Odessey and Oracle: 50 Years on

My friend Esteban writes for a publication called La Pop Life. The website is based in Mexico and their articles are in Spanish. If you’re a music lover and you know Spanish, the articles are great!

A lot of the music that’s covered on there is music that got you to this blog and what unites us all, classic rock, but there’s a bit of new too. Don’t just stay in the past, as nice as the music was back then. Branch out and explore. The best artists get out of their comfort zone and try new things and evolve.

I was a contributor to their retrospective article about Odessey and Oracle, The Zombies’ 1968 landmark album.

Here’s the original bit I wrote in English (I can read and understand Spanish, but expressing myself in Spanish isn’t my strength).

Thoughts on Odessey and Oracle:

I can’t believe it’s been 50 years since this legendary album was released. This album is on my list of perfect albums on my blog, The Diversity of Classic Rock. My only wish for this album is that I could have it on vinyl.

In good company: My perfect albums Pinterest Board

A perfect album is one of those albums that I can:

1. Play all the way through
2. Love every track, and
3. Not skip one.

Odessey and Oracle is easily one of my favourites of 1968 and all these qualities apply.

The first exposure I had to The Zombies was their debut hit single “She’s Not There”, off the aptly titled Begin Here. This song came out 30 years before I was born, but I have vivid memories of hearing it when I was starting to get into the wonderful music and popular culture of the 60s.

I watched a video with this song playing in the background with some footage of people in the 60s dancing and living life. I fell in love with Rod Argent’s organ playing and the group’s vocals. I had to hear more of the Zombies! But where to go next?

Memories of that time. I really did have 10,000+ subscribers!

When I was in the classic rock fandom on Tumblr, I found lots of fans of the Zombies and all of them were recommending their classic album Odessey and Oracle. I already knew the hit song and last track of the album, Time of the Season, but there’s so much more on that album that is worth listening to, and better than that hit single.

As a visual person, the first thing that catches my eye about the album is the colourful and psychedelic album cover. It’s a mix of old and new and I love the colour scheme. When you listen to this album, you can hear how far The Zombies have come in just a few years since their debut.

The best moments on this album in my opinion are “Care of Cell 44,” “Maybe After He’s Gone,” “Brief Candles”, “Hung Up on a Dream,” “Changes,” and “This Will Be Our Year.” The album is beautiful from beginning to end and if you haven’t heard it, you’re missing out on some of the best 35 minutes of your life.

It is a shame that The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has yet again snubbed The Zombies and they will not be inducted in the year that marks the 50^th anniversary of Odessey and Oracle, which would still be too late.

Fans would use the hashtag #ThisWillBeOurYear, but much to everyone’s dismay, the band didn’t make it. However, in our hearts, every year is a year to appreciate The Zombies. You can’t find albums like this anymore and that is what makes the 60s so special.