"I've Always Had You"

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Two days ago, I figured out the guitar parts for Colin Blunstone's "I've Always Had You."  (Or, at least what I have is pretty close.)

There's actually some similarity between the picking pattern used here and that in "Maybe after He's Gone."

"I've Always Had You" uses:

|     x  x     x  x

|     x  x     x  x

|   x        x

| x        x  

Where "Maybe after He's Gone" has:

|     x     x   x

|     x     x   x

|   x     x

| x     x     x

The higher two strings are plucked simultaneously - that's the real similarity.  I'm not sure how common that is, so I don't know if it's an intentional sort of reference, but I thought I'd note it anyway.

Until learning the chords, I didn't realize that the second part of this is half a step higher.  It's not just the first part raised though; there are differences in the chord progression.

"Chasing the Past"

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The Zombies were on the BBC a few days ago, and they played "Chasing the Past" - one of the new songs from Still Got That Hunger (it wasn't a live performance; they played the version from the album).  It's also the song that - apparently - the album title derives from.

The Zombies segment starts at about 1:32:15.  There's "Time of the Season," the first part of the interview, "Chasing the Past" (at about 1:44:15), the second part of the interview, and then "A Rose for Emily."

The appearance is also excerpted so that you don't have to go searching through time codes, but the songs are edited in that version.  The only way to hear all of "Chasing the Past" is through the whole three-hour program.

"Time's Running Out"

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I've been listening to Colin Blunstone's solo albums recently.  Yester-day it was Ennismore.  I thought I'd heard the B-A-C-H motif in "Time's Running Out," but it's slightly different, even if transposed (F# G C A#).  But after figuring out that phrase, I figured out the chords too.  One took a long time to suss out because it's such a weird chord for the key it's in.  The verses use a pretty standard chord progression (I vi IV V), but that second chord is major instead of minor (so: I VI IV V).

I'm not sure if the guitar part uses the same picking pattern through the song, but that's how I played it.  After recording the acoustic part, I figured out the electric part at the end too.

"Turn Your Heart Around"

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I listened to Colin Blunstone's On the Air Tonight yester-day morning, and last night I tried figuring out just the opening piano part of "Turn Your Heart Around."  I ended up getting the chords too.

It's not that interesting to listen to though.

"This Will Be Our Year"

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Back in March, I started re-reading John Eliot Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven.  In Chapter 5 (The Mechanics of Faith), Gardiner mentions the continuo part in the third movement of Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4 (page 134, if you're that interested).  It plays a "two-note interval… with octave displacement."  This sounded like the octave-skipping bass part that Jim Rodford plays in some recent live versions of "This Will Be Our Year" (it's in the version on the Live at Metropolis Studios album, and I think it's in the version on Extended Versions too).

I looked into the continuo part for BWV 4 a few days ago, but - if I'm reading my bass clef correctly (for which there's reason to doubt) - that continuo part descends diatonically.  The bass part for "This Will Be Our Year" is chromatic, so I gave up trying to find a connection between them.

I didn't think anything more of this until yester-day when I was listening to Bach's Orchestral Suite, No. 3, BWV 1068.  I'd thought I'd heard the B-A-C-H motif in the second movement when I listened to it a few days before, so I pulled out the score (which I actually own a physical copy of) and looked at the notation while listening.  I didn't find the B-A-C-H motif (I don't think there's one there), but I did find a similar "two-note interval… with octave displacement," so I got thinking about this again.

I've been thinking about these similarities so much that now I feel like I'm trying to force them together, but they do have some things in common, even if it's just coincidental.  (And Argent's mentioned his love of Bach before, so it's possible that there's something intentional behind this.)  There's that "octave displacement," and while the bass part in "This Will Be Our Year" is chromatic (during the verses at least), there are some semi-tone pairs in Bach's continuo parts:

(notation found here [BWV 4] and here [BWV 1068])

I did the notation for "This Will Be Our Year" myself, so it's quite possible that there are errors.  I included the chords (simplified a bit) just so that it's slightly more clear how the bass part goes with the chords.

[I've been thinking about this for a few days now, and I'm still not sure if it makes much sense, but I'm posting it anyway.]

"On the Air Tonight"

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This morning I listened to Colin Blunstone's On the Air Tonight, and I noticed two things about the title track:

1.  There's a Beatle reference in the line "But tomorrow never knows," referring to the last track on the Revolver album.

2.  There's a Shakespeare reference in the lines "Take a rose / Call it sorrow / But it's a rose by any other name."  It's adapted from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet:  "What's in a name?  That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet" (II.ii.43-44).

