It really has been a long, strange trip for Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent. Indeed, when the original ZOMBIES formed way back in the mists of pre-Beatlemania 1961 in resolutely non-rock'n'roll St. Albans I seriously doubt they knew they would end up having a career lasting - in various guises - over four decades and rising, let alone live to tour an album they'd originally split up while making (1967's 'Odessey & Oracle') courtesy of the fact it would be claimed as a classic long after the fact.
Amazingly, in all this time, they've never previously gigged on Irish soil either, so this spate of Emerald Isle gigs arranged as warm-ups before their Shepherd's Bush Empire shows where they are due to play 'Odessey...' in its' entirety for three nights on the trot are actually virgin territory for them. Not that their back catalogue is entirely unknown here, of course, thanks to Magner's cider using the immortal 'Time Of The Season' as part of one of their extensive advertising campaigns, but it's nevertheless only the very classy tip of a leviathan-sized iceberg where The Zombies back catalogue is concerned.
So if you've a problem with two geezers of pensionable age fronting a band who make mugs of most of the clueless pretenders being pushed by the NME these days, I'd suggest you stop reading now. Because ,frankly, you're an ageist twerp and you really don't know what you're missing if that's where you're coming from.
Besides, it's clear as soon as they step on to the Cyprus Avenue stage that both Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent have looked after themselves over the years. Both are sprightly and energised, appearing enviably fit and toned, clad in black and make like the consummate pros they surely are from the off. Admittedly, this regular touring incarnation of the band comes minus original bassist and co-songwriter Chris White (who, along with original drummer Hugh Grundy are due to feature for the Shepherd's Bush shows) but the backline of bassist Jim Rodford (ex-Kinks and Argent), guitarist Mark Johns (more sessions and stars than most of us can shake several bags of sticks at) and Rodford's son Steve (a controlled, pocket Keith Moon if ever there was/is) are a formidable backline team and more than capable of pumping out the authenticity in their own right.
It clicks into place immediately. The opening salvo of 'I Love You' and 'Sticks & Stones' are an awesome flex of these seasoned rock'n'roll muscles and by the time they've begun to parade impressive new material such as Argent's swaggering 'Mystified' they're making this ultra-tricky 'longevity' business look ridiculously easy. Which is, of course, why their catalogue has finally come to be revered the way it is these days.
Naturally, we're treated to a generous portion of its' crowning glory 'Odessey & Oracle'. A first segment comprises the deceptively jaunty, piano-led 'Care Of Cell 44' - where they hit the impressive, four way, 'Pet Sounds'-style harmonies dead on - the lush balladry of 'A Rose For Emily' and the seminal positivity of the poppy, Chris White-penned 'This Will Be Our Year', while a second brings us the slightly cautionary summer-of-love dreaminess of 'I Want Her, She Wants Me' and - inevitably - a celebratory 'Time Of The Season', driven along by Rodford Jnr's staccato drums, a seriously charismatic vocal from Blunstone and Argent peeling off an immaculate organ solo that your reviewer was about to describe as "Manzarek-esque" until he remembered that The Zombies were actually having hits a good couple of years before The Doors even began rehearsing.
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It's undeniable that 'Odessey & Oracle' does possess that indefinable something that marks out truly great records. Although history tends to bracket it with the likes of classic Brit psychedelia (it was, after all, recorded at Abbey Road while a certain bunch of lads were laying down 'Sergeant Pepper' next door), for ths writer it distils dazzling beauty and chilling darkness in a manner akin to Love's unimpeachable 'Forever Changes' and it's no surprise that musicians as disparate as Paul Weller and Dave Grohl have named it as their all-time favourite album.
Nonetheless, while the 'Odessey..' tracks provide some momentous highs, it's by no means fair to conclude the rest of their set is dwarfed, for the sheer elegant quality of virtually everything they wheel out is staggering. For starters, both Argent and Blunstone are clearly still capable of penning tunes liable to around decades from now, if the edgy 'Any Other Way' (Blunstone) and the all-out soul revue epic replete with swooping harmonies of 'I Do Believe' (Argent) are anything to go by, while they even pull off the one slightly widdly, indulgent escapade in 'Old & Wise' and - courtesy of 'Hold Your Head Up' - remind us that Rod and Chris White's post-Zombies years as Argent had more than their fair share of Terrace-strength anthems to get by. The biggest surprise, though, is their version of Blunstone's solo hit 'What Becomes Of the Broken Hearted?'. Maybe I'm getting senile too soon, but I don't remember any of the riffbound muscularity or splayed legs energy of tonight's version getting within sniffing distance of the version Blunstone cut with Dave Stewart back in 1981.
By the time they hit the final furlong they've got the crowd eating out of their hands, though it must be said that most bands would give their collective right arm to have a further brace of classic tunes like the timeless 'She's Not There' in reserve for what we imagine is the final word. If this isn't heady enough, the hands-in-the-air epic-ness of Argent's 'God Gave Rock'n'Roll To You' (yup, he wrote this one too, in 1973) then comes cruising through in its' wake to seal the deal. By the time that dies away, it's not unfair to say that The Zombies have rocked, soothed, caressed and shaken up our world in a way that few gigs can over an ecstatic 100 minutes or so.
As we leave them to prepare for their Shepherd's Bush spectacular, we depart knowing that tonight was a rare masterclass even without Chris White and Hugh Grundy. Impressively, Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent seem to have little interest in resting on their much-vaunted 'living legends' reputation and are out to find a whole new generation of audience members. At this rate, they will gain them too. In droves.
(www.colinblunstone.co.uk)
(http://www.zom.thefondwells.com)
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