"Time of the Season" b/w "Friends of Mine"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (30 December 1968), the Zombies' "Time of the Season" b/w "Friends of Mine" was released in the U.S. and Canada (Date 2-1628).

Recording Session

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (18 December 1968), "Imagine the Swan," "Smokey Day," and "I Could Spend the Day" were recorded at Morgan Studios, Willesden.  The liner notes also explain that these songs "featured the personnel of the soon-to-be named Argent" along with Mike Vickers on flute for "Smokey Day."

"She Loves the Way They Love Her"

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (16 December 1968), "She Loves the Way They Love Her" was recorded at Trident Studios in London.

"Conversation off Floral Street"

When I listened to the second disc of Zombie Heaven last week, some of the keyboard parts in the middle of "Conversation off Floral Street" sounded fairly easy to figure out.  A couple days ago, I learned some organ and piano (the two parts are very similar, which helpt), and I re-learned the bass part.  In this post (from five years ago!), I claimed that the bass part is only three pitches, but there are actually four.  In this section, though, the bass plays only one (C).

A couple times over the last few months, I've done some research into what specific drawbar settings Rod Argent uses on his Hammond organ, but I haven't been able to find anything.  I tried to match the original recording and used 8', 4', and 2' all at 8.

For the piano, I used a sample of a Steinway Model D.  I don't know if that's accurate for this specific track, but in a few interviews in recent years, Rod Argent has mentioned that he bought a Steinway concert grand.  In this article from Keyboard Magazine, he confirms that it's a Model D.  Unless I can find specific information about what brand of piano was used on a particular track, I'm probably going to use this sample as a default.

"She Does Everything for Me"

Last week, I learned the bass part and chords for the Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" and discovered something that might have influenced the Zombies.

At the beginning of "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)," the bass plays the same figure over and over again, beneath a C major:

The first thing I noticed is that the rhythm for each measure (for this introduction but also for almost every measure in the entire song) is three eighth notes, one quarter note, and three eighth notes, which is a rhythm that Rod Argent often uses in the bass parts for his songs.

Then I realized that this has a more specific similarity to the beginning of "She Does Everything for Me," where the bass plays the same figure over and over again, beneath an A major:

Where the bass in "I Can't Help Myself" plays the root (C), fifth (G), and sixth (A), the bass in "She Does Everything for Me" plays the root (A), fifth (E), and flatted seventh (G).

The chronology for this possible influence works out too.  According to the liner notes of the Four Tops' Anthology, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" was released in 1965, and according to the liner notes of the Zombies' The Decca Stereo Anthology, "She Does Everything for Me" was recorded on 4 May 1966.

It seems relevant to note that the beginning of "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" starts playing immediately after the live version of "Going to a Go Go" on Into the Afterlife (apparently on the PA system of whatever venue where the Zombies were performing), although the recording is sped up significantly so that it's in Eb major instead of C major.  After having discovered this similarity in the bass parts, I'm wondering if the Zombies askt for it to be played.  (I remember reading somewhere that - in a similar way - Rod Argent askt for Ravel's Bolero to be played over the PA system before Argent concerts.)

It also seems worth noting that the Zombies covered the Four Tops' "Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever" live on the BBC.

"Walking in the Sun"

Yester-day I listened to the second disc of Zombie Heaven in order to listen to the Decca era songs to which the Zombies added overdubs in December 1968.  The French horn part in "Walking in the Sun" sounded easy to figure out, but while I was figuring that out, I discovered that I'd forgotten all of the other parts I'd learned for the song and that I hadn't written them down.

I re-learned the guitar part pretty easily, and in comparing it to my old recordings of the song, I discovered that I'd been missing a few things.  There's a little phrase in the transitions from C major to A minor, and I'd missed an F minor.

Here's my updated recording, with (fake) French horn, guitar, and electric piano.  I'm sure the electric piano part isn't that accurate; mostly I included it to fill out the sound a bit more and to demonstrate the Hohner Pianet sound I can get on my Nord Electro 5.

I notated the French horn part.  At the beginning of each verse, it's:

And then it doubles the title phrase (note that this is repeated):

---&---

Here's the guitar part, a combination of tabs and chords.

Introduction

B|:-5-5-3-5-5-5-|-6-6-5-6-6-6-:|

G|:-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-:|

Verse

B|-5-5-3-5-5-5-|-6-6-5-6-6-6-|:-5-5-3-5-5-5-:|
G|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|:-5-5-5-5-5-5-:|

B|-5-5-3-5-5-5-|-6-6-5-6-6-6-|-5-5-3-5-5-5-|-5-5-3-5-|
G|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-|

Chorus

E major | F major | F minor

The F major lasts six beats, and the F minor two; see the French horn part (specifically the A and G# in the last two measures) for a guide.

B|:-5-5-3-5-5-5-|-6-6-5-6-6-6-:|-5-5-3-5-5-5-|-5-5-3-5-|---------|
G|:-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-5-5-:|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|-5-5-5-5-|---------|

D|:-------------|-------------:|-------------|---------|---------|

A|:-------------|-------------:|-------------|---------|---3---0-|

E|:-------------|-------------:|-------------|---------|-3---3---|

The third time through, the song fades out during this repeated section.

Bridge

A minor | C major

A|---3---0-|

E|-3---3---|

A minor | F major | F minor

B|:-5-5-3-5-5-5-:|

G|:-5-5-5-5-5-5-:|

Repeat from the beginning of the verse

---&---

There are C majors under:

B|-5-5-3-5-5-5-|
G|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|

and F minors under:

B|-6-6-5-6-6-6-|
G|-5-5-5-5-5-5-|

---&---

As I mentioned above, in my previous recordings, I'd missed the guitar phrase in the transitions from C major to A minor. I'd like to point out that in one transition from a C major to an A major in "I Don't Want to Know," Paul Atkinson plays this same phrase (albeit an octave lower).