I'd actually noticed that Shakespeare reference before but didn't think about it enough to post anything about it here.  I didn't connect it to the other Shakespeare references in the Zombies' catalogue either.

The liner notes credit "On the Air Tonight" to Peter Bardens, who was with Blunstone in Keats.  So as with "Weak for You," it's interesting that even though it's not a song written by Blunstone, White, or Argent, it still fits nicely within their catalogue since it too exhibits familiarity with Beatle music and Shakespeare plays.

"Can't Nobody Love You"

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I'm listening (for the first time!) to a Sam Cooke compilation album.  It includes "Nothing Can Change This Love," which is one of only two songs on this album that I've heard before, but in listening to it, I've discovered that it's the song that's referenced in the bridge of "Can't Nobody Love You":

Listen now, Sam bought you cake and ice cream
Called you "Cherry pie"
Ray Charles called you his sunshine
But you're the apple, apple of my eye, oh

"Can't Nobody Love You" specifically references (the first half of) the bridge of "Nothing Can Change This Love":

Oh, you're the apple of my eye
You're cherry pie
And, oh, you're, you're cake and ice cream
Oh, you're sugar and spice
And everything nice
You're the girl of my, my, my, my dreams

"Nothing Can Change This Love" doesn't mention buying cake and ice cream, but all four foods mentioned in "Can't Nobody Love You" are there:  "apple of my eye," "cherry pie," and "cake and ice cream."

I have a few compilation albums of Ray Charles, but I haven't listened to those more than a few times each and amn't as familiar with those as I am with Cooke, so maybe the referent for "Ray Charles called you his sunshine" is lurking somewhere in my collection too.

Journey and The Ghost of You and Me

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Yester-day I listened to Colin Blunstone's Journey, and this morning I listened to The Ghost of You and Me.  Here's some stuff I noticed:

"Weak for You"

One of the lines in "Weak for You" is "It may sound Greek to you," which refers to the common saying ("It's Greek to me") for something that's incomprehensible.  That expression comes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (I.ii.286).  My CD copy of the album doesn't have any credits, but according to Wikipedia, "Weak for You" was written by Pete Wingfield (who apparently also played keyboards on some of Blunstone's solo albums).  So it's interesting that even though it wasn't written by Argent or White, there's still a Shakespearean connection like Argent's quotation of The Tempest in the Odessey and Oracle liner notes or White's "brief candles" (from Macbeth, albeit via Huxley).

I also noticed that the "falling" in "I feel myself falling" is accompanied by a descending melody.

"Smooth Operation"

In the bridge, there're the lines "We two got along / Like an A with middle C / Simple harmony."  An A with a C forms the interval of a minor third, and since minor intervals are often perceived as sad, it seems as if the two don't get along that well.

"Any Other Way"

This mentions "a rain summer's day," which seems to have some connection with the first line of "Beechwood Park" - "Do you remember summer days just after summer rain."  Rainy summer days seem to be the normal weather for Zombie songs.

"Now I Know I'll Never Get over You"

In "Now I Know I'll Never Get over You" I found (what I think are) some references to earlier Zombie songs.  Two years ago, I noticed that the line "It's alright if the words won't come" mirrors "but the words won't come" in "I Love You."  This morning I noticed "Seasons come and go / But this feeling never changes," which seems to be a very slight Odessey and Oracle reference (naming "Time of the Season" and "Changes").  There's also "We can work it out," which seems to be a more optimistic spin on "If It Don't Work Out."  Actually, there might be a Beatle connection behind that too.

Of those four, I think "I Love You" is the most likely to have been intentional.  The others are probably just coincidences.

"Love Left a Long Time Ago"

"Love Left a Long Time Ago" references (indirectly at least) "You Always Hurt the One You Love," which is a song from - I think - the '40s.  Apparently it's a standard, but I'm most familiar with the Mills Brothers' version, which is from 1944.  "Love Left a Long Time Ago" has the lines "Why do we always hurt the ones we love / The ones we shouldn't really hurt at all," which differs only slightly from "You always hurt the one you love / The one you shouldn't hurt at all."

"The Sun Will Rise Again"

At the end, there are rising figures in each of the instruments to reflect the titular line.

