Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London

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Collection Audit:

To-day I listened to Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent's Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London, and I noticed a couple things. 

"In My Mind a Miracle"

This is the first track on As Far As I Can See (which was the first album for which Blunstone and Argent used the Zombies moniker again).  I'd previously noticed the importance of sight in the lyrics, with lines like "No longer blind, I see because of you" and the hint at the classical blind seer, like Tiresias, (and the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle) with "In you I found my Odyssey and Oracle" (in the liner notes, they've finally fixed the spelling).  I'd noticed all of those visual things, but I'd neglected to notice the Latin root of "retrospect" in the line "The things that I've done in / Retrospect have caused me pain."  In Latin, spectare is the verb to look at. 

"Hold Your Head Up"

This is something that should have been obvious, but in the "Hold your head up" chant after the organ solo, "Hold your head" is all sung to one note (a D), but the "up" is sung to a higher note (an F), so there's an ascent in the music and the lyrics.  This feature is also in Argent's original (from All Together Now).

I noticed a couple things about Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London when I listened to it for my Collection Audit project.  I have a few more things, but I'm going to put those in a separate post to keep the tags a bit neater.

"I Love You"

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I just tried figuring out the guitar part for "I Love You."  So far, I have only the verses, but I noticed something interesting.  They're based on the chords A minor, Asus4, F major (7th?), and F major 6 (and E major).  Those same chords also make up an entire section in "Lula Lula" (from the New World album, which I think is too often neglected).  In "Lula Lula," the "Hold my hand..." sections are based on these same chords, but in a slightly different order.  "I Love You" has them as |: A minor / Asus4 / A minor :| |:F major / F major 6 / F major :|, and they're in almost the opposite order in "Lula Lula" -  |: Asus4 / A minor :| |: F major 6 / F major :|.

Both songs are - perhaps not surprisingly - in the same key (A minor) and written by Chris White.

"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.

In Deep

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Recently, I wrote about the Biblical references in a couple songs on Argent's In Deep.  I have more to say on those.

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I happened to read part of Matthew 6 again recently, and now I'm more convinced that it informed Ballard's "It's Only Money, Pt.1" and "It's Only Money, Pt. 2."  Previously, I'd noticed only the similarity between these sections:

It's not what's at the door
But the money you have in your soul

Keep it in your head
You won't take it with you when you're dead
Bear it in your mind
What good's a fortune left behind

Think of what you save
If you keep your money in a cave
But keep it in your mind
What good's a fortune left behind

and Matthew 6:19-21: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

That's as far as I read though.  Later, there's a part about money specifically:  "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money" (Matthew 6:24).

There's a similarity of views between Matthew 6:19-21 and the verses of the two parts of "It's Only Money," but now that I found money specifically mentioned a few verses later, I'm more convinced that Ballard was thinking of this chapter when he wrote these two songs.

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Coincidentally, two of the readings in church this week dealt with "Love your neighbor."  It's in "God Gave Rock and Roll to You," but I only recently realized that it's also Biblical.  In my original post about this, I cited Matthew 22:34-40, but the readings this week provided two more instances:

The Old Testament reading was Leviticus 19:9-18.  After many specific ways to love your neighbor as yourself, the phrase itself appears: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).

The Gospel reading was Luke 10:25-37, the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  A lawyer asks Jesus about the Law.  In turn, Jesus asks the lawyer how he would read it, and - in his response - the lawyer says, "You shall love... your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27).  Jesus then tells the Parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate how we can love our neighbor.

"Gotta Get a Hold of Myself"

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According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (12 July 1966), the Zombies performed "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself" on "Hippodrome" on CBS.  A few years ago, Reelin' in the Years posted color footage from the appearance:

"Andorra"

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I was going over the chords for "Andorra" last night, and I discovered that I had one wrong.  It's A major, not A minor.

I had my bass out because I was practicing the E major scale, so I figured I would have an-other go at trying to figure out the bass part.  When I listened to Ennismore for my Collection Audit project a couple months ago, I thought the bass part sounded pretty easy to figure out, but it proved more difficult than I expected.

I got it this time though… the verses at least.  The "Why do I tell you it's always the same…" sections are still giving me problems, especially because the bass part isn't consistent.  It's different when that section is repeated.

I was going over the chords because I was going to post them in two weeks, but after I recorded this, I discovered that there are fewer chords than I thought.  During those "Why do I tell you…" parts, there are no guitar chords, only tremolos.  Since I have all of the chords in my recording, I'm just going to post them now:

|: E minor / D major / G major / A major :|

I don't think I played it accurately last time I recorded this.  The chords are played on the off beats, with upward strums.  I played it only enough to record this, but it's quite a different way of playing guitar.

"Caroline Goodbye"

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I'm actually still a bit unsure of the F major 7th chord that alternates with the A major near the end of the verses, but that's just a question of whether it's a straight-forward major chord or a major 7th.  I'm pretty sure the final F chord is a major 7th because it doesn't really resolve.  Anyway, here's how I played the chords in this recording:

|: F major 7th / C major 7th :|
F major / C major
F major / Esus4 / E major
A major / A major 7th / A dominant 7th / D major
F major 7th / A major / F major 7th / A major

That whole section repeats, but the next time (with the guitar solo) it's different:

|: F major 7th / C major 7th :|
A major / A major 7th / A dominant 7th / D major
|: F major 7th / A major :| F major 7th

Also, I learned one of the string parts, but since I don't have a violin, I had to use one of the fake string settings on my keyboard.

