"Indication"

Recently, I heard a clip of the beginning of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (quoted in Garth Hudson's improvisation "The Genetic Method"), and I realized that the final phrase in "Indication" has the same sort of musical vocabulary.

The bass register is something like this (played with a ritardando):

And here's the beginning of Bach's toccata:

[source]

In both, there's a diatonic descent followed by an accidental on the seventh degree of the scale (G# in the A minor of "Indication" and C# in the D minor of Bach's toccata).  This accidental is also at or near the end of the phrase and played with a longer note value than the preceding notes.

There's a definite similarity here, and Rod Argent sometimes mentions Bach (in the liner notes for Classically Speaking, he wrote, "And I've always loved Bach!" and in a 2009 BBC radio segment, he called Bach "without any question, the greatest musician who ever lived"), but of course, it's just speculation on my part that this is an instance of Bach's influence.

For what it's worth:  in the live version of "Hold Your Head Up" from the Zombies' concert at Abbey Road, Argent even plays part of the fugue that follows this toccata. 

"Indication"

I recently re-learned the opening organ part to "Indication" (and while I still might not be note-perfect, comparison with my old recordings shows that I'm more accurate than I used to be).  Last night, I was thinking about the song, and I realized that "ev'ry day and ev'ry night" in the lines "I don't want to be / Tied down ev'ry day and ev'ry night" is a merism.

"Indication" b/w "How We Were Before"

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According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (15 July 1966), the Zombies' "Indication" [edited down] b/w "How We Were Before" (Parrot 45 - 3004) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"Indication" b/w "How We Were Before"

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According to both the Zombie Heaven liner notes and Russo's Collector's Guide, the Zombies' "Indication" b/w "How We Were Before" (Decca F.12426) was released in the U.K. fifty years ago to-day (17 June 1966).

"Indication"

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For the last couple days, I've been working on the guitar part in "Indication."  Previously, I knew only the five-note phrase at the end, but I've made a lot of progress.  I'm pretty sure on the chords, but the second half of the introductory phrase feels off.  I think it's entirely double- or triple-stops, but I can't figure them all out, so I have a couple single notes.

I also made a bit of progress in the opening organ part; I have the bass register now.

Recording Session

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According to The Decca Stereo Anthology liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (4 May 1966), the Zombies recorded "Indication," "I'll Call You Mine," "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself," and "She Does Everything for Me."

Unlike the previous Zombies sessions (all held at Studio No. 2 at Decca West Hampstead), these were recorded as Lansdowne Studio.

"Indication"

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Collection Audit:

The third (and final) thing I noticed while listening to the Zombies' The Decca Stereo Anthology is in the backing vocals in "Indication."  For the last line of the verses, the backing vocals have a consist descent.  For the first two verses, that melodic arc emphasizes the lyrics:  "Tied down every day and every night" and "I won't be the one to settle down."  Both have "down" in the line, and the melody descends.

Zombie Heaven

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I just listened to the first disc of Zombie Heaven for my Collection Audit project (which I'm nearly finished with, for this year at least), and I discovered some things:

1.  I'm pretty sure that "Don't Go Away" uses twelve-string guitar.  I'd thought it was just six-string.

2.  Back in May, I said that the guitar phrases at the end of "Indication" alternate between having glissandi and not having glissandi.  Yeah, that's not true.  There's only one glissando (in the second phrase), which is significant as it's the last phrase before the electric piano part comes in.

"Like Honey" and "Lula Lula"

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Way back in May 2012, I noted the similarities between the opening guitar figures for the Zombies' "Lula Lula" (on the New World album) and Argent's "Like Honey" (the first track on Argent).  (I'm actually sort of embarrassed about how insistent I was.  And I think I was wrong; everything I've found credits "Like Honey" to Argent and White.)  After learning both of them (both of the guitar parts at least), I discovered that they both start with an arpeggiated A minor.  Recently, I realized that both also contain chromatic phrases within the arpeggios.

In "Like Honey," the chromatic phrase is in that opening arpeggiated part.  While the higher notes mostly stay around A minor, the bottom note of the arpeggios goes from A to G to F# to F to E (incidentally, this phrase - A G F# F E - is also part of the bass line in the Zombies' "Indication").

"Lula Lula" is the opposite.  In the part after the opening, the bottom note goes up - from E to F to F# to G.

So, along with the same opening arpeggiated A minor, both songs have a chromatic figure from G to E.  One going up and one going down.

Falling Fifth

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I've been thinking about the pieces in the Zombies' repertoire that start with a falling fifth (because I recently learned that "Indication" also starts with a falling fifth).  I wrote a post about this a few months ago, but in it, I sort of imply that "I'll Call You Mine" is a Rod Argent song.  That's not the case; it was written by Chris White.  (Other songs that start with a falling fifth are "She's Not There" and "Hung up on a Dream.")

Still, it illustrates that their writing was pretty similar at times.  (Along with starting pieces with falling fifths, they both also used chromatic bass parts and really interesting relationships between bass parts and chords.)

"Indication"

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I'm fairly certain I've learned (at least a rough version of) the bass part for "Indication."  The first part felt empty, so I figured out a bit of the organ part.  The second half of what I play is wrong - there's chordal accompaniment instead of the diatonic descent, but whatever.

I hadn't noticed until now that the guitar part is articulated differently in alternating phrases.  Sometimes there's a glissando between the D and the E and sometimes there isn't.

Also, the second half of the bass part is really difficult because it's just a bunch of A notes for a whole minute.

"Indication"

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I'm figuring out the bass part for "Indication" (I think there's only one more part I need to figure out before I have at least a rough version), and I found something interesting.

I've noted before how Rod Argent likes to use two sequential half steps in his bass parts.  This occurs in "I'll Keep Trying," "Whenever You're Ready," and "She Loves The Way They Love Her" (and probably in some others too).  "Indication" has three sequential half steps.  G to F# to F to E.

It actually bears some resemblance to the bass part for "This Will Be Our Year," which is chromatic from A to E (A, G#, G, F#, F, E).  They're both in the same key too - A major.  Well, mostly A major; "This Will Be Our Year" has some unusual chords and also a key change to Bb (and I haven't figured out the chords for "Indication" yet, but what I know suggests A major).  "This Will Be Our Year" is a Chris White song, but there's still a fair bit of resemblance between the two, which I don't think I would have noticed had I not been learning the bass parts.

"Indication"

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I'm not sure if it was really worth it to record this.  It's just the guitar part for the second half, which is the same five-note guitar phrase twenty-one times.  I also know the very end of the electric piano part.

Also, I'm pretty sure that this guitar part is the earliest thing I ever figured out by the Zombies.  I found a notepad dated 21 March 2010 where I wrote down the tab.  This was back when I was obsessed with writing out the tabs for everything, which is something I hardly ever do anymore.

And, actually, I may be playing this an octave too low.