Odessey And Oracle

This CD celebrates the 50th anniversary of Odessey and Oracle, recorded between June and August of 1967. Remastered from the best sources possible, the package includes 7 bonus tracks, (alternate versions and outtakes from the original recording sessions). Odessey and Oracle ranks #100 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.

Odessey and Oracle was one of the flukiest (and best) albums of the 1960s, and one of the most enduring long players to come out of the entire British psychedelic boom, mixing trippy melodies, ornate choruses, and lush Mellotron sounds with a solid hard rock base…

In 1969, the Zombies landed their biggest hit with the moody, light psychedelia of "Time of the Season," but it was too late for the group to enjoy it much, as they had been broken up for over a year when the track from Odessey and Oracle belatedly took off on American radio. However, no one in the record business will ever pass on an opportunity to follow up a hit, and since original members Rod Argent (keyboards) and Chris White (bass) had been writing songs together with a new group in mind, it took only so much persuading to get them to cut a few singles under the name the Zombies, most patterned after the languid but artful tone of Odessey and Oracle…

The term "lost classic" is applied liberally and often erroneously to unreleased recordings that resurface years later in a maelstrom of hype. However, for the forgotten mod rock also-rans the Action, the term is not only justified, it is painfully bittersweet. On par with such classics of the era as The Who Sell Out or Ogden's Nut Gone Flake but more focused than either, the Action's Rolled Gold goes beyond "lost classic" – it is the influential masterpiece no one was ever allowed to hear. Despite being signed to Beatles producer George Martin's AIR label and benefiting from a strong club following, the Action never scored a chart hit. By the time they recorded these demo tracks in 1967, the band had grown weary of the musically limited mod scene, which was on its last legs. Guitarist Pete Watson had been replaced by Martin Stone, and the band had developed a more mature sound, one only hinted at on such previous cuts as "Twenty-Fourth Hour".