"I Love You"

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To-day in 1965, the Zombies recorded "Don't Cry for Me," "How We Were Before," "I Know She Will," "I Love You," and "If It Don't Work Out."  Except for "I Love You," my recordings of what I know of these are up-to-date, so here's my updated version of "I Love You."  When I listened to the I Love You album last month, I discovered that some of the vocal lines are doubled on organ, which is one of the two major differences between this and my earlier recordings.

Some of the mixes on I Love You are stereo mixes, but they're different stereo mixes from those on The Decca Stereo Anthology.  Or at least, the mixes of "I Love You" are different.  In the mix on I Love You, the drums and bass are panned left, and the guitar and keyboards are panned right (the bass is audible in the right channel too).  In the mix on The Decca Stereo Anthology, it's almost reversed:  the drums, bass, and electric piano are panned right, and the guitar and organ are panned left.  (The I Love You mix is also a lot louder.)  In this case, the mixes aren't that different, but sometimes having different mixes makes it easier to pick out a part.  It might be more isolated in one mix where in an-other, it's obscured by other parts.

The second major difference is that I learned the rest of the bass part.  I'd been stuck on the part during the solo, which - in the typical Zombie fashion - is more involved than it is during the verses.  I'm a bit unsure of some of those notes though (and some of the electric piano notes too).

This Is a Piano

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To-day's Jim Rodford's birthday, so I thought I'd finally write a post about something relevant and interesting I noticed.

A really long time ago (maybe six or seven years ago), I found some photos from one of the Odessey and Oracle sessions on Rod Argent's website (which has since been redesigned, so I don't think the pictures are there anymore, but I found them again on the Rex website).  One of the pictures is Chris White with a Fender Precision bass on which is painted (I'm assuming by White himself) "This is a piano" and "This way up":

A couple years later, I found some videos of Argent miming to "Hold Your Head Up" on television shows, and Jim Rodford was playing this same bass:

In the other television appearance, there isn't a good wide shot of Rodford himself.  Here's the whole band:

And some close-ups of the "This is a piano" bass:

So, apparently, sometime between that Odessey and Oracle session in 1967 and these television appearances in 1972, Chris White gave Jim Rodford the "This is a piano" bass.

I'd really love to know more about this bass.  Why was "This is a piano" painted on it in the first place, does Rodford still have it now, and what other songs were recorded with it?

"Caroline Goodbye"

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I'm going to post the chords for "Caroline Goodbye" next week, and I was reviewing them so I could draft a post and get a head-start.  I don't even remember the order in which this happened now, but I discovered I had two chords wrong (they're F majors instead of D majors) and ended up learning one of the string parts.  (One of the notes in the string part [an F] conflicted with the D major chord I was playing.)

That error alone is probably enough to justify my recording it again, but the string part certainly makes it worth it.  So, next Sunday: a new recording of "Caroline Goodbye" (with revised guitar chords and new string part) and the chords.

"This Will Be Our Year"

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I knew I was going to post the chords for "This Will Be Our Year" to-day, but a couple days ago, I was thinking about the bass part and realized that it's almost entirely quarter notes (there are a couple half notes and a triplet phrase).  So I notated that too, during which I found that I had a couple notes wrong in how I'd been playing it, although still - as always - there's no guarantee that this is correct (but I think it is):

The four in the first measure indicates the four measures of rest during the piano introduction.  I put the guitar chords above the bass part, but here they are typed out too:

|: A major / C# minor / A dominant 7 / D major
F major / E major / D major / A major :|

B major / D minor / A major
B major / D minor / D major / E major

|: A major / C# minor / A dominant 7 / D major
F major / E major / D major / A major :|

~key change~

|: Bb major / D minor / Bb dominant 7 / Eb major
Gb major / F major / Eb major / Bb major :|

C major / Eb minor / Bb major
C major / Eb minor / Eb major / F major

|: Bb major / D minor / Bb dominant 7 / Eb major
Gb major / F major / Eb major / Bb major :|

I should note that I found most of these chords something like seven years ago when I was first learning how to play piano.  I changed some to make them more accurate (what I originally found was rife with 7th chords, and I think there's only one [two, if you count the key change]).

"Smooth Operation"

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I listened to Journey two days ago, and the glockenspiel (I think it's glockenspiel) part that doubles some of the vocal lines (with some variation in rhythm) in "Smooth Operation" sounded like it would be pretty easy to figure out, so I did that.  Because I know that, I think the song is either in Bb major or G minor.

The part is entirely quarter notes (where the vocals have a more complex rhythm), so I notated it too:

I used the (fake) glockenspiel setting on my keyboard, which I've used before and am always dissatisfied with.  I'd like to get an actual glockenspiel at some point, but getting a flute is my top priority right now.