Jubilee Offer: Patriotic Classics for £2.50 |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Album Description
* Alongside "Sgt. Pepper" and "Pet Sounds", there is "Odessey & Oracle". A timeless classic that belatedly
attained the recognition it so thoroughly deserved. * And now, in 2007, it garners a fresh and massive batch of publicity as the track `Time Of The Season' features in the prolific TV ad' for Magners Irish Cider. * And here is a gorgeous cardboard facsimile of the original LP; the latest release in Big Beat's popular "Hip Pocket" series...
Product Description
1-SIDE ONE: 2-Care Of Cell 44 3-A Rose For Emily 4-Maybe After He's Gone 5-Beechwood Park 6-Brief Candles 7-Hung Up On A Dream 8-SIDE TWO: 9-Changes 10-I Want Her She Wants Me 11-This Will Be Our Year 12-Butchers Tale (Western Front 1914) 13-Friends Of Mine 14-Time Of The Season (2007/ACE) 12 tracks - papersleeve
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Zombies were not your standard, down-and-dirty, working-class rockers. They were a quintet of polite English schoolboys from the provincial town of St Albans, Hertfordshire, who turned professional aged 19.
Their crowning glory, recorded at the end of 1967, was Odessey and Oracle, probably the closest we have to a British 'Pet Sounds', the precision 3-part harmonies of lead singer Colin Blundstone and songwriters Rod Argent and Chris White forming the album's distinctive sound. Every track is an unforgetable gem - from the tweeness of 'Friends of Mine' to White's mournful vocal on the haunting 'Butchers Tale'; from the pure pop balladry of 'This Will Be Our Year' to the psychedlic period-piece 'Beechwood Park'. And, of course, we mustn't forget the monster hit single 'Time Of The Season'. No wall of sound or wailing guitar solos here - just crafted pop at its very very best.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Many bands (the Beatles, the Beach Boys) at least dabbled in psychedelica, but the Zombies are often overlooked. For the 30th anniversary of "Odessey and Oracles," the Zombies' best album was rereleased in a new form, proving that their enchanting psychedelic pop has aged exceeedingly well.
The Zombies were unusually good at taking perky, sweet, lush music and wrapping it around a more serious song, such as the upbeat "Care of Cell 44" (guy writing to his jailed girlfriend), or the lovely "A Rose For Emily," a poignant little song that tells of a lonely woman doomed to stay lonely. "And as the years go by/she will grow old and die/The roses in her garden fade away/Not one left for her grave..."
But the Zombies aren't all sadness wrapped in happy music. There are perky songs about being happy in love, losing a love and hoping she'll return, and reminiscing about "golden days and golden summer nights." The album ends on a reassuring note with the laid-back "Time of the Season," which sounds like the ultimate hippie anthem.
I have no memories of the 60s, since I was only born in the eighties. But "Odessey and Oracle" gives a rosy glow to that era,. Psychedelic flair minus the hazy, and every song is a gem. Though "Time of the Season" was the sleeper hit from the album, it's not the best or catchiest song on here -- it's just one of many excellent ones.
Rod Argent was definitely an outstanding songwriter. He was able to create atmospheric and beautiful songs with very simple writing ("Brief candles in her mind/bright and tiny gems of memory"). Perhaps his finest moment here is "I knew he when summer was her crown/and autumn sad/how brown her eyes," as a kick-off to a colorful look at a woman compared to all the seasons.
Colin Blunstone's vocals were well-suited to the music: a bit husky, quite pleasant and mellow. The music itself was generally based on guitar, gentle drums, pretty piano, and wavering Mellotron, with a bit of accordian coming in in one song. There's a rich interweaving of many instruments, in all sorts of pop music. Some is almost classical in tone, some is uptempo stuff that is perfect for the radio.
The Zombies were in peak form in "Odessey and Oracle," churning out some of the purest pop music ever. As sweet and exquisite as it was in the 1960s.
The Zombies were unusually good at taking perky, sweet, lush music and wrapping it around a more serious song, such as the upbeat "Care of Cell 44" (guy writing to his jailed girlfriend), or the lovely "A Rose For Emily," a poignant little song that tells of a lonely woman doomed to stay lonely. "And as the years go by/she will grow old and die/The roses in her garden fade away/Not one left for her grave..."
