T A B L E__T A L K

Which music documentaries and concert films are worth watching? Select your favorites in the Music section of Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

Cloudberry Jam
Providing the Atmosphere
Day Behavior
Adored
Ray Wonder
Good Music
North of No South
(01/07/98)

Free Kitten
Sentimental Education
Kill Rock Stars
(01/06/98)

Les Paul
The Complete Trios Plus (1936-47)
Decca
(01/05/98)

Various Artists
Good Will Hunting Soundtrack
Capitol
(12/23/97)

Various Artists
Jackie Brown, Original Soundtrack
A Band Apart/Maverick
(12/22/97)

BROWSE THE
MUSIC ARCHIVES

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V O W E L L

Sound Salvation
By Sarah Vowell
Survey says ...
Give the people what they want
(12/12/97)

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F E A T U R E

High notes
By Cynthia Joyce
Salon contributors answer the question: what was your most significant musical moment of 1997?
(12/24/97)

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___T H E_Z O M B I E S_ = = = > zombie heaven > B I G_B E A T____

| BY DAWN EDEN |

Just after the four-CD boxed set "Zombie Heaven" came out, I ran into a fellow Zombies fan, a producer for one of America's leading reissue labels. Had he gotten the box yet? I asked. Yes, he had. How was it?

He paused and said stoically, "I'm really glad we didn't do it."

Indeed, it's all but impossible to imagine an American label doing as beautiful a job as the British label Big Beat (an Ace subsidiary) did on "Zombie Heaven." For dedicated fans of '60s Britpop, the aptly named release is the most eagerly awaited reissue since the Beatles' "Anthology" series. Certainly its packaging -- a glossy hardback book with four CDs inside the covers -- puts the latter to shame. As for the music, well, anyone who doubts that a group who only had three Top 10 hits deserves such deluxe treatment will have to admit they do after giving the set a full listen.

Zombie Heaven's book (at 68 full-size pages, "booklet" doesn't really apply) includes an afterword by rock critic/Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye and a foreword by Tom Petty, who writes, "If you weren't fortunate enough to hear this music when it first appeared in the mid-Sixties, you will never know the extremes of its magic." No doubt that's true, but, just the same, "Zombie Heaven" does its utmost to convey that magic. The set is the brainchild of expatriate British rock historian Alec Palao, who produced it and wrote the book. (Some may recall him from the Sneetches, the modern-age San Francisco group legendary for its ability to perform upon request an entire set of Zombies tunes, including unreleased ones.)

Although Palao is clearly a superfan, he writes with that classic British detachment, not wasting any time gushing when he might be relating a Zombie member's recollection. And he has plenty of recollections to choose from. The amount of participation from the group's original members is unprecedented for a reissue of this kind -- all five Zombies granted extensive interviews. Their excellent memories complement one another so that between their stories, one gets a wide perspective on the group's inner and outer history. Palao's book uses their quotes to the fullest with a chronology/oral history and commentary on each of the set's 119 tracks.

One hundred and nineteen tracks? It's hard to believe that a group that only released two albums in its lifetime -- 1964's "Begin Here" and 1968's "Odessey [sic] and Oracle" -- could have that much in the can. "Zombie Heaven" proffers not only those albums and the group's many non-LP singles, but also the "lost" album that would have followed up "Odessey and Oracle" and an entire disc of live BBC radio performances. On top of that, the tireless Palao hunted down scads of demos, many from the Zombies' private collections.

Amazingly, none of the tracks on "Zombie Heaven" are