Ennismore

I was going through my records of what parts I learned when, and I discovered that as of 26 October this year, I know at least a bit of a part for every song on Colin Blunstone's Ennismore.

December 1968 Overdubs

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago this month, the Zombies recorded additional parts for songs they originally recorded between 1964 and 1966: "If It Don't Work Out," "Don't Cry for Me," "I Know She Will," "Walking in the Sun," "I'll Keep Trying," and "I'll Call You Mine."  These were all done at Morgan Studios, Willesden.

"Pure Love"

This is just a small point about "Pure Love."  One of the lines starts with "Lovely lady," and I realized that this has both alliteration and internal rhyme.  Combined, these poetic effects help to portray that "lovel[iness]."

"Tragedy"

When I listened to All Together Now recently, I noticed some significant melismas in "Tragedy."  In the first verse, "away" in the line "And it's blowing away" is sung to the phrase B B A (with some vibrato on the A note).  When the first verse is repeated as the third verse, the articulation is slightly different: B B C B A (still with vibrato on the A note).  Musically, both give a sense of movement.

I still can't decipher the full lyric, but in the second verse, the phrase "bring you down" is sung to a descending group of notes (C B B A), illustrating that "down."  To emphasize this, "down" itself is sung with a melisma (B A, again with vibrato on the A note).

Additionally, in the first line of chorus ("Tragedy is on the rise"), the "is on the rise" ascends (E G A A), musically illustrating this "ris[ing]."

"Hold Your Head Up"

I'd previously noticed that the titular phrase in "Hold Your Head Up" ascends (in some instances, at least), but when I listened to All Together Now yester-day, I discovered that the "get you down" part of the line "And if it's bad, don't let it get you down" is sung to a descending phrase (G F# D), musically representing that "down."

"Closer to Heaven"

I listened to All Together Now this morning and noticed some things, but I'll have to go and verify that I haven't already noticed and written about them.  For now, here's a post about "Closer to Heaven," which is included as a bonus track and which I haven't written about before.

About halfway through the song, there are the lines "We come here with nothing, Lord / That's the way we go."  Like some lines in other songs by Russ Ballard, these seem Biblically informed.  Specially, they resemble part of Job 1:21:  "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return."  Although the specific images are different, the idea and structure are the same.

"When the Lovelight Starts Shining through Her Eyes"

I was thinking about "When the Lovelight Starts Shining through Her Eyes" this morning, and I realized a small feature in the third verse.  It's actually the same thing I noticed in "Bring It on Home to Me" back in June.  "Mind" in the line "Hopin' she hadn't changed her mind" is sung with a melisma (F# E C#, I think), and because the word is sung to more than one pitch, there's a musical sense of the shifting of "chang[ing] her mind."

"A Sign from Me to You"

I'm not sure of the specific notes, but "signs" in the line "I could give you many, many signs, my love" in "A Sign from Me to You" is sung to a number of pitches, musically giving a sense of the multitude of "many, many."

"I Don't Believe in Miracles"

The day after I listened to Journey, I listened to Ennismore and noticed a few small things about songs on that album.

In the second verse of "I Don't Believe in Miracles," there's the line "And so you've won again, you win them all."  "All" is sung with a glissando (from G to F), and that musical range gives something of a sense of the word's meaning.

"Brother Lover"

In the second half of the chorus of "Brother Lover," there's the line "I just can't take anymore."  "Anymore" is sung with a melisma (F# G F# E D), and since there are extra notes, there's something of a musical sense of the "-more."

"Something Happens When You Touch Me"

In "Something Happens When You Touch Me," both "ev'rything"s in the line "Just say the word, and I'll drop ev'rything, ev'rything" are sung to descending groups of notes (I think they're F E C and A G E, with a harmony above that singing A G E and C Bb G).  Musically, then, "ev'rything" is being "drop[t]" in terms of pitch.

"Beware"

When I listened to Journey yester-day, I noticed a couple things in specific songs.

In "Beware," "ev'rything" in the line "Beware, for I wish you ev'rything" is sung with a melisma (E A B C B A, I think), which musically gives a sense of the number of things.

Journey

Last week, the phrase "a month of Sundays" was in a Jeopardy! clue (which I got right), and this got me thinking about Colin Blunstone's Journey (because "Shadow of a Doubt" uses that phrase: "It would take a month of Sundays to understand you now").  I just listened to the album, and I had two general thoughts about it.

1. A number of songs (or song titles) either reference or use common sayings:

• "It may sound Greek to you" in "Weak for You" references "it's Greek to me"
• "See the forest for the trees" in "Weak for You"
• "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" in "Smooth Operation"
• The title "Shadow of a Doubt"
• "A month of Sundays" in "Shadow of a Doubt"

I don't really have anything to add to that; I just thought it interesting and wanted to note it.

2. The title Journey doesn't seem too far off from the title Odessey and Oracle, since journey is a synonym for odyssey, but I don't know if that's an intentional reference or just coincidence.

"Gotta Get a Hold of Myself"

Years ago, I noticed that in "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself," after the line "Late at night I hear footsteps sound down the hall," there's a descending bass part, apparently to represent those footsteps musically.  This morning, I was thinking about this feature again and realized that there's more to it than that.

Here's the bass part for that line:

Although there are a number of accidentals, the notes in the last two measures are fairly conjunct.  The intervals are mostly half steps or whole steps, so there are musical "steps" in the bass part to represent the footsteps in the lyrics.

