"Don't Go Away"

Lately, I've been re-learning some parts that I'd forgotten and never wrote down.  Last night, I re-learned the chords for "Don't Go Away."  I posted about this in my Instagram stories along with a clip of the song, and I discovered something I'd never heard before tacked onto the end:  the Zombies dedicating a copy of "Remember You" to the winner of some sort of contest in Record Mirror.  I found the track on YouTube:

There's a brief note about this on the bottom of page 74 in Russo's Collector's Guide:  "A 'Remember You' UK acetate with a personalized message from The Zombies was issued as a Record Mirror prize in 1966.  Only one copy is known to exist."

Anyway, here are the chords for "Don't Go Away":

|: D major | C major | G major | A major :|

F# major | G major | A major | D major

F# major | G major | A major

|: D major | C major :|

|: G major | C major | A major | F major | D major :|

|: A major | G major :|

F major | G major

|: D major | C major :|

|: G major | C major | A major | F major | D major :|

|: A major | G major :|

F major | G major

|: D major | C major | G major | A major :|

F# major | G major | A major | D major

F# major | G major | A major

|: D major | C major :| D major

As always, there's the disclaimer that I may have something wrong.  Also, note that some parts of this are simplified; for instance, the repeated D major | C major section is more of a guitar figure, not just strummed chords.

Odessey and Oracle

Last night, I tried to figure out the piano in the verses of "Brief Candles."  I was unsuccessful at this, but I did end up learning the chords for the chorus.  After playing them over a few times and thinking that they were familiar, I realized that they're very similar to the chords in the verses of "This Will Be Our Year."

The chorus of "Brief Candles" is:

|: A major | A major 7 | D major | F major | E major :|

D major | A major

D major | B major

The verse of "This Will Be Our Year" is:

A major | C# minor | A major 7 | D major

F major | E major | D major | A major

All but a few of the chords in the chorus of "Brief Candles" are held for a full measure, but the chords in the verse of "This Will Be Our Year" are each held for half a measure.

The bass parts for these two sections play a similar descending line.  Simplified, it's something like A (G#) G F# F E D A.  "This Will Be Our Year" has that G# (under C# minor); "Brief Candles" doesn't.  The bass part in "Brief Candles" also goes on a bit longer (under D major and B major).

These two sections are different enough that they're distinct but similar enough to lend some cohesion to the songs on Odessey and Oracle.  It's worth noting that both were written by Chris White.

"Nothing's Changed"

 

Earlier this year, I was thinking about the Hohner Pianet solo in the alternate take of "Nothing's Changed" (available on the third disc of Zombie Heaven), and I realized that most of it is triplets.  I re-learned it, notated it, and made this short demonstration of it.  The Vox Continental part, which I included in the audio but didn't show in the video, is the same except for an arpeggiated A major at the end.  On their own, the two keyboard parts sound a bit odd; for some context, I also played the guitar chords.  I used The Zombies Greatest Hits, published by Alfred, as a basis, but I didn't follow exactly what the book has (because I don't think it's entirely accurate).  I played C major | C major 7 | D minor 7 | E minor | F major | G major | A major.  Of course, there's the standard disclaimer that I may not have this entirely accurate either.

Drawbar settings I used for the Vox Continental:

16' at 6, 8' and 4' at 8, IV at 8

"Can't Nobody Love You"

A couple months ago, I dug out my old notation of the bass part in "Can't Nobody Love You" (which I wrote out in 2015).  Recently, I made a better copy of it and even found some errors to fix (I had an F in place of a C, and I had the last two notes in the wrong octave).  The standard disclaimer that I may have something wrong still applies, though.

I started the notation where the bass part starts, and I wrote the chords in above the staff, but because the bass part doesn't start at the beginning of the song, there are a few chords that aren't written in.  For the guitar solo, I put just a single measure of rest with a fermata.  I don't know the proper way to deal with a section like that, and this is the best I could come up with.

"Sweet Mary"

Recently, I learned the Fender Rhodes part at the beginning of Argent's "Sweet Mary."  (What I have is probably not entirely accurate, but it's pretty close, at least.)  It's well beyond my level of notational ability, so I made a video in order to have some record of it.

 

I used one of the Rhodes sounds (EPiano Rd2) on my Hammond SKX, which I got a few months ago.

To-day's also Rod Argent's birthday.

