall was truly outstanding. Divided into two sets, Set 1 was the current Zombies touring band featuring Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Jim Rodford, Steve Rodford, and Tom Toomey. They played the gamut - with cuts from their very first album to the latest release, Still Got That Hunger. They even finished off the set with a Colin and Rod acoustic number - The Way I Feel Inside.
Set 2, of course, was the classic Odessey and Oracle album, in its entirety. This set saw original band members Chris White and Hugh Grundy take the stage. They were supplemented with Darian Sahanaja from the Brian Wilson Band along with Vivienne Boucherat, Chris' wife. Steve and Jim participated in the second half as well.
All in all, it was a tremendous evening. The Toronto audience - a complete sell out - gave the band a number of extended standing ovations! I am sure this was extremely gratifying for the band and will hopefully mean more Toronto shows in the future.
The outstanding setlist is as follows:
Set 1
I Love You
I Want You Back Again
Moving On
Edge of the Rainbow
Tell Her No
You've Really Got a Hold on Me / Bring It On Home to Me
Road Runner
Just Out of Reach
Chasing the Past
Hold Your Head Up
She's Not There
The Way I Feel Inside (Acoustic)
Set 2 Odessey and Oracle
Care of Cell 44
A Rose for Emily
Maybe After He's Gone
Beechwood Park
Brief Candles
Hung Up on a Dream
Changes
I Want Her She Wants Me
This Will Be Our Year
Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)
Friends of Mine
Time of the Season
Encore
She's Not There
tom-tadman-1
My husband and I just saw The Zombies at The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, where we live. I have been a lifelong fan since the 60's. When the radio plays: Tell Her No, Time Of The Season, or She's Not There, I turn it way up. We are huge Argent fans and when they played Hold Your Head Up, it was so special to us! Colin Blunstone on vocals is always amazing. The harmonies with him, Rod Argent and the rest of the band were spot on...fantastic! Tom Toomey was smokin on guitar, would have liked to have heard more solos from him. Jim Rodford on bass and his son Steve on drums were solid and punchy and really drove the band. Besides their hits, the new stuff slso sounded great! We appreciate talented musicians because my husband is an accomplished pro-keyboardist who toured with Chick Corea, does sound design, producing, studio and live gigs. He led the band Aurora Borealis (jazz, rock, fusion) in L.A. in the 70's. As for myself, I was the original bassist/lead singer for the female band VIXEN from 1970 - 1983.
After so many years of admiration for The Zombies, it was a true pleasure to have seen them live. Keep rockin guys!!!
Gayle & Mitch DeMatoff
gayodem1953
The artful craft and lyrical and harmonic beauty of a record like Odessey & Oracle has never brought the phrase "consummate professional" to mind with me, but after the opening set by the Zombies circa 2015 I was impressed by Colin Blunstone's performance in every detail...and that phrase seemed apropos... The haunting tone which has mesmerized me since I first laid ears on "Time of the Season" as a wee lad - "20 Monster Hits" indeed! - was note perfect in the opening verse of the opening masterpiece single "I Love You" and shifted 2 gears up for the first turnaround "..and I don't know WHAT TO DO!!!". It truly blew me away!! He was never late, early, sharp or flat...unless he meant to be, and he didn't...the very picture of a sweet soul singer in control... and then there's Rod Argent...let's just say the Cap'n runs a tight ship all the while gettin' carried away...by the time band within a band "Argent's" greatest hit "Hold Your Head Up" led to set closer (and very first RECORDING by the band!!!!) "She's Not There" there was no doubt the audience was in for a treat... There were 2 more Zombies to come!!! (to be continued)
AnfieldWest
Wow. Age isn't holding these energetic icons back.
We saw them here in State College, PA about four years ago and we grabbed our tickets early to see them again last night - just great!!
The concert was SOLD OUT, State Theater was jam packed and the enthusiastic crowd LOVES The Zombies. The standing ovations were out of this world and the three encores were truly appreciated.
The new bass player is a fantastic player - and a terrific harmonist as well. But he really needs to turn down his bass volume, and Steve needs to come down a bit on the drums (or at least the cymbals) as Colin was getting blasted out so he just wasn't heard well enough. That was bugging me through the whole concert.
Also, I think the rhythm section needs to stop fooling around so much with each other and be more professional on stage like Rod, Colin and Tom.
Outside of those criticisms, great stuff! What a night!
I wish them all health, happiness and continued interest and endurance. We love you Zombies - always have!
JazzDoc
The Zombies were amazing-as soon as they walked on the stage the fans were up and out of their seats- The first song "I Love You " had us all singing along-Rod talked a little about the band's history and some of it was funny and precious #ColinBlunstone's vocals were fabulous-love the band's harmonies -The Zombies always have fresh new songs on their set list-"Colin sang "Going Out Of My Head" blow me out of my seat and their new album #Stillgotthathunger" is bloody brilliant
Hope the song "New York" becomes a New York tradition..#RodArgent knows the plus of the city we love!!!
The Zombies are a party band that doesn't quite!!! And they love their fans 8-D
http://youtu.be/Vn7lWvVyUfQ
caroline-ash
Went to the concert in Denver 9/2019. Loved that they started with Tell Her No to set up great anticipation for a great concert night. Only one original member (keyboards) started and finished the show. The lead singer was average, nothing special. Except for She's Not There (4th song) and Time of The Season (ending song), the music was mediocre. The original drummer and basest joined the group after She's Not There.
Overall, concert was okay but loved their 3 big hits.
The Zombies were terrific last night in Massapequa NY!!! Not only did they play the old standards but also songs from a more recent album from about 2 years ago sounded really great and they are working on a new record as well. I learned a little about them, two of the guys formed the group Argent and they played some of their songs too as well as a song Colin did with The Alan Parsons project. It was a great night, nice cool breeze along with some cool music!
dorothy-a-turso-gree
This show was INCREDIBLE! Intimate venue, great acoustics.
I have to say Colin and Rod still sound amazing and Rod may be one of the best keyboard players I've ever seen.
They did a great job giving you a short story behind the songs and music and they did an amazing job in wanting to hit every note as they did back in the 60's.
The show was done right and anyone who goes to see it won't be disappointed.
justin-shepherd-2
The weather was unexpectedly much colder than I expected, but my heart was warm with having a lifelong dream fulfilled. So happy to see the Zombies perform for the very first time. It was unforgettable. Thanks to the band for continuing their dream and for continuing to please their audiences. I'm grateful they're still alive and thriving, and I pray that continues for many years to come.
steven-kent-jolley
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