Looking at this again now, it strikes me that those accidentals could hold some significance.  For those two measures, all of the flats in C minor are made natural, resulting in a section of a C major scale.  This turn from minor to major is the same sentiment expressed in that verse: the singer/speaker is "kid[ding] myself that you're coming back after all," and so there's a glimmer of happiness.

"In Memory"

Last night, I figured out two parts for the first section of "In Memory" from Rod Argent's Red House.  I was surprised to discovered that - apparently - these are the first parts I've figured out from Argent's solo material.  I was also surprised to discover that this is the first recording I've made for this project since last May.

I figured out what I think are two synthesizer parts: one sounds like a clarinet, and one sounds like an upright bass.  I used the clarinet voice on my keyboard and electric bass.

I thought I'd mentioned this before, but apparently not: "In Memory" seems to be just a different arrangement of Argent's "A 4th Gymnopedie."

"Music from the Spheres"

For years now, I've had a digital sticky note on my computer desktop reminding me that the phrase "across the universe" in "Music from the Spheres" might be a little nod to the Beatles song "Across the Universe."  I happened to look at this yester-day, and I realized something about that line in the Argent song:  the "universe" is sung with a melisma (B C# D# E), musically giving a sense of the breadth of "across the universe."  At the same time, there's a string glissando*, which gives the same impression of breadth in two different ways: the glissando itself encompasses a large span of notes, and because it's recorded in stereo, it seems to travel from left to right, giving a sense of spatial range.

---
*I'd always thought it was a harp glissando, but after listening more closely, I'm not so sure now.  The timbre seems too different.  I think it might actually be piano, played by striking the strings directly, not using the keyboard.  Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer did this on "Take a Pebble," and Rod Argent's mentioned him a few times (for instance, in this interview originally published in March 1975 and - more recently - in this interview from 2017 [in response to a question asked at ~17:33]), so it might even be a bit of his influence.

"Butcher's Tale"

Although my flute skills aren't advanced enough for me to play hardly any of them, I follow the daily music pieces posted on flutetunes.com.  A couple days ago, they posted a piece titled "The Queen's Shilling."  Accompanying the piece, there's a short paragraph that explains that "the queen's shilling" or "the king's shilling" is "a historical slang term referring to the earnest payment of one shilling given to recruits to the Armed forces of the United Kingdom."  Here's Collins' dictionary entry for "king's shilling."

Now that I've learned this term, I finally understand one of the lines in "Butcher's Tale" a bit better: "But the king's shilling is now my fee."

"Summertime"

When I transferred my old posts here, I noticed that I'd made some mistakes in my notation of the bass part in "Summertime."  I still think I have the right pitches, but I had some wrong note values.  I was under the mistaken impression that the length of a whole note is equal to the number of beats in a measure no matter what the time signature is, but whole notes are actually equal to four beats.  Where I had whole notes (four beats), I should have had dotted half notes (three beats).

Recently, I re-wrote the notation to correct my mistake, and I added in the guitar chords.  However, this still comes with the disclaimer that I might have something wrong:

1971 Argent Concert

Via the Zombies Fan Club on Facebook, here's a link to a page on Russ Ballard's website of an Argent concert from 1971.  The data from the Facebook post give only the year and that it was probably recorded from the radio on Sunday.  I did some research and discovered the exact date: 14 February 1971.  In the audio file itself, the announcer (identified as John Peel in the Facebook post) mentions that a band called Egg played the first half and that next week's program will feature the Roy Young Band.  There's a wiki devoted to Peel's radio broadcasts, and the page for 1971 lists a program with Egg and Argent on 14 February 1971 and a program with the Roy Young Band the following week (21 February).  The specific page for 14 February 1971 links to an archived version of a BBC site with details on the Egg recording, including the location of Lower Regent Street, which Ballard confirms in the Facebook post: "I remember the show, it was recorded at the BBC Regent Street."

Here's the set list:

• "Lothlorien"
• "Chained"
• "Rejoice"
• "The Fakir"
• "Sweet Mary"

After that, the tape seems to skip, and there are additional, different versions of "Rejoice" and "Chained."  Those don't seem to be from the same show, since Peel says, "Argent finish with 'Sweet Mary.'"

"Summer"

Yester-day I listened to Rod Argent's Moving Home (I think for only the third time).  I don't think this was new to me, but I'd forgotten that "Summer" contains a Biblical allusion.  In what I think is the second verse (I'm not that familiar with the song yet, so I'm going purely by how the lyrics are formatted on the record sleeve), there's the line "Take me to your milk and honey lands."  In Exodus 3:8, God says, "I have come down to deliver [my people] out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey...."

"Imagine the Swan"

I've noted before that, as the Zombie Heaven liner notes point out, the harpsichord at the beginning of "Imagine the Swan" arpeggiates chords in the same manner as Bach's C major prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 846).  I recently printed out the notation for the prelude because I want to learn to play it (or try to, at least), and I noticed a couple things.

In the C major prelude, the initial two notes in each arpeggiation are held underneath the other notes:

I don't think Argent follows this in "Imagine the Swan."  It sounds like only the initial note is held, but only for the duration of the second note and only in the two introductory measures.  The rhythm is scaled down too, so it's something like:

As a bonus track on one of my editions of Odessey and Oracle, there's a mix where this harpsichord part is doubled on organ, and the organ certainly doesn't hold that initial note for the duration of the whole arpeggiation.  It plays all of the notes with equal values.

