Music Appreciation

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,412 posts) Mon Apr 27, 2020, 05:23 AM Apr 2020

On April 19, 1968, Odessey and Oracle, by the Zombies, was released in the UK.

George Noory played part of a song from that album the other night. I was not familiar with it, but it turns out to be well thought of.

Coast to Coast Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: I want to find out the artist of one of the bumper music songs played on the radio show. Where can I get this information?
A: To find out what songs are played on Coast to Coast AM, just check the nightly Bumper Music list. You can get to it by visiting the corresponding show page (date listed for a show when you click on Shows on the horizontal navigation bar). Once you get to that page, scroll down past the show recap, and you'll see the list. The list is typically posted after the live show airs at 2AM PT/5AM ET.

Investigating the Anomalous / Strange Tales

BUMPER MUSIC
Bumper music from Saturday April 25, 2020

Midnight Express (The Chase)
Giorgio Moroder

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Bruce Springsteen

This Will Be Our Year
The Zombies

{snip}

George Noory started talking about the album, and how it was recorded at Abbey Road after the Beatles album named for the studios, and how great it was. I hadn't heard of it. I didn't write down anything of what he said, as I was half-awake at the time.

I got to Googling this morning.

List of recordings made at Abbey Road Studios, 1960-1969

There it was. The misspelling makes it a little tougher than usual to find.

Odessey and Oracle

Released: 19 April 1968
Recorded: 1 June – 7 November 1967
Studio: Abbey Road and Olympic Studios, London, England

Odessey and Oracle is the second studio album by English rock band the Zombies. It was originally released in the UK in April 1968 by CBS Records.

The album was recorded over a period of three months between June and August 1967. The sessions took place at Abbey Road Studios and Olympic Studios in London. It was received indifferently on release. A single from the album "Time of the Season" later became a surprise hit in the United States in early 1969.

The album gradually achieved fame and has since become one of the most acclaimed albums of the 1960s. It was ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was voted number 637 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.

{edited to add:}

Release history

Odessey and Oracle was released in the UK on 19 April 1968. Clive Davis, the head of CBS in the US, initially decided not to release the album. However, the US Columbia label had released the single "Care Of Cell 44" on 21 November 1967 to complete indifference.

CBS staff producer Al Kooper had picked up a copy of the album during a trip to London, and when he returned to America and played the album he loved it. He believed it contained three hit singles. At the urging of Kooper the US division of CBS was eventually persuaded to release the album on the little known Date Records subsidiary label in June.

Date released "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" as a single in the US, feeling that the song's anti-war theme would resonate with record-buyers due to the Vietnam War. The next single, "Time of the Season," slowly gained popularity before finally hitting big on the US charts in 1969. After the song became a hit Date re-released the album with severely cropped artwork. By this time Rod Argent and Chris White were busy with their new band, Argent.

Here's the song: