"In My Mind a Miracle"

I listened to As Far As I Can See... yester-day and noticed a significant contrast in "In My Mind a Miracle."  At the beginning of the first verse, the organ drops out completely, and the other instruments (electric piano, guitar, bass, and drums) play with softer dynamics or fewer notes compared to what they played in the preceding chorus.  This change highlights the paucity in the lyrics there:  "When I was young, I didn't notice much."

"Hung up on a Dream"

A couple weeks ago, I realized that the line "I stood astounded staring hard" in "Hung up on a Dream" exhibits consonance.  I thought there was some significance to this, but it took me a while to sort it out.  Because that particular sound doesn't change from word to word, there's almost a sense of the narrator's being frozen in wonder while looking at the "men with flowers resting in their hair."

"Keep the Curtains Closed Today"

Recently, I listened to The BBC Radio Sessions, and I noticed that the line "Could this be just the start of so many nights like this" in "The Look of Love" is similar to the line "Could this be just the start of coming home" in Colin Blunstone's later "Keep the Curtains Closed Today" (or "Let's Keep the Curtains Closed Today," as it's titled on The Ghost of You and Me).  When I lookt up the lyrics of "The Look of Love," though, all of the sources I referenced listed the line as "Let this be just the start of so many nights like this."  Initially, I suspected that this similarity indicated that Blunstone borrowed from Bacharach's song while writing his own, but because of the lyrical discrepancy with other versions, I'm not sure.  Still, I thought I'd note it here.

"Dance in the Smoke"

I was thinking about Argent's "Dance in the Smoke" yester-day, and I realized that the line "But on tiptoe, the flames would grow" generally ascends, giving senses of the height of standing "on tiptoe" and of the increase of "grow[ing]."  It's a bit difficult to distinguish the vocal parts, but I think the line is sung to the notes G A B C | C A B C.

Odessey and Oracle

A couple days ago, I wrote out the bass part for "Brief Candles."  When I lookt at it again yester-day, I realized that the rhythm in the bridge is similar to the rhythm of the bass part in the bridge of "Care of Cell 44."

Here's the bridge in "Brief Candles":

I'm not sure what key the song is in, but I put the notation in A major.

Here's the bridge in "Care of Cell 44" (excepting the last measure):

In the bridge of "Care of Cell 44," some of the notes are tied across the bar lines, but otherwise, the two parts have mostly the same rhythm.  This similarity lends a bit of cohesion to Odessey and Oracle even though "Care of Cell 44" was written by Rod Argent and "Brief Candles" was written by Chris White.

"I'll Call You Mine"

I'd previously noted the sort of parallelism in the line "Walk in the light of day and talk the night away" in "I'll Call You Mine," but early last month, I was thinking about this again and started wondering if these phrases were also parallel musically.  I'd forgotten about this until recently, but yester-day, I figured out the vocal melody for the first two verses in order to investigate this.

The two halves of the line begin the same way (G# A B), and the last few notes of each, while not exactly the same, trace a diatonic descent (F E D and E D C), so there is a bit of musical parallelism that matches the sort of parallelism in the lyrics.

I was also struck by how much of the melody occurs on the off-beats, and I think this may be significant in light of the lyrics.  The second verse (repeated as the third verse) ends with the line "I was afraid to try to call you mine," and this delivery that comes just after the beat seems to indicate the narrator's hesitancy and reluctance.

"Wonderful" b/w "Beginning"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (21 September 1973), Colin Blunstone's "Wonderful" [edited] b/w "Beginning" (Epic S EPC 1775) was released in the U.K.

Last year, I found this video from a Dutch television station where Colin mimes to "Wonderful."

The video description provides two different dates, but apparently the video was originally broadcast on either 10 or 11 November 1973.

"Butcher's Tale"

Last month, I was thinking about one of the sound effects in "Butcher's Tale."  In the liner notes to the fiftieth anniversary edition of Odessey and Oracle, Andrew Sandoval describes it as "added intrigue from Rod on electronic oscillator."  Chris White confirms this in Claes Johansen's book The Zombies: Hung up on a Dream:  "There were no synthesizers in those days... the thing at the end is just an oscillator which Rod played on another track" (p. 171).  I think it's basically a glissando from A to D an octave higher.

Last night, I made a recording of the harmonium and oscillator parts.  I used my Hammond SKX for the harmonium (specifically Reed Organ 2 with Hall 2 reverb set at 26) and my Moog Subsequent 37 for the oscillator.  I'm still way out of my depth with the Moog, but I tried to use a simple setting.

I played the harmonium part from memory, and I didn't use a click track, so it may vary in accuracy and tempo.

 

"Out of the Day"

Last week, I re-learned the opening guitar figure and the chords for "Out of the Day."  I was thinking about the song again yester-day, and I realized that in the line "Driving home; I'll soon be home" at the end of each verse, the "home"s are both song to the tonic note (D), the musical "home" of the key (D minor).  Usually, the first "home" is sung with a descending melisma (E D), and the second is sung to a single pitch (D), but near the end of the song, there are two "home"s sung with an ascending melisma (C D).

"I'll Call You Mine"

Here's the bass part for "I'll Call You Mine," with the guitar chords written in above the staff.  There are eight measures of a piano introduction before this, but I didn't include those in my notation.  Of course, there's also the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.

"Is This the Dream"

I recently wrote out the bass parts for a couple more Zombies songs, and I finally got around to scanning them to-day.  Here's the bass part for "Is This the Dream," although - as always - there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong:

Argent's Keyboard Rig

Years ago, I found this picture from an Argent concert:

[source]

The caption reads, "Keyboard player Rod Argent from Argent performs live on stage at the London Music Festival at Alexandra Palace Festival in London on 27th July 1973."

27 July 1973 was fifty years ago to-day, and I'm sharing this picture not only because it's the anniversary but also because it's the earliest evidence I've seen of Rod Argent's keyboard rig at its peak.  On the left, there are a Mellotron M-400 and a Minimoog Model D, and on the right there are a Hammond organ and what is apparently a Hohner Pianet N.

Argent mentions the Hammond C-3 in this video, but I don't know if that's the specific model in this picture.

I suspect that the picture shows Argent playing "I Am the Dance of Ages."  The two live versions I have of the song (at the Palace Theatre on 7 November 1973 and on Encore from 1974) both feature simultaneous Mellotron and Hammond parts.