In the Zombie Heaven liner notes, Argent explains that "Imagine the Swan" uses "Chris' chord sequence but we did it like [the Bach prelude]."  Adjusted for key, though, the first two chords are the same... sort of.  The Bach prelude is in C major and arpeggiates a C major and then a D minor; "Imagine the Swan" is in F major and arpeggiates an F major and then a G minor.  Both have the tonic chord (I) and then the supertonic (ii), but the arpeggiations of the supertonic chords differ.  Bach puts a C note under his D minor and skips over an F (C D A D F), but Argent plays a regular old triad with some notes repeated higher (G Bb D G Bb).

Odessey and Oracle

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (15 July 1968), Odessey and Oracle (Date TES 4013) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"Time of the Season"

I recently listened to a compilation album of Ray Charles and noticed the lines "Well, tell me, baby, what is your name" in "Kissa Me Baby" and "Well, now, baby, tell me what is your name" in "Jumpin' in the Morning."  Both of these have some resemblance to "What's your name" in "Time of the Season."  Rod Argent has mentioned Charles in a number of interviews, so I think this might be a bit of his influence, even if subconsciously.

"Bring It on Home to Me"

I recently listened to a compilation album of Sam Cooke and realized that in the line "If you ever change your mind" in "Bring It on Home to Me," the "mind" is sung with a melisma (E D), musically indicating that "change" through the shift from one pitch to an-other.  Of course, then I started thinking about the Zombies' version.  It has the same feature, but the melisma is broader; "mind" is sung to the phrase B C# E F# E.

In referencing both versions now to find specific pitches, I also noticed something exclusive to the Zombies' version.  Every verse in Cooke's original ends with some variation of "Baby, bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin' / Bring it on home to me," and the live version of "You've Really Got a Hold on Me/Bring It on Home to Me" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles that the Zombies based their version on follows this, but the Zombies' version has "on home" instead of "to me" ("Whoa, bring it on home, bring your sweet lovin' / Bring it on home to me").  That "home" in "Whoa, bring it on home..." is sung to an A note, and since their version is in A major, that's the tonic or home note.

I also discovered that the second syllable of the melisma'd "me" in the line "Bring it home to me" that ends every verse is sung to an A note, so there's a musical representation of "bring[ing] it home" there too.

"Tiger in the Night"

While I'm writing posts about Colin Blunstone songs, I figured I would finally get around to writing about something I noticed when I first listened to Collected last March.  The first few lines of "Tiger in the Night" are taken almost directly from the William Blake poem "The Tyger."

The first two lines of "Tiger in the Night":

You are the tiger burning bright
Deep in the forests of my nights

The first two lines of "The Tyger":

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;

"Ain't It Funny"

When I listened to Planes/Never Even Thought a couple days ago, I noticed a small thing about "Ain't It Funny."  "More" in the line "When I first saw, wanted more" is sung with a melisma (Bb G in the version on Planes; C Bb G in the version on Never Even Thought).  Because it's sung to more syllables than it's spoken with, there's a sense of the word's meaning.

In referencing the song now to find the specific pitches, I also noticed that "down" in the line "You can feel down, wear a frown" is sung with a descending melisma (Bb G in both versions), musically representing that "down"ness.  Because it's a minor third, there might be a hint of sadness there too.

"Planes"

Because yester-day was Colin Blunstone's birthday, I listened to the somewhat recent reissue of Planes and Never Even Thought on a single CD.  I'm not sure if this is entirely necessary, but I wanted to write a post to point out the allusion to Cervantes' Don Quixote in "Planes."  I can't make out all of the lyrics, but one of the later verses has "...traces of old Don Quixote / Tilting giants on imaginary hills."  If I remember it correctly, in Don Quixote, the title character reads so many stories about knights that he can no longer distinguish between fiction and reality and, thinking that he himself is a knight, goes off on an adventure.  He goes into battle against windmills because he perceives them as giants.  This is the specific event that "Planes" references.

"In My Mind a Miracle"

When I listened to all of the Zombies albums last week, I also noticed a small thing in "In My Mind a Miracle."  The melody for the line "Suffered such a fall from grace" falls a sixth, musically illustrating that "fall."  "Suffered such a fall" is all sung to G notes; "from grace" to Bb notes.

"Love Conquers All"

I got behind in my posts, but here are some things I noticed about "Love Conquers All" when I listened to New World last week.

The last line of the first verse is "Feeling ev'ry moment's do or die," and the "do or die" part seems to come from Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade," specifically:

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.

That's "do and die" rather than "do or die," but the phrase is similar.

The "fall" in the line " Each time you fall" in the chorus is sung with a descending melisma (E D B), musically giving a sense of that "fall[ing]."  In a later iteration of the chorus, "walls" in the line "Breaking down the walls" is sung with this same melisma, again giving a sense of downward movement.

"Losing You"

An-other thing I noticed while listening to New World last week is that "away" in the line "And though you've often turned away" in "Losing You" is sung with a melisma.  It's sung to three syllables (to the notes C C B) rather than just two.  This gives something of a musical sense of the movement of "turn[ing] away."

I referenced the version on Colin Blunstone's Collected (the liner notes explain that it's from the album The Light Inside), and this same feature (with the same pitches, even) is present there too.

"Nights on Fire"

When I listened to New World a couple days ago, I noticed two things about "Nights on Fire," both about the line "See the eagle rise."  First, as if to reflect that "ris[ing]," the line is sung to an ascending melody (A A D E F#).  Second, I think this might be a slight nod to the Alan Parsons Project's "The Eagle Will Rise Again," which contains a similar line (the title line: "The eagle will rise again").  Colin Blunstone sang "The Eagle Will Rise Again" and co-wrote "Nights on Fire."

"Lula Lula"

When I listened to New World on the 14th, I noticed a couple instances in "Lula Lula" where the melody connects to the lyrics.  "Love's falling around you" in the first and third verses and "It's falling around me" in the second verse are all sung to a descending melody (D D C B B A), which musically represents that "falling."

