Odessey and Oracle is the second studio album by English rock band The Zombies. Mainly recorded between June and August 1967 at Abbey Road and Olympic Studios, it was released on 19 April 1968 by CBS Records. "Time of the Season" was released as a single and became a surprise hit in early 1969. The album was received indifferently on release, but has since become critically acclaimed. It ranked #100 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Odessey and Oracle was released in the UK on 19 April 1968 and in the US in June. The single "Time of the Season" became a surprise hit in early 1969, and Columbia Records (in the US) re-released Odessey in February, with a different album cover that severely cropped the original artwork.
American CBS boss Clive Davis initially decided not to release the album. However, at the urging of staff producer Al Kooper, the US CBS/Columbia Records label was eventually persuaded to release the album on their small Date Records subsidiary label. Kooper had picked up a copy of the album during a trip to London and, when he returned to America and played the album, loved it and believed it contained three hit singles. CBS chose to release "Butcher's Tale" as the first single in the States, feeling the song's anti-war theme would resonate with record-buyers due to the Vietnam War. After its release, "Time of the Season" slowly gained popularity before finally hitting big on the US charts in 1969, by which time Rod Argent and Chris White were busy with their new band, Argent.
No comments:
Post a Comment