Sunday, September 15, 2019

The Zombies - BBC Sessions, 1964-1967

I've already posted five stray tracks albums of the Zombies in the 1960s. In making those, I used songs they played at the BBC that weren't otherwise recorded anywhere. This contains all the other BBC performances the Zombies did from 1964 to 1967. In other words, BBC versions of songs that were on their singles and albums.

All but one of the songs here were officially released, and were on the great "Zombie Heaven" box set. The BBC performances sound great. Admittedly, the Zombies weren't exactly the Allman Brothers Band, doing long solos and playing their studio material differently in concert. These performances hew pretty close to the studio versions. But it's nice to see how tight and on they are, even with their harmonies, and they do show off soloing prowess within the confines of songs that weren't supposed to go over three minutes.

Note that none of the songs from their fantastic "Odessey and Oracle" album are here, except for one, "Friends of Mine." That's because the band broke up by the time that album came out in 1968, so there were no BBC or other live performances. "Friends of Mine" was recorded in 1967, just before the band called it quits.

It's been a long time since I edited these songs. But I recall very few to no instances of BBC DJs talking over the starts and ends of songs. As a result, I made few to no edits. I'm not sure why the Zombies got so lucky, since other BBC recordings from that time period have the DJs talking over a majority of the songs.

Unfortunately, I've discovered next to no live concert recordings of the Zombies in the 1960s. They did appear on TV a fair amount, but they often lip-synced to their records. One song here from "Zombie Heaven" actually was from a concert, "Just a Little Bit," and the one unreleased song, "Summertime," is also from a concert. And that's all I could find to fit here.

01 She's Not There (Zombies)
02 Road Runner (Zombies)
03 You Make Me Feel Good (Zombies)
04 Tell Her No (Zombies)
05 What More Can I Do (Zombies)
06 I'm Going Home (Zombies)
07 Tell Her No [Acoustic Piano Version] (Zombies)
08 Can't Nobody Love You (Zombies)
09 She's Coming Home (Zombies)
10 I Must Move (Zombies)
11 Just Out of Reach (Zombies)
12 If It Don't Work Out (Zombies)
13 Whenever You're Ready (Zombies)
14 Summertime (Zombies)
15 Just a Little Bit (Zombies)
16 Gotta Get a Hold of Myself (Zombies)
17 Goin' Out of My Head (Zombies)
18 Friends of Mine (Zombies)

The download link has been removed.

The cover art photo features the Zombies playing the "Top of the Pops" TV show in September 1965. I found the "Zombies" lettering from somewhere else and pasted it on top.

3 comments:

  1. I had the distinct pleasure of hearing these guys live in concert for the first time ever last night as the opening act for the Brian Wilson/Zombies tour wending its way across the US right now. It was such an emotional experience for me that I actually ended up crying through part of Odyssey and Oracle. I was that moved. I'm pushing real hard on 70 and the only other live performance I've ever seen that might top what they did last night was Chuck Berry at the Fillmore 47 years ago. It was a night and a performance I'll always remember. Thank you for putting these Zombies collections together. I've certainly enjoyed them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you. I always find great things on your blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A little bird told me that a link to the download file can be found here:

    https://atseghost.blogspot.com/2024/03/blog-post.html#more

    ReplyDelete