Last Night The Zombies @ the Triple Door 3/12/07
posted by on March 13 at 11:04 AM
The Zombies–they don’t look like this anymore.
The Zombies show at the Triple Door last night was a strange mix of wonderfulness and yawn-inducing boredom. The original members that play in the band, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone, were incredible.
Colin was like a little boy doing his pee-pee dance on stage–he looked really excited and they should have given him a tambourine to play with or something. He couldn’t stand still and every time he danced around he looked like a huge nerd, but it was adorable.
They opened with “I’ve Been Abused,” which may be my favorite Zombies song of all time. It’s such a good song for screaming along to, and the original recording has Blunstone wailing and angry. On stage, he didn’t seem to be able to hit the song’s high notes, which are what makes that song so powerful. It was a letdown, and we at first doubted that his singing ability remained, but he was able to hit the high notes in other songs. Maybe they just weren’t into rocking out in that angsty, teenage way?
Rod Argent was a completely different story altogether. He was full of that weird awkward baby boomer energy, and he kept running around the stage and shaking his old man fro as he would slide into a really intense organ solo. He and the bass player (who was extremely short and had a Pop-eye face) kept pointing in the air after every song. Is this something that rockin’ dudes did in the ’60s? Someone who is old(er) should fill me in.
Speaking of that bassist–all of the other players in the band were proficient, if noodley. The guitarist especially suffered from noodle syndrome. Apparently, he is the former tour guitarist for Tom Jones, and it felt like it.
All in all, I wish the Zombies played more Zombies songs instead of the songs Argent and Blunstone wrote for other people that became hits. Everyone was there (at $32 a head) to hear Zombies songs, and to sing along with them. When they did play the classics, like “A Rose for Emily,” the crowd shut up and danced in their seats. When they wandered around to other catalogues, the chatter rose. You’d think it would have been obvious.
This is exactly why I didn't go see thrm. I love the Zombies, but I have no desire to listen to 60-year olds rock, Blues or country? Sure.
Oddysey & Oracle is a great album and kind of a sad story. The production benefited because the Zombies were able to use the same studio and equipment the Beatles used when they were recording Sgt. Pepper. The sad part is the record company, Ode, fucked around for a year before releasing it and by then it seemed quaint next to Beggars Banquet and the White Album.
By the time O&O came out, the Zombies had broken up by then and Argent had already formed his own self-named band, who's only real hit was Hold Your Head Up, with it's wicked long organ solo.
Time of the Season didn't really become a hit until 1969, and then again in 1973 when a two record best of "Time of the Zombies" came out (I wore my copy out by the way).
I don't like being confronted with the reality that, for many artists, the whole late sixties psych thing was just a phase on their way to fake tans, muscle T's and 8 minute guitar solos. The Zombies need to go the Brian Wilson/Arthur Lee route - just play Odessey and Oracle in its entirety, note for note. With Chris White and sixties instruments, and a Mellotron.
I was there last night and I thought it was terrible, most of the time it felt like an Emerald Queen Casino show or something. They've got one of my favorite records in their pocket and they mostly ignored it. Colin Blunstone's voice sounded great though!
I'd be in for that, Colin won't be able to hit the high notes without a pitch shifter. A couple years ago Genesis released a box set of the Peter Gabriel years with a complete performance of their masterpiece, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Apparently Peter didn't like a couple of his vocal passages so he overdubbed them and he must have gone down a couple octaves. I have bootlegs of the show they used an it was totally unnecessary for the overdub.
I have the CD of Arthur Lee and the latest incarnation of Love doing all of Forever Changes, and The Pretty Things doing all of S.F. Sorrow (with Dave Gilmour as special guest) and they are every bit as good if not better as Brian Wilson's recent performances of Pet Sounds and Smile. Even the Who into the 90's were still able to do Tommy pretty well (even if it did lack Keith's manic drum beats).
Ari your's is the EXACT criticism I've heard re: Zombies since the boys started touring again. oh well. I still have yet to see 'em.
BTW. I saw Love @ EMP. BEST SHOW EVER.
Thanks for the reviews. "Pointing in the air"? Up? Thanking God like athletes after a good play?
I saw Love @ EMP. BEST SHOW EVER.
Arthur's voice was shot when I saw him in Cleveland on that tour. The music was fantastic, but poor Mr. Lee had lost most of his range.
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