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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:56 am 
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I love The Zombies LP "Odessey & Oracle" but there are so many releases of it on CD. Is there any consensus on which release is the best? I have a few but I'd like to hear which is your favorite and why.

Thanks for indulging me.


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 1:58 am 
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I vaguely remember something about the first Rhino edition not being from the masters, but don't quote me on that, I honestly can't tell you. I've got that one and the album on the Zombie Heaven box from Ace/Big Beat.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:11 am 
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The Big Beat (UK) issue from the late-1990s is my favourite:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000005YZM/?tag=imwan-20

I swear by the mono mix, and this remaster reminds me of how my original UK vinyl sounded. This release also contains the stereo mix if you want it, and all 3 of the outtakes from the sessions (alternate versions, not unreleased songs). Most of the other releases of Odessey And Oracle try to expand the album with singles and outtakes from prior to and after the Odessey sessions, none of which are really appropriate.

Neither the Rhino nor Repertoire remasters sound right to me. The Rhino is too trebly, and both Repertoire versions sound like they're a generation or two removed from the master.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:02 am 
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+1 on the Big Beat version

I only have that...and the Zombie Heaven box set. Sounds great, and nice to have the mono and stereo versions on one CD.

If you really love the album, it's also worth picking up the 40th Anniversary concert - CD and/or DVD (I have both). All 4 surviving members do a great job playing the entire album live.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:27 am 
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I have the Big Beat version, mainly because that was the one I found the day I went looking for it. Nice to know I have the best version, even if it was kind of by accident!

Speaking of The Zombies, on the album More Music from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, there's a version of "Time of the Season" that runs longer than the Odessey & Oracle version. If this is a re-recording it is one of the best I've ever heard, but if the credits are to be believed it is copyright 1967. What exactly is this?


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:44 am 
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I have three different "O & O" issues, and doubtlessly the Big Beat rules, in all respects. And i'm pretty sure that extended version of "TOTS" has appeared as a bonus track on one of the other packages, possibly the Repertoire, but would have to check that at home to be sure.


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:18 pm 
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Evn though I have the Rhino edition and the box set, I succumbed to peer pressure and bought the Big Beat CD at J&R today (their post-Xmas all-label sale is already underway). I hope you people are pleased with yourselves.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:20 pm 
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I was not able to see the full Zombies reunion, but I did get to see a half Zombies reunion, a touring Zombies with the two main guys, Russ Ballard and Colin Blunstone, and they gave a great show.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:36 pm 
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Russ Ballard was not a Zombie, though he was a part of "Argent"


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:06 am 
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Well, thanks all for your input so far. I do have the 98 Big Beat mono/stereo +3 CD as well as the Box set and the Japanese mini LP CD.
I see that Big Beat released a straight 12 track version in 2007 and the Repertoire and Fuel releases look interesting but I'm glad I seem to have the preferred release.

I would love to see a documentary of this LP while 4 of the original members are still active in music.

I'll look for the CD/DVD of the concert. Sounds like a good one!

And while I'm at it I have "Into the Afterlife" but does anyone have any info/opinion on "The Zombies and Beyond"?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0018OGF8S/?tag=imwan-20

Thanks again.


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 11:29 am 
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Sundodger1 wrote:
And while I'm at it I have "Into the Afterlife" but does anyone have any info/opinion on "The Zombies and Beyond"? Thanks again.



Just checked it, appears to be a comp with their main hits and a couple of lp tracks; a few of Blunstone's early post-Zombies singles, his later cover of "Brokenhearted", two Argent songs, and the final three tracks are from the two Blunstone/Argent reunion cds of recent years. It might be attractive to some for the diverse selection, but personally i have all of those tracks on the original releases. I would recommend "Into the Afterlife" as being what the title of this one might infer that it is, but which it is not. But you already have that, (in my best Mr. Burns voice), excellent!