Still Got That Hunger

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I combed through the Zombies' Pledge Music campaign, their YouTube channel, and a few other things to put together a list (with links!) of some of the songs that will be on their new album, Still Got That Hunger:

• "Edge of the Rainbow"
• [Live at the House of Blues]
• [Live at Off the Avenue at SXSW]
• "Maybe Tomorrow"
• [Pledge Music update]
• "Moving On"
• [At soundcheck on Pledge Music]
• [Rod's demo on Pledge Music]
• [Live at Stern Grove Arts Festival]
• "New York"
• [Rehearsal on Pledge Music]
• "Now I Know I'll Never Get over You"
• [clip via Twitter]

There are two Pledge Music updates that contain parts of two songs.  One has parts of "New York" and "Maybe Tomorrow."  The other has parts of "Now I Know I'll Never Get over You" and "New York."  There's also this clip via Twitter that I can't identify (although I think it's "Now I Know I'll Never Get over You").

I sort of remember reading an interview a year or two ago where they said they were also recording an-other version of "I Want You Back Again" for the album, but I can't seem to find that again.

From the Newsletter

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This is from the Zombies' newsletter.

The new album has a title now!  And Terry Quirk is doing the cover art!

Also live Odessey and Oracle shows!  I'm wondering about the "full instrumentation" though.  In the 2008 shows, they had Darian Sahanaja do the mellotron parts and some extra piano.  Is he going to do that again, or will it be someone else?

As much as I love the Zombies, I probably won't see any of these shows.  Concerts just aren't my thing.  It's too much driving and standing and then more driving.  I saw Andrew Bird and Wilco in concert three years ago, and while they were great, afterwards I felt terrible and was miserable.  So I hope that they post pictures or even videos from the concerts.

Anyway, I'm excited that it's a thing that's happening, even if I don't get to see it.  Like the newsletter says: "There may never have been a more extraordinary time to be a Zombies fan!"

Keats

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To-day I listened to Keats' eponymous and sole album because - according to Russo's Collector's Guide - it was released to-day in 1984.

I haven't done any work yet in trying to figure out the parts (this was only the second time I've listened to it), which is actually a good thing because I've decided to switch the banner it's under.  At the beginning of the year, I started an-other one of these blogs for the Alan Parsons Project (although I haven't done as much work on that as I have on this project), and since Keats is more of an APP side-project than a Zombies side-project, it makes more sense to put it there.  The only Zombies member Keats has is Colin Blunstone, but three of the four other Keats members were mainstays of the APP session musicians - Ian Bairnson, David Paton, and Stuart Elliott.  Additionally, Eric Woolfson was involved in putting the band together, and Alan Parsons produced the album.

Switching the blog that Keats is on is also beneficial because it avoids confusing their "Tragedy" and Argent's "Tragedy" in the tags.  However, there will be a slight complication with "Turn Your Heart Around" - a Keats song that Blunstone re-recorded for his On the Air Tonight album.

"I Love You"

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This is the last of the songs recorded at the 8 July 1965 session.  (Last in my recordings, at least; I don't know the order the Zombies recorded them in.)

"I Love You" demonstrates an-other benefit of my recording the catalogue every year: it indicates which songs I've neglected.  A few days ago, I learned most of the bass part, but before that, I didn't know any parts to "I Love You."  I can play the riff, but that's as it appears ("sounds," I guess) in the more recent live versions, not as it is on the original record.  The chords are in the book I have by the Alfred company, but I'm going to wait on including those until I learn that original riff.

I did notice some interesting things about the bass part though:  it starts with a falling fifth (from E to A), which is the same beginning (even the same notes) that "She's Not There" has.  And like "I Remember When I Loved Her" and "Time of the Season," the bass part is more involved during the electric piano solo, which is why my version isn't complete: I haven't learned the part during the solo yet.

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me/Bring It on Home to Me"

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I listened to a compilation album of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles to-day, and I worked on transcribing "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (because my transcription obsession isn't limited to the Zombies).  I noticed a few interesting differences between the Miracles' original and the Zombies' version.

In the Miracles' version, the third line of every verse starts with "Though."  "Though you treat me badly," "Though you do me wrong now," and "Though I wanna split now."  In the Zombies' version, instead of that melisma'd "though," it's "Oh ho ho."

In looking into that difference, I've discovered that the Zombies substitute the Miracles" third verse ("I wanna leave you, don't wanna stay here / Don't wanna spend another day here") for the second ("Baby, I don't want you, but I need you / Don't wanna kiss you, but I need to").  They also transpose some lines (and add a word), so that the Miracles' "Though I wanna split now / I can't quit now" becomes "Ho ho ho, I wanna quit now / I just can't split now."