"I Got My Mojo Working"

Yester-day I listened to all six of the Zombies albums (I'd planned to do this a few days in advance, but the day before I did it, I realized that I'd pickt an appropriate day because it was Rod Argent's birthday).  While listening to Begin Here, I noticed a small thing about "I Got My Mojo Working."  In the line "I got a whole lotta dreams here right under my eyes," "dreams" is sung with a melisma (B G Bb C Eb, I think).  Because it's sung to a number of different pitches, there's a musical sense of that "whole lotta."

"Butcher's Tale" b/w "This Will Be Our Year"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (10 June 1968), the Zombies' "Butcher's Tale" b/w "This Will Be Our Year" (Date 2-1612) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"Pay Me Later"

I listened to Ennismore earlier this week, and this morning I was thinking about "Pay Me Later."  I realized that the "every" in the first line ("Every time that you get down") is sung with three syllables, which gives a sense of number.  When I listened to that bit of the song in order to verify that, I also discovered that the "down" is sung with a descending melisma (A E, I think), which musically represents that "down."

"Without Her"

Last week, I was thinking about some Harry Nilsson songs, and I realized a couple things about "Without Her" (I think I'm actually more familiar with the Neil MacArthur version than Nilsson's). 

First, just a simple thing: "And I rise" in the first verse is sung to an ascending melody (D E F), musically representing that "ris[ing]."

More significant is the vocal melody during this section:

We burst a pretty balloon, took us to the moon
Such a beautiful thing, but it's ended now
And it sounds like a lie
I said I'd rather die than be without her

The melody rises (almost a full octave: from F# to F) from the beginning up until "but it's ended" and then falls from "ended now" onwards.  The descent skips around a bit (the lowest note is a B), but generally it goes from F to C.  The ascending melody musically portrays the happiness of going "to the moon" and the "beautiful thing," and the descending melody the sadness of "it's ended now" and the singer/speaker's change in mood.

"Butcher's Tale"

I've been reading a book about World War I (The Somme by Martin Gilbert), and this morning I read about some German ammunition dumps that were destroyed in a British shell barrage on 25 June 1916.  One of the places listed was Mametz Wood, which - of course - got me thinking about "Butcher's Tale" and the lines "And the flies come down in Gommecourt, Thiepval / Mametz Wood, and French Verdun."  I realized a couple things about these lines.

Listing places (or people) like this is a rhetorical technique called cataloguing.  Here, because of the number of places listed, there's a sense of the multitude of flies that are "com[ing] down."

The other thing I realized is that this cataloguing connects (albeit loosely) to the title Odessey and Oracle.  Cataloguing is a convention of epic poetry, and a prime example of epic poetry is The Odyssey, which is referenced in the album title.

"Time of the Season" b/w "I'll Call You Mine"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (6 May 1968), the Zombies' "Time of the Season" b/w "I'll Call You Mine" (Date 2-1604) was released in the US and Canada.

"Celebration"

The other thing I noticed when I listened to Argent's Greatest: The Singles Collection recently is in "Celebration."  There's a "rise" sung to successively higher notes (B G# B' E', I think), which musically represents that "ris[ing]."  I should note that I might have the lyrics wrong here.  When I lookt at my transcription, I had "In the sound of the night we can ride."  Really, I think Argent sings just "ri..." with the rest of the word left unpronounced, but I feel "rise" is more likely than "ride."  (Transcribing the lyrics of "Celebration" has given me a lot of difficulty, more than most Argent songs.)

When I drafted this post Sunday night, I also noticed that the "forever" at the end of the second verse ("A ring of hands forever") is sung with a melisma (A G# G# F# E), giving a musical sense of that long length of time.

"Schoolgirl"

A couple days ago I listened to a compilation album of Argent (Greatest: The Singles Collection) and noticed a couple small things.  In the line "And in some games I used to pull your hair" in "Schoolgirl," "hair" is sung with a melisma (D A G F, I think).  Since it's spread across a number of notes, the word itself is "pull[ed]," just as it's described in the line itself.

"Going to a Go Go"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to Into the Afterlife recently is in "Going to a Go Go" (which I've actually never written about in the six years I've been doing this project).  In the first verse, there's the line "They come from everywhere," and "everywhere" is sung with four syllables rather than just three.  This extra syllable emphasizes the "every-" part of the word, as if encompassing the entire range.

When I first drafted this post on Friday night, I realized something else: the "drop in there" in the next line is sung to a descending melody (F# E B, I think), giving a somewhat more literal representation of that expression.

"Telescope (Mr. Galileo)"

An-other thing I noticed when I listened to Into the Afterlife recently is that the "long" in the recurring line "And we will watch her all day long, my telescope and me" in "Telescope (Mr. Galileo)" is sung with a melisma, giving a sense of that length of time.  There are two versions of "Telescope" on Into the Afterlife, and each has a slightly different articulation.  In track #5, "long" is sung to just two B notes, but in track #18, there's a trill (B A B).

After comparing the two, I think they feature different singers, although I can't find anything in the liner notes to confirm this.  I'm certain track #5 is sung by Rod Argent, and I think track #18 is sung by Chris White.

"It's Not Easy"

The second thing I noticed when I listened to Into the Afterlife recently was some melisma'd "so"s in "It's Not Easy."  Both "so"s in the lines "Is it asking so much" and "I've put up with so much" are sung to the phrase F# E, and the "so"s in the chorus ("It's not easy / Wanting you so") are sung to the phrase C# B.  For all of these, the articulation emphasizes that adverb and gives the impression of a greater degree than if the "so" were sung to a single note.