But the Zombies aren't all sadness wrapped in happy music. There are perky songs about being happy in love, losing a love and hoping she'll return, and reminiscing about "golden days and golden summer nights." The album ends on a reassuring note with the laid-back "Time of the Season," which sounds like the ultimate hippie anthem.
I have no memories of the 60s, since I was only born in the eighties. But "Odessey and Oracle" gives a rosy glow to that era,. Psychedelic flair minus the hazy, and every song is a gem. Though "Time of the Season" was the sleeper hit from the album, it's not the best or catchiest song on here -- it's just one of many excellent ones.
Rod Argent was definitely an outstanding songwriter. He was able to create atmospheric and beautiful songs with very simple writing ("Brief candles in her mind/bright and tiny gems of memory"). Perhaps his finest moment here is "I knew he when summer was her crown/and autumn sad/how brown her eyes," as a kick-off to a colorful look at a woman compared to all the seasons.
Colin Blunstone's vocals were well-suited to the music: a bit husky, quite pleasant and mellow. The music itself was generally based on guitar, gentle drums, pretty piano, and wavering Mellotron, with a bit of accordian coming in in one song. There's a rich interweaving of many instruments, in all sorts of pop music. Some is almost classical in tone, some is uptempo stuff that is perfect for the radio.
The Zombies were in peak form in "Odessey and Oracle," churning out some of the purest pop music ever. As sweet and exquisite as it was in the 1960s.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I can't enthuse about this enough since buying it last month! Odyssey and Oracle is a quite literally a revelation and worthy of all the british Pet Sounds hype! I can see why Paul Weller rates it so highly - sort of psychedelic folk rock but so catchy and poppy and not a bad track in twelve! Blunstone's plangent vocals and Argent's swirling organ and White's bounding bass the whole thing's a summer joy tinged with autumnal melancholy. A rose for Emily is as good as Eleanor Rigby and as moving, Beechwood park and Brief candles are incredible hymns to memory and loss and Time of the Season as a vintage slice of sixties psychedelia. These guys are up there with The Beatles and The Beach Boys let alone The Kinks and Small Faces who never made an album as good as this! I've run out of hyperbole for this wonderful life enhancing record and they came from the Ancient Roman hub of Britain St Albans! Buy this expanded edition ( unbelievably the 16 extra tracks are good too! ) and go and see 'em at Hammersmith at the end of the month play it live for the last time. Then you'll be playing it for the rest of your life - I know I will.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Psychedelia with A Levels
An album whose reputation seems to grow in stature with each passing year, even the (deliberately?) mis-spelt title has added to its mythology. Read more
Published 2 months ago by christopher grant
A superb album - but a word to the wise
Odessey & Oracle is a superb album, which I have owned since it was first released in 1968. Since its first release it has been re-issued many times, often with additional tracks,... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. A. Jones
One of the best
This is simply one of the best rock or pop albums ever made.
If you don't have it - buy it you won't regret it. Read more
If you don't have it - buy it you won't regret it. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Doug
Quality Vintage pop!
Vintage pop of the finest kind. Sadly overlooked gem from The Zombies. This release influenced a whole host of bands who came afterwards.
Published 21 months ago by K. Johnston
The Dead Never Sounded so Beautiful
A gorgeous, quietly joyous album. Hung up on a Dream and Beechwood Park are soaring, aching songs of shimmering delicacy. Read more
Published on 26 April 2009 by Emma Peel
One of Kenny's Favourites
This ranks as one of my most favourite albums which came to my attention via the un orthodox playlists of the late great Kenny Everett. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2009 by S. T. Garratt
Interesting but dated.
I thought that "Changes" was by far the best track on this album-it was haunting & like nothing I'd heard before,classic stuff! Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2009 by J. O. Connor
Just Why
Just why did it take so long for this album to become a classic with songs like Time Of The Season and This Will Be Our Year. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2008 by hunter
Not bad but slightly mechanical
This is a very well-crafted album by a very musically gifted band. But it seems to me that Odessey & Oracle is more about showing how musically smart and competent the Zombies are,... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2007 by Unsmart
dave grohl
dave grohl (nirvanna, foo fighters, QoSA) just declared this his favourite album of all time.
on BBC legends show he presented (sept'07)
so its 5 stars from... Read more
on BBC legends show he presented (sept'07)
so its 5 stars from... Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2007 by Neil Costigan
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
![original ALBUM classics [2010]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Wnn%2Bd4-oL._AA60_.jpg)
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