"This Will Be Our Year"

Recently, I got Live from Studio Two, the live album and DVD of the Zombies' performance at Abbey Road Studios last September.  I haven't watched the DVD yet, but I listened to the CD a few days ago.  It occurred to me that over the years, there's been something of an expansion of the last lines of "This Will Be Our Year" - "And this will be our year / Took a long time to come."  Even on Odessey and Oracle, the tempo there slows a bit, but it's developed over the years as the Zombies play the song live.  On Live at the Bloomsbury Theatre, it's more or less the same as on Odessey and Oracle; the tempo just slows a bit.  I'm pretty sure though that in every other live version I've heard (Odessey and Oracle Revisited, Live at Metropolis Studios, Stage on Sixth performance, KEXP performance, the Daytrotter Session, Summer Stage Concert, Extended Versions, the 2015 performance of Odessey and Oracle on NPR, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction performance), there's a longer break between the two lines and Rod Argent plays a piano phrase there.  Because of this expansion, these live versions actually give a better sense of the duration of that "long time" than the original studio version does.

---

While looking up those live versions, I also discovered that the Stage on Sixth performance (15 March 2013) and the KEXP performance (16 March 2013) were on sequential days!

Argent Live at the Paris Theatre, 14 December 1972

I'll probably post about this again in a few months when the fiftieth anniversary rolls around, but I recently discovered a complete recording of Argent's performance at the Paris Theatre.

In March 2018, I found a partial recording ("Be My Lover, Be My Friend," "Sweet Mary," "Hold Your Head Up," and "He's a Dynamo").  Apparently, the original page is gone, but it was re-posted in February last year.

In January 2020, I found an-other partial recording ("Be My Lover, Be My Friend," "Sweet Mary," "I Am the Dance of Ages," and "He's a Dynamo").

Recently, I went looking for that first recording again, and I found the full performance in the related posts.  Here's the set list:

• "Be My Lover, Be My Friend"
• "Sweet Mary"
• "Tragedy"
• "I Am the Dance of Ages" (with a bit of "Rejoice" as an introduction and a quote of "God Bless Ye Merry, Gentlemen" in the solo)
• "The Fakir" (including what seems to be the fast, arpeggiated Pianet part from "Pleasure")
• "Hold Your Head Up"
• "He's a Dynamo"

The first recording I found was dated simply 1972; the second says 1 July 1972; and the third says 6 January 1973.  I think the actual date is 14 December 1972.  In his Collector's Guide, Greg Russo gives that date along with this set list and this location.

In the audio file itself, Bob Harris explains that "This is the first concert program that they've done for quite some time, and in fact, it's one of our rare opportunities of getting the chance to listen to them live these days 'cause for the next month or so, they'll be going into the studio to put the final touches to their fourth album, which should be released sometime early in February."  According to Russo, Argent's fourth album, In Deep, was released in March 1973 (the 23rd in the U.K. and the 26th in the U.S. and Canada).

"Hold Your Head Up" b/w "Closer to Heaven"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (5 June 1972), Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" (3:15 edit) b/w "Closer to Heaven" (Epic 5-10852) was released in the U.S. and Canada.

"Sweet Mary"

Yester-day, I listened to Ring of Hands (and All Together Now), and I noticed a small feature in "Sweet Mary" that I've commented about in a few others songs already.  In the backing vocals, there's the line "All alone when I wanted you so bad."  "All alone" alliterates, and since the two words begin with the same sound, there's a sense of that singularity.

"Tragedy" b/w "Rejoice"

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (26 May 1972), Argent's "Tragedy" b/w "Rejoice" (Epic S EPC 8115) was released in the U.K.

"Care of Cell 44"

A number of years ago, I wrote some posts about musical elements in "Care of Cell 44" that seem to undermine the apparent happiness and optimism.  Yester-day, I was thinking about the bass part during the bridge, and I realized that it's one of these elements too.

The lyrics there are:

We'll walk in a way we used to walk

And it could be so nice

We'll talk in a way we used to talk

And it could be so nice

I've noted before that for "a way we used to walk," the lead vocal is on the off-beats, illustrating perhaps that the two people in this relationship were at odds with each other.

For almost all of the bridge, the bass plays on the off-beats too.  It's something like:

Musically, this seems to illustrate that the "way we used to walk" was out of step.

All Together Now

According to Russo's Collector's Guide, fifty years ago to-day (21 April 1972), Argent's album All Together Now (Epic S EPC 64962) was released in the U.K.  The U.S. and Canada version (Epic KE 31556) was released on 26 June.