"Never My Love"

I listened to Into the Afterlife on Sunday and noticed some things about which I'll have posts for the next couple days.  First is the bridge in "Never My Love."  In the first iteration, it's:

What makes you think love will end
When you know that my whole life depends
On you

(I should note that I'm not sure if I have the line breaks in the right places.  I went more by where the breaths are taken in the Association's version, but "Neil MacArthur" doesn't pause between the first two lines.)

Structurally, that second line completes the first ("depends" rhymes with "end"), but the meaning is left incomplete.  The "On you" is necessary for the those two lines to make sense, and, likewise, the sentiment here is that the speaker/singer's life hinges "On you."  The structure illustrates the meaning.

"Mary, Won't You Warm My Bed"

I listened to One Year last week and noticed something about "Mary, Won't You Warm My Bed."  Throughout the song, the speaker/singer explains that he's looking for Mary ("One day I will find that girl").  After the first chorus, the song changes keys, which almost represents the speaker/singer's search in a musical way.  It's as if he's lookt in A major without finding her, so now he's moving on to Bb major.

The Harvard Crimson

The Zombies recently posted a link to this article from The Harvard Crimson that argues that "DIY music [of which Odessey and Oracle is an example] can be just as refined as high-budget, professionally produced music."  The English major in me sees this as a weak thesis, but what really bothered me about the article was the factual errors.  Over the years, I've read many articles about the Zombies that contain errors that could easily have been avoided with even a modicum of research.  I don't know if I'm going to make a habit of this, but the errors in this article bothered me enough that I'm going to fix them.

The article states that "Not a single note on 'Odessey' is played by a non-band-member.  Instead of string and horn overdubs, many of its songs feature string- and horn-simulating sounds played on a Mellotron, a forerunner of early synthesizers."  This is only partly true.  As the article goes on to state, Rod Argent did indeed use John Lennon's mellotron to play some parts on Odessey and Oracle, but as he explains in this video (at about 3:56) "I only used the basic settings that are on there, basically flutes and strings."  According to the liner notes of Zombie Heaven and of three different re-issues of Odessey and Oracle, the brass instruments on "This Will Be Our Year" are real and were arranged by the band's former producer Ken Jones (and yet the article says that the "horn parts often sound lo-fi and obviously fake"!).  The Zombie Heaven liner notes also explain that a session musician played a cello part for "A Rose for Emily," although this wasn't included in the final mix.

The article goes on to say that "there are relatively few overdubs on the album; most of the arrangements simply feature each band member on his typical vocal and instrumental parts."  This isn't elaborated on, so it's not exactly clear what "relatively few" entails, but I would say there are a fair amount of overdubs (which is why the usual five-person band was augmented with additional musicians for the Odessey and Oracle anniversary shows).  Off-hand, here are the overdubs I can think of: Rod Argent plays both piano and mellotron in "Care of Cell 44," "Hung up on a Dream," and "Changes."  In "Maybe after He's Gone," Paul Atkinson plays both acoustic and electric guitars; Argent plays acoustic and (according to Andrew Sandoval in the liner notes to the fiftieth anniversary edition of the album) electric piano; and I believe there are also additional, overdubbed vocal tracks.  The vocals in each verse in "Brief Candles" and the guitar solo in "Friends of Mine" are both double-tracked.  There are also overdubs on "Changes" (Argent added an extra vocal part) and "Time of the Season" (the well-known hand claps and exhales and an extra organ part).

There are also a few notable exceptions to "each band member on his typical vocal and instrumental parts."  Paul Atkinson and Hugh Grundy sing the bottom vocal line in "Changes," and Chris White sings lead in "Butcher's Tale" (and one verse of "Brief Candles").

The article "guess[es]" that "today's DIY musicians tend not to emulate 'Odessey and Oracle'" because "Rod Argent's many years of classical music training likely helped significantly to hone his playing, writing, and arranging."  According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, however, Argent had only two years of piano lessons (starting when he was about nine years old), and he says that "as soon as I started to learn I got bored with the whole process, and I probably played the piano less in those two years of lessons than I have ever since."  In the liner notes to Classically Speaking, he explains that he's a "self taught player."  There's no doubt that he has a great degree of musical skill in a variety of areas, but this is not the result of classical training.

Although not exactly an error, the notion that "Someone seeking musical success today should probably write a three-chord singalong rather than imitating 'Changes' or 'Butcher's Tale'" is completely contrary to the Zombies' own outlook, which values musical honesty over immediate success.  In an interview at SXSW in 2013, Rod Argent said, "When we wrote and recorded music, we never tried to play what was the current fashion in the day.  We never thought, 'Wow, we've got to make sure we get to the hook in 30 seconds otherwise radio won't play it.'  We just took a musical idea and tried to make it work for us."

It's at this point that the article completely collapses.  Because it describes the Odessey and Oracle songs as "full of harmonic and melodic surprises" and calls the album "a Template for DIY Sophistication," it seems to praise the Zombies' striving for something original, and yet at the end, it reverses its opinion and contradicts this, saying, "Not many of the songs on 'Odessey' are commercially oriented, so it is no wonder that the album has not been a relied-upon template for subsequent bands" (which I find a dubious claim; more than a few well-known musicians have listed the Zombies [and Odessey and Oracle specifically] as an influence).  Is the article raving about the uniqueness of Odessey and Oracle or panning it for not being commercially successful?  Is the album a template to follow or isn't it?

