rank the songs on the zombies' "odessey and oracle"

1. Hung Up On a Dream
2. Brief Candles
3. Care of Cell 44
4. Maybe After He's Gone
5. Time of the Season
6. Changes
7. Friends of Mine
8. A Rose For Emily
9. This Will Be Our Year
10. Beechwood Park
11. Butcher's Tale
12. I Want Her, She Wants Me

... tho this is one of those rare albums where all the songs are good. 4-9 are too close to call really.

Had a chance to revisit O&O on a road trip recently.

1. This will be our year
The most "felt" song on the album, or maybe just the one that I personally feel the most. It could have been just another "baby, i loves ya!" number, but being more about emerging from adversity adds a surprising depth. I much prefer the version with no horn overdubs. Gains further points for the trucker's gear change coming after the first chorus instead of near the end (and the song just doesn't work without it!), and for brevity, too. An absolutely perfect pop song.

2. care of cell 44
Another nearly perfect pop song, both in writing and execution. How jaunty the choon, you'd almost not notice it's about the narrator's lover being sprung from the hoosegow. One of those rare beasts whose verse melody is as memorable as - yet very different from - the chorus's. When the background vox bust forth from their Beach Boys pastiche (you can practically hear them giggling while they perform them) into a brassy blast of "aaaah"s that sail the chorus along, you can't help but feel so good along with the narrator. "Walk/talk" middle 8 nearly loses me, but at least it's brief. A much better and less winky-wink BB takeoff than "Back in the USSR," for my money.

3. hung up on a dream
This one is an unusual artifact: it sees through the horseshit of the hippie moment, while genuinely expressing its attractions. A pretty big achievement during that highly charged time. Very effective alternating between sweet and sinister. The tempo changes add a druggy, dreamlike quality to this one - nice mimesis! Love the thundering drums, the little guitar lick in the verses, and the baroque instrumental break.

4. butcher's tale
Although it definitely doesn't belong on this album either musically or thematically, it's one of the best-composed songs on the record. Despite its out-of-place-ness, I always find myself getting sucked into its harrowing little world, and I find it genuinely creepy and absorbing. I don't know what I'd rather they had done with it; it deserves to be heard but both the song and the album suffer for its inclusion.

5. time of the season
Obviously a great single and a great performance. That rhythm track! That mood! But as a song it's a little under-composed. It loses points for the meandering jammy solo that pads it out, and for the repetition of the second verse. Either of which would have been forgivable on its own, but taken together they feel slightly lazy. I have hippie friends who despise this song because of "who's your daddy? Is he rich like me?" That weird bit of braggadocio makes me fonder of it somehow.

6. friends of mine
Almost too sweet to bear - a progenitor of twee indie? - this is a jaunty, pleasant track and not much more. It gets bonus points for being about other people instead of "you and me." Loses points for "the things that you say, the things that you do." The couples' sung names as backing vox should be a bridge too far, but the genuine love they're sung with makes them an appealing detail instead of sickening.

7. a rose for emily
Lovely, but precious. Its simplicity is appealing on an album that sometimes verges on being overproduced. Some nice moments in the vocal arrangement but hard to get behind as a whole. Eleanor Rigby Emily ain't, quite.

8. changes
Lovely, but precious. Feels a bit medieval - on purpose, I'm sure - and not just musically, but structurally and thematically. The preoccupation with the trappings of wealth must have rankled hippies in much the same way "is he rich like me" did. Strawberry and peppermint could have stayed home - reflex of the times and a rhythmic pad instead of images the song needed. Somewhat impressive as a thing qua thing, but feels contrived also - a school exercise more than a felt thing.

9. brief candles
A mostly really great chorus, particularly in the production - the ticking rimshots, the hissing organ - brought to a screeching halt by each over-composed verse. We just can't care about these cardboard-cutout people, as lovely as the melody that tells their stories is. "Her sadness makes her smile" is just toothless schoolboy irony, a cliche, and unfortunately it's the punchline of the otherwise impeccable chorus.

10. I want her she wants me
Nice verse melody, but the song wears out its welcome pretty quickly. Underproduced and a slight composition (with a 1965 middle eight dragging it down). It's okay - would have been better if it didn't repeat its grating refrain quite so much.

11. maybe after he's gone
I feel bad putting this so low; i always recall it as a better song and a better performance than it is when I listen to it. Good verse melody marred by maudlin lyrics, sung with little energy (I would have left you too, ya wet mopey bastard!). I like the drumming in the verses. Loses points for a crappy edit in the coda - that layers and drives home the crappiest part of the song: the crappy chorus.

12. beechwood park
Lazy songwriting, lousy verse melody, no hook to speak of. Somewhat successful in its appeal to nostalgia if you don't pay too close attention. Works as a mood piece.

