Odessey and Oracle - The Zombies
Track List:
Care of Cell 44
A Rose for Emily
Maybe After He’s Gone
Beechwood Park
Brief Candles
Hung Up on a Dream
Changes
I Want Her, She Wants Me
This Will Be Our Year
Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914)
Friends of Mine
Time of the Season
Before We Begin
I really like the way this album sounds. I’ve heard Time of the Season before but nothing else on this album until today. I listened to the album 3 times today already. This will be my first critical listen but I love the way the album sounds. It’s late 60’s British psychedelic rock and it’s bare and it’s fantastic. Now I wonder if my excitement about the album will remain after trying to figure out what each song is about.
Songs:
Care of Cell 44
This is my first listen with headphones on, I like the stage they have set. The song is rather upfront, the narrator is excited about their partner getting out of prison soon and they are anticipating an eventful reunion.
A Rose for Emily
I like the layering of voices. The lyrics tell a tale of Emily, a florist who is diligent in her job and wants to be loved but is overlooked beyond her profession. As she ages she experiences pain and longing for companionship. Ultimately she will, her flowers will also, she will be buried and forgotten. It’s not a love song. It’s not a happy nor sad song. It’s a somber look at our temporary existence and impending decay of our legacies.
Maybe After He’s Gone
This one is a song about a woman who left the narrator to be with another man. The narrator still pines for the woman and hopes that she will return to him when her current lover leaves. The narrator has a bit of an anxiety attack in the middle of the song where he confesses to being depressed due to her leaving. With the acceptance that his partner left him to be with another man I am inclined to believe this was not an unexpected happening and the narrator is the fling not the spouse. Also because of this song I have learned that YouTube doesn’t understand what a mono recording is, this was supposedly a mono recording but it very much was not and was in stereo. Not that it matters to the meaning of the song nor that it affected my enjoyment of the song, just more of a “Hey! That’s a weird thing”
Beechwood Park
This song is so beautifully dreary, full of longing and dreamy memories as the narrator reminisces of a relationship that has passed but is still fondly remembered. There are two very distinct styles: the verses are relaxed drifting lyrics singing to the missing partner. The chorus (if you can call it that) it's more direct, the narrator is having an introspective experience in which he is trying to travel back to the time in which the rest of the song is based. Given the time this was made I suspect that this song is also referencing LSD trips in both the past and present. The narrator and the partner had tripped in Beechwood park, it was a regular thing that they both enjoyed. Now the narrator is tripping again but without the partner and he is thinking about the past and trying to grasp at former memories and experiences. Now he is afraid that he will be unable to navigate the roadways of his mind back to the past and will lose the only thing he has left of his former partner.
Brief Candles
The subject of this song has just experienced the end of her relationship with a partner. No reason is given however she accepts that she is strong and he is weak. I am not sure who ended it. The chorus is once again talking about introspective and memories, we have a theme going here. Her memories are candles that burned in her mind. She can always go back and observe them. She is happy in the fact that she feels sad at memories of the past. Not because she is glad the relationships have ended but because she feels sadness which means she felt love and now knows it’s gone just as a candle that has burned all the way down. Now we get the partner’s perspective. This confirms that she ended the relationship. He understood the reasons and yet he still wants her, in fact he wants her more now that she has ended the relationship. The chorus repeats but is now phrased with him. I think the analysis still works. Some time has passed and the man is now drinking to numb the pain of his relationship. He is hopeful that he will feel like he is in a better place soon. The chorus repeats. The song ends on a fading echo of the piano that plays over the entire verse and fades completely out for the last line. The last line of the verse is “Is Better Off This Way” over the course of the song the feeling it conveys goes from happy, to hopeful, to sad, to nothing.
Hung Up on a Dream
I can’t see how this song isn’t about tripping. The confusions expressed by the lyrics. The seeking for parts of the mind and tranquility. The obsession about dreams. Astonishment over menial things. This one gives me similar vibes as Do You Realize?? By The Flaming Lips.
Changes
I’ve not noticed this before but I am now positive that’s a Mellotron being played at the start of this song. I suspect that there is Mellotron laced throughout this album. This is a neat song. There isn’t a traditional chorus or verse rather it’s two contrasting stanzas. The story they tell is a coming of age story of an unnamed woman. She had carefree days of youth, this is sung in a more folky manner, that’s not quite the right way to describe it but I can’t think of another way to. The other stanza is the prim and proper woman that she has grown up to be. Needing to show a shallowness that she wouldn’t with casual acquaintances of her youth. She continues to grow away and we are left with the folky voice. The folky voice to me sounds very much in the style of The Young’uns.
I Want Her, She Wants Me
This reminds me of a The Beatles song. Very British. It’s a song about being in love and walking on that cloud, feeling like the king or queen of the world.
This Will Be Our Year
This reminds me of The Avett Brothers. It’s a song about being prosperous and happy with someone you love and trust.
Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914)
So I didn’t see the full title of this song until I was typing out the song titles above. So we have a song about WWI. Another thing that reminds me of The Young’uns. I’ve only listened to one of their albums and it was a story about WWI done in a traditional English style. I should listen to it and write about it one day. Back to this music.
This tells a story of a soldier in WWI who prior to the war worked as a butcher who was conscripted into service. He recalls a preacher who had encouraged them to go off and fight in the name of their country. And then thinks the preacher is a fool as he has no clue what these soldiers will be going to experience. He then has a panic attack. He then describes in horrid detail watching a friend of his dying in a battle. He was pinned down for an unknown length of time but he watched as his friend’s corpse decomposed. He laments that if the preacher who is encouraging the youth to join the service had known about that he wouldn’t be doing what he is. The narrator then has another panic attack. This song is haunting and morbid. It kinda reminds me of Harley Poe.
Friends of Mine
This is a song about being happy for their friends being in love. I like the way they put the melodic choruses overlapping. I suspect that the names they sing are actually friends of the songwriters.
Time of the Season
I’ve liked this song for as long as I can remember. It’s the time of the season for loving. That’s pretty clear. And I am loving this organ solo.
Reflections?
I really like this album. I hear a lot of things that influenced a lot of the music I enjoy listening to. I think Butcher’s Tale (Western Front 1914) is an amazing and sobering experience. This album will get some regular play from me.