I also think it's unfair to compare the Odessey and Oracle songs to the Beach Boys' "Girls on the Beach."  "Girls on the Beach" is from 1964, and the Odessey and Oracle songs were recorded in 1967.  While only three years apart, at the rate that music was developing and changing in the 1960s, that's a big difference (the Beach Boys themselves went through major stylistic changes in those three years).  The criticism about the key changes also strikes me as too subjective.  The article says "Girls on the Beach" "abuses the upward chromatic key change" and "hits the listener over the head with key changes," but the liner notes to my edition of All Summer Long (while hardly unbiased) praise "Girls on the Beach" as "one of Brian [Wilson]'s most astonishing compositions" and claim that "it's almost impossible to find another rock song that changes keys as often and as smoothly as 'Girls on the Beach'" (my emphasis).

"Butcher's Tale"

The last thing I noticed when I listened to Odessey and Oracle on the anniversary of its release date is that the phrase "the flies come down" in the line "Then in the heat the flies come down" in "Butcher's Tale" descends (E D A A), giving a musical impression of that "com[ing] down."

"A Rose for Emily"

The second thing I noticed when I listened to Odessey and Oracle a couple days ago is the articulation of "ev'rywhere" in the line "There's loving ev'rywhere" in "A Rose for Emily."  The musical phrase it's sung to arpeggiates an inverted D major: F# A D.  It spans an augmented fifth, and this distance provides a musical sense of "ev'rywhere."

"Care of Cell 44"

Because yester-day was the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Odessey and Oracle, I listened to it (of course) and noticed a few things.

In "Care of Cell 44" the "so" in the line "Feels so good you're coming home soon" is sung with a melisma (I think it's F# G F#).  This emphasizes that adverb, giving a greater sense of exactly how good it feels.

I listened to the fiftieth anniversary edition of the album, which includes an alternate mix of "Care of Cell 44" as a bonus track.  I'd noticed that in take 2 of the backing track (which is also on the thirtieth anniversary edition) Hugh Grundy clicks his drum sticks together to keep time during the a cappella sections, and I'd assumed that he did this for the final version (take 4 according to the Zombie Heaven liner notes) and that it was muted or edited out during mixing.  Although I've been regularly listening to this fiftieth anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle for the last year, it wasn't until yester-day that I realized that the alternate mix of "Care of Cell 44" restores that feature: during those a cappella sections, you can hear the drum sticks clicking together to keep time.

Odessey and Oracle

According to both the Zombie Heaven liner notes and Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (19 April 1968), the Zombies released Odessey and Oracle (CBS 63280).

"Time of the Season" b/w "I'll Call You Mine"

According to both the Zombie Heaven liner notes and Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (5 April 1968), the Zombies released "Time of the Season" b/w "I'll Call You Mine (CBS 3380).

The Kenny Everett Show

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago this month (April 1968), the Zombies - or, more specifically, Chris White and Rod Argent - made their appearance on The Kenny Everett Show on Radio One.

"Since I've Been Loving You"

Back in January I figured out the chords for Colin Blunstone's "Since I've Been Loving You."  I intended to post them the next day, but that was the day that Jim Rodford died, which sort of upset everything.  Recently, though, I remembered that I meant to post them, so here they are:

Verses
Ab major | Eb major | F minor | Db major
Ab major | Bb minor | Eb major
Ab major | Eb major | F minor | Db major
Ab major | Eb major | Gb major | Ab major

Choruses

Ab major | Bb minor | C minor

Db major | Eb major | Ab major | F minor

Ab major | Bb minor | Eb major

Ab major | Bb minor | C minor

Db major | Eb major | Ab major | F minor

Ab major | Eb major | Gb major | Ab major

The two lines of Ab major | Bb minor | C minor in the chorus last only about half a measure; the changes there are really fast.

Split Announced

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (30 March 1968), the Zombies' split was announced.  In the liner notes to the 30th anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, there's a clipping (with the same date) from Disc and Music Echo.  In full it reads:

ZOMBIES, who sprang to fame with the hit "She's Not There," three years ago, have disbanded.
     Says leader Rod Argent.  "We felt we were becoming stale.  We didn't think we were progressing musically as a group."
     But the St Albans boys leave behind two new releases.  A single, "Time Of The Season," released on April 5, and an album "Odyssey And Oracle," on April 19.
     Adds Argent: "We are ending our career with recordings we wrote and produced ourselves for the CBS label.  We have made up our minds not to re-form even if the records are big hits."
     Zombies were most successful in America where "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" won them top awards.  The boys also appeared and played in Otto Preminger's film "Bunny Lake Is Missing."
     Zombies Rod Argent and Chris White plan to stay in the business, songwriting and producing.  Lead singer Colin Blunstone is going into insurance.  Drummer Hugh Grundy intends to stay in music.  And guitarist Paul Atkinson has taken a post in computers.

"Twelve Twenty Nine"

A couple days ago (26 March), I happened to look at a clock when it was 12:29 (a.m.).  The Neil MacArthur song ("Twelve Twenty Nine") popped into my head, and I realized something about the last line of each verse ("'Cause at twelve twenty nine today's taken my only love away").  The "away" is sung with a melisma (B B A G#), which musically provides a sense of movement, namely "today's tak[ing] my only love away."

In figuring out a bit of the vocal melody while writing this post last night, I also discovered that there's an accidental for "taken."  The song is in E major, but that "taken" is sung to a C natural.  That foreign tonality intensifies "taken... away" into something like "wrenched away."

Argent Live at the Paris Theatre, London 1972

Via the Zombies fan club on Facebook, here's a recording of an Argent concert from 1972.  The accompanying text claims that the set list includes "God Gave Rock and Roll to You," but the recording actually consists of "Be My Lover, Be My Friend," "Sweet Mary," "Hold Your Head Up," and "He's a Dynamo."  Except for "Hold Your Head Up," I'd never heard live versions of any of those.