Great post, hd.
When I first discovered this album I became a bit obsessed with 'I Want Her She Wants Me', which has always been a personal favourite. It often gets neglected and rarely mentioned as a highlight, but for me it's still probably my favourite. I was relistening to this the other day too and started really getting into 'Butcher's Tale' as a great bit of Crimsonesque proto-prog.

hung up on a dream is such a unique and gorgeous song

yup, that's the top one for me.

This Will Be Our Year is too good. the whole album is great. fwiw i love "Beechwood Park" as a mood poem and song (killer middle eight).

I have hippie friends who despise this song because of "who's your daddy? Is he rich like me?" That weird bit of braggadocio makes me fonder of it somehow

always took this to be mocking of material wealth in favor of spiritual wealth. thus the line goes "Is he rich?" "Is he rich like me?" still bragging but it's a new consciousness rather money/possessions.

'Hung Up On A Dream' is the best track on the LP, followed by 'Brief Candles' ...

I just love those chord changes.

Love hardcore dilettante's write-up despite disagreeing with a lot of it! 'I Want Her...' is the only less-than-great song here and yeah both 'Brief Candles' and 'Beechwood Park' are near the top for me.

Thanks, folks! I don't know if I agree with everything I wrote, even. And re-reading it, I sound way harsher on the bottom half of songs than I really feel. My inner critic goes ape when unleashed. In truth, I love this record front to back and never skip a song. I think today I'd switch "brief candles" and "I want her".

Care of Cell 44
Hung up on a Dream
I Want Her She Wants Me
Brief Candles
Changes
This Will Be Our Year
A Rose for Emily
Time of the Season
Friends of Mine
Maybe After He's Gone
Beechwood Park
Butcher's Tale

'Maybe After He's Gone' rules so much. This album should have been huge - in terms of songwriting it absolutely annihilates Sgt. Pepper's...

http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-zombies-rip.html

Did you guys see this "follow-up album" creation?

Worth a look...

Disappointed that so many people here are putting Butcher's Tale as their least favourite. That song rules.

Disappointed that so many people here are putting Butcher's Tale as their least favourite. That song rules.

― josh az (2011nostalgia)

I can help with that. It's always been one of my favourites.

Care of Cell 44
Butcher's Tale
Friends of Mine
A Rose for Emily
Beechwood Park
Maybe After He's Gone
This Will Be Our Year
Time of the Season
Brief Candles
Hung up on a Dream
I Want Her She Wants Me
Changes

ugh this is like ranking childrenbeloved cats

hung up on a dream
care of cell 44
friends of mine
brief candles
this will be our year
beechwood park
a rose for emily
time of the season
i want her she wants me
butcher's tale
maybe after he's gone
changes

I like all of the songs individually - but find the album as a whole too much to take.

...Though will be seeing them play the album in London later this month.

the version I originally heard had Imagine The Swan on the end, and that version makes sense to me

Had a real blast seeing the Zombies playing this album this evening at the Palladium in London. I find it impossible to rank the songs, but Hung Up on a Dream was the clear highlight for me.

Really nice vibe as a gig; a very faithful recreation of the O&O album, lots of emotional late middle-aged men bonding and agreeing how wonderful it was, and late middle-aged couples holding each other and gently dancing together.

how have I only just discovered this? esp with tt claiming it might be her favourite album. a VERY GOOD SHOUT tbah

Brief Candles
Hung Up On A Dream
A Rose For Emily
Care Of Cell 44
Butcher's Tale
This Will Be Our Year
Friends Of Mine
Time Of The Season
Changes
Beechwood Park
Maybe After He's Gone
I Want Her She Wants Me

12 is merely good. 9-11 are really good. 5-8 are amazing. 3-4 are extraordinary. 1 and 2 are pure psychedelia

for some reason this album finally clicked with me last week, and I now have no idea how I ever didn't love it

"Time of the Season" not v representative of the album, so that being the standout hit doesn't do it any favors

Already boggling at my low ranking of Maybe After He's Gone just there. It's that kind of album

what instrument plays that high tone in the chorus of brief candles? is it mellotron?

sounds like a hammond to me

it doesn't really sound like mellotron to me except that it doesn't have any attack like other mellotron sounds
xpost

According to the ever useful Planet Mellotron site, it is a mellotron - strings. In fact, according to Rod Argent it's a mellotron:

... we wanted to do it by reproducing every single note that was on the original album. Things like 'Hung Up on a Dream,' 'Brief Candles,' 'Changes'—these all require extra harmonies which we overdubbed at the time, and extra keyboard parts which I did on the mellotron.

Oh hold on though, on listening to the song, the high pitched tone, that could be a guitar!

It's hard to tell. I'm listening to the Marquis Enterprises Ltd. version on Spotify and it says "Mono Version," but that ain't mono.

Played as a lead guitar part here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at1rYffo8dw

thanks. it sounds more keyboardy than guitary to me on the original recording but it's also buried in the mix a little so who knows