I looked up "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" on Wikipedia (just to confirm that it was written by Smokey Robinson), and I discovered that he wrote it with Sam Cooke's "Bring It on Home to Me" in mind.  Normally, I'd be wary of Wikipedia's veracity, but there's a citation that leads to a digital book that says:

The Miracles returned to the pinnacle of the R&B hit parade for the second time at year's end with a passionate "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" that cracked the pop Top Ten.  Smokey, who wrote and produced this one all by his lonesome, found his muse in Sam Cooke's then-current hit "Bring It On Home To Me."  "Sam had that record out at the time," he said.  "I was in New York taking care of some business for Berry for the company with another publisher.  And I wanted to write something like 'Bring It On Home To Me.'  I was in my hotel room with nothing to do, so that's what I did, 'You've Really Got A Hold On Me.'"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, the Zombies medley'd these two because that's what the Miracles did on a live album.  I don't know if the Zombies knew that "Bring It on Home to Me" inspired "You're Really Got a Hold on Me" though.

I suppose if the Zombies followed a live version (which I haven't heard) maybe it's that live version that deviates from the studio version.  And all the changes I noted above don't really apply.

"Don't Cry for Me"

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I split the track from The Decca Stereo Anthology in order to refresh my knowledge of the bass part for this, and I think I learned a part that I'd been oblivious to.  The bass part is mostly the root notes of the chords, but after the second line in each of the verses ("If there's one thing I found out" in the first verse, for instance) there's an E in between the F# and the D - a diatonic descent during that line break.

"If It Don't Work Out"

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I still know only the bass part and the very brief organ part for "If It Don't Work Out."

I noticed something about the rhythm, but I'm not sure how well I can explain it.  In guitar finger-picking, there's a 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 pattern, and that's present (in a way) in the bass and the drums in "If It Don't Work Out."  In the first part of the verses at least.  The bass plays on the 1s in that pattern, and the drum sound is different on different beats.  In that 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 pattern, it emphasizes the first two 3s and then the last 2.

I'm not sure if I explained that well, but suffice it to say that "If It Don't Work Out" is a good example of how Rod Argent wrote parts that are integral.

"How We Were Before" / "If It Don't Work Out"

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I just listened to those five songs that were recorded fifty years ago yester-day (I forgot to do it yester-day because I was busy with other things).  Anyway, two things:

The second line of every verse in "How We Were Before" starts with an adverb:  "Gradually through on us," "Continually long to be again," and "Mercifully turned to be again."

There's a bit of parallelism between two verses of "If It Don't Work Out."  The first verse asks, "Can I return the joy she's dreaming of?," and the last verse ends with "I / Will know and feel the joys and pleasures that I'm dreaming of."

"How We Were Before"

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I'm glad I decided to record these songs on the anniversaries of their original recordings because the older versions I did (the few that there are) have a lot of errors in them and aren't the best quality.  "How We Were Before" is a good example of how bad they are.

I discovered that if I use a thinner pick with my twelve-string guitar it sounds better.  Still, I'm not sure that this guitar part is super accurate.  I'm pretty sure of the chords, but the arpeggiations are something else.  A few months ago, I figured out a way to play it that emphasizes the chromatic phrase in the chords, and that's at least close to what's in the original.  I should really split the version on The Decca Stereo Anthology and study the twelve-string part.

Recording Session

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According to the liner notes of both Zombie Heaven and The Decca Stereo Anthology, fifty years ago to-day (8 July 1965) the Zombies recorded "How We Were Before," "I Love You," "If It Don't Work Out," "I Know She Will," and "Don't Cry for Me."

Into the Afterlife

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I listened to Into the Afterlife to-day because it was released to-day in 2007, according to Russo's Collector's Guide.  I noticed two things.

The organ part at the very end of Neil MacArthur's "Don't Try to Explain" bears a pretty strong resemblance to the opening organ part of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale."  I should really write a more in-depth post about this.  Interestingly, the organ part in "A White Shade of Pale" apparently comes from the second movement of Bach's third orchestral suite.  I watched this lecture last year, and it's briefly mentioned at about twenty minutes.

As usual, I worked on my lyric transcriptions, which forces me to pay attention to the words.  So I finally realized that "To Julia for When She Smiles" is very much like "Beechwood Park, Pt. 2."  The later half of the chorus ("An orchard wind will warm my face / Summer senses touch my spine / And 'round my head fine feelings race") seems like a re-working of some lines from "Beechwood Park" - "And the breeze would touch your hair, kiss your face, and make you care / About your world, your summer world."