"The Coming of Kohoutek"

Recently, I finally got around to notating the synth/mellotron quotation of "Dies Irae" at the beginning of Argent's "The Coming of Kohoutek."  I've known the guitar quotation for years, but this keyboard quotation (which I learned in August) is at a lower pitch.  After I notated it, I lookt at my old posts about "The Coming of Kohoutek," and I discovered that I haven't written much about the "Dies Irae" quotation, so I'm doing that now.

I identified the quotation myself (after hearing a similar phrase in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and doing some research), but I also found this interview with Rod Argent where he talks about the song a bit and confirms the "Dies Irae" quote:

Progsheet: Argent's The Coming Of Kohoutek got lots of airplay on FM radio here in the States. Please give me some background on the song. 

Rod Argent: The comet was heralded as being potentially one of the most spectacular events to occur in the sky for many years. In the far past, spectacular comet visitations had been linked to all sorts of prophesies of doom and destruction, and I included a very famous musical theme - the Dies Irae, (Day of Wrath), written in the 13th century. It was a short theme that's been used by many composers. I just thought it was interesting to look at things a bit from a historical perspective, and it was the dramatic nature of the whole event that fascinated me. In the end, the comet Kohoutek was pretty much a damp squib!!

Here's the "Dies Irae" tune:

[source]

And here's the synth/mellotron quotation from the beginning of "The Coming of Kohoutek":

Argent uses only the first two thirds of the "Dies Irae" and changes the rhythm a bit (notwithstanding the overall lengthening of the note values), but the intervals remain the same.

Update

Two significant things happened on 15 February.  First, I finished transferring my old posts from tumblr to this blog.  I did skip a couple, but mostly they were just links to interviews that I'd posted without any commentary.  All of the "essential" things are here now.

The other bit of news is more exciting.  I finally acquired a Nord Electro 5D (which I've been eyeing since at least December 2014), so now I can play a whole host of keyboard parts with more accurate sounds.

I'm still figuring out how to use it, but one of the first things I did was load the Hohner Pianet sample.  Other relevant sounds for this project include Vox Continental, Hammond B-3, mellotron (flute and strings), and Fender Rhodes (for some of the later Argent material).  There are some harpsichord sounds, but they're recorded from actual harpsichords rather than an electric harpsichord, which is what Rod Argent used on "I Want Her She Wants Me" (I'm not sure about the specific instruments used for others things like "Imagine the Swan" and Colin Blunstone's version of "(Care of) Cell 44").  The piano sounds are vastly superior to the old Yamaha PSR-320 that I'd been using for the last five or six years.

One of the reasons I wanted the Electro 5D is that it has physical drawbars.  I couldn't really do anything to alter the organ sounds on the Yamaha keyboard, but I can on the Nord.  Because I'm in the midst of FAWM though, I haven't had much time to play around with them yet, and I still have no idea what I'm doing.

I have a notion of going through the whole catalogue and re-recording everything for which I know keyboard parts, but I'm not sure I'll actually do that.  Learning how to use drawbars is my first priority, and then I think I might make a list of the specific keyboard instruments used in each song.

Breathe Out, Breathe In

Last night I watched the four videos of songs from Breathe Out, Breathe In, and I realized something about the title track:

The piano solo has a baroque feel, and while that might be the influence of actual baroque music (as Argent says in the liner notes for Classically Speaking, "I've always loved Bach!"), it might also be the Beatles' influence, specifically the baroque-inspired keyboard solo played by George Martin in "In My Life."

---&---

This morning I listened to the entire album, and I noticed something about "A Moment in Time":

As rendered in the liner notes, the first few lines are:

All my beginnings

That preciously I find

Lead me to sorrow

Or happiness incline

I'd write these as two lines rather than four, but regardless, there's a syntactical inversion.  Instead of "beginnings that lead me to sorrow or incline me to happiness," the second of those verb phrases is inverted, and that inversion mirrors how sorrow and happiness are opposites.

---&---

As a general point, I also noticed that a number of the songs mention breath or breathing.  I lookt through the lyrics, and six of the ten songs have one or the other.  Obviously, there's "breathe out, breathe in" in the title track, but there's also "I'd take my last breath whispering your name" in "Any Other Way," "She reminds me of / The breath of summer sun" in "Shine on Sunshine," "Feeling for the breath of angels" in "A Moment in Time," "You take my breath away" in "Another Day," and "Like a baby I'm learning to breathe" in "I Do Believe."  So Breathe Out, Breathe In is appropriately titled.

"Shine on Sunshine"

Because of Jim Rodford's recent and unexpected death, I've been listening to Argent albums.  Yester-day I listened to Circus (the first Argent album with a song written by Rodford: "Trapeze"), and I noticed a small thing about "Shine on Sunshine."

In the second verse, after the line "The rain that breaks your heart" in the lead vocals, that same line is sung in the backing vocals to a melody something like:

(I guessed on the key based on the pitches in this phrase.)

The "breaks" is sung with a melisma (G# to A# in the second measure), giving a musical impression of the breaking.

I referenced the version that the Zombies recorded for Breathe Out, Breathe In, but it doesn't have this feature because the second half of the verse is re-written (along with other sections of the song).  In Argent's version, I think it's:

Better yet by far
The best I ever saw
The rain that breaks your heart
Won't bend our love for sure

But in the Zombies' version, it's:

Better yet by far
The best I ever saw
Each time the clouds start crying
She dries their tears once more

Odessey and Oracle

According to the Zombie Heaven liner notes, fifty years ago to-day (1 January 1968), the Zombies did some work on Odessey and Oracle.  The entry reads "EMI Abbey Road Room 53 Odessey & Oracle original master (stereo)."  As with the corresponding entry for 28 December, I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I'm assuming it indicates when the Zombies gather together the stereo mixes for Odessey and Oracle.