THE ZOMBIES
Odessey & Oracle Revisited - The 40th Anniversary Concert
(MVD Visual)

 

Sometime way back in 1968, the classic Zombies Lp Odessey & Oracle took center stage among rock and pop fans in the know. Really the first Zombies album to bring the group into the cutting edge, musical counter culture of the late '60s, the Odessey & Oracle album was championed by pop genius Al Kooper during his A&R days at Columbia Records. Upon returning from a trip to England, Kooper discovered the Zombies on import and the rest is history. As it turned out Odessey & Oracle was to be the last Zombies album featuring the original band. But lo and behold, in 2008 a reformed Zombies with Rod Argent, Chris White, singer Colin Blunstone, original drummer Hugh Grundy and friends reunited for Odessey & Oracle Revisited - The 40th Anniversary Concert. In the interview track of this live concert DVD on MVD visual, Argent and Blunstone go through a bunch of looking back on it what ifs, but the fact remains that while Odessey & Oracle might have ended the ‘60s for the Zombies, there’s no denying the greatness that magically occurred when Rod Argent and Russ Ballard formed Argent with Chris White and Jim Rodford, another player featured on this two hour DVD. Sure, when the Zombies ended and Argent began there was a noticeable loss of innocence everywhere signalling a sound change away from the ‘60s towards a sturdier rock fusion sound that Argent and Ballard and company so excelled in starting in 1970. Still as Rod and Colin postulate here with misty eyed reflections... if only Columbia had released “Time Of The Season” as the first single from Odessey & Oracle right after it came out in '68 it might have been a different ball game and the ‘60s might never have ended! Even so, Odessey & Oracle Revisited - The 40th Anniversary Concert offers a spectacular, reinvigorated, spot on performance of one of the greatest classic pop albums of the entire '60s decade. How cool is it to see none other than Al Kooper introducing The Zombies here in a truly ironic prologue to this truly mesmerizing show. Another amazing thing here is watching Brian Wilson / Wondermints keyboardist Darian Sahanaja joining the Zombies lineup and adding in those classic mellotron orchestration parts that really elevated the original Odessey & Oracle album. In addition to the DVD, there's also an excellent double CD companion set available, so audio buffs can truly hear how great the show was recorded. Not enough can be said about the original Zombies lineup and while the late, great guitarist Paul Atkinson (for whom this DVD is dedicated) sadly passed away in 2004, his guitar parts are neatly revived here by very gifted guitarist Keith Airey. This is one truly amazing live DVD, and is well worth the ticket down memory lane. www.SeeOfSound.com

 

 
   
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