Keith Doughty discusses songs, albums and artists that are unappreciated, unknown, and/or unfairly-maligned by the general public. This is Hidden Tracks.

The Zombies - "Beechwood Park"

And the breeze would touch your hair
Kiss your face and make you care
About your world
Your summer world

When people look back at the British Invasion of the 1960’s, the groups that immediately come to mind are The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and perhaps The Kinks. Of course, many other groups were part of the British Invasion, they just tend to be forgotten because they didn’t achieve the level of success that these groups did (remember Herman’s Hermits?). The Zombies are another example of a semi-forgotten British Invasion band. In 1965 The Zombies had two top-ten singles in the US: "She’s Not There" and "Tell Her No." During the next couple years The Zombies released several singles that couldn’t replicate their earlier success. Believing that they were unlikely to make it in the music business much longer, in 1967 The Zombies got together to record what they decided would be their final album.

That album, Odessey and Oracle, was released in 1968 to little or no fanfare and the group broke up shortly thereafter. Strangely, a year after its release the album’s last song, "Time of the Season," became a big hit in the US. Although it wasn’t enough to bring the full band back together, various incarnations of The Zombies have toured over the years and "Time of the Season" is still a staple of classic rock radio stations (or are they Oldies stations now?).

Still, even though many people have heard "Time of the Season," the Odessey and Oracle album itself tends to get overlooked. That’s a shame because it’s an amazing record, easily one of the best pop albums of the 1960s. I strongly encourage everyone to listen to the entire album, however I’m going to spend the rest of this post highlighting one of my favorite songs from the record.

Click to read more ...