If you've never gotten any of Blunstone's early solo LPs on cd, i'd highly recommend "One Year" and "Journey" (which is harder to find), but especially One Year. Think of some of the sring arrangements from the Zombies backing his voice, and then think of (more or less) an album's worth of it. I love it. Journey is quite strong as well. I'd actually recommend his other earlier solo LPs, but none of them are in print on cd (i have....needledrops, for now).


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 1:39 pm 
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Phil Cohen wrote:
Russ Ballard was not a Zombie, though he was a part of "Argent"


Sorry, I meant Rod Argent, not Russ Ballard. I saw Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent in the current touring Zombies band.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 4:29 pm 
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I have the Repertoire versions (including the 40th anniversary edition) and the Big Beat, Rhino and Box set as well.

The Big Beat and latest Repertoire are VERY close but Linda is correct in that with the Mono/stereo and appropriate bonus tracks this one gets the edge. For me this album is in the top 10 best albums from the 60's.

There is also a very cool DVD (and CD) of the reformed Zombies doing the complete album. I didn't think Colin could pull it off but he did God Bless him. Met Rod Argent a few times, a very nice guy and one of fave bands of all-time.

Rick A.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:49 am 
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There's some question if the mono mixes on the Big Beat are the correct versions found on the original LP. I've never heard it (or even seen one) but the Geoff Emerick stereo mixes are the way to go for me and the Big Beat CD sounds the best to me too.


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:35 am 
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Jamie, there is indeed some question to that end, but the mono rip of the original LP that I've heard seems to (mostly) match the Big Beat CD. Despite raising this question on numerous occasions, I have yet to see anybody spell out the differences in question.

FWIW, it seems reasonable to assume that most post-Big-Beat CDs of Odessey and Oracle simply use the Big Beat master. The Repertoire 40th Edition, for example, is simply a tweaked version of the audio that Big Beat used.


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:38 pm 
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Manmancer wrote:
FWIW, it seems reasonable to assume that most post-Big-Beat CDs of Odessey and Oracle simply use the Big Beat master. The Repertoire 40th Edition, for example, is simply a tweaked version of the audio that Big Beat used.



Having both Manmancer I agree with your assessment.

Rick A.

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:39 am 
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I already had the Rhino version and the Zombie Heaven box, but based on this thread, I decided to spring for the Big Beat version (stereo + mono). I just got it yesterday and I'm loving it. Thanks, everybody.


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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 11:48 am 
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Can some Zombie expert remind us why they spelled it "Odessey" anyway?

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 1:16 pm 
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Jimbo wrote:
Can some Zombie expert remind us why they spelled it "Odessey" anyway?


Here's what I found online today regarding your question.

Asked about the title of their 1968 album Odessey & Oracle, the reunited Zombies tell you that they decided to run with the wrong spelling of “odyssey” because none of them had the heart to tell the sleeve's designer, Terry Quirk, about his mistake.

As the Zombies prepare to take that album on the road for the first time, the world has come around to agreeing that Quirk's spelling is pretty much the only imperfection on Odessey & Oracle.


Apparently, just a "mistake" that only added to the mystique of the album.

Here is another story regarding the title.

Word magazine January 2008, the vocalist Colin Bluntstone was asked whether the word 'Odessey' in the album title was deliberately spelled wrong. Bluntstone replied: "Rod (Argent) told this story for nearly 40 years of how it was deliberate and a play on the word 'ode,' hence 'odessey' when it should be spelled 'odyssey.' So I was astounded as anyone when he finally admitted about a year ago that it had been a simple spelling mistake. Too late to change by the time anyone noticed it. A bit embarrassing, but it's history now."

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 Post subject: Best release of The Zombies "Odessey & Oracle"?
PostPosted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:22 pm 
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Does anybody have the CD or DVD version of the 40th Anniversary live concert of Odessey and Oracle? I listened to some samples, and it sounds like a really great show. You'd expect something like this to be a tired reunion of old men plodding through the music of their younger days for the sake of nostalgia, but what I heard sounded vibrant and alive, and Blunstone's voice was terrific.

Don't know if I would want the CD version, DVD, or both.

(Thanks for your recommendation above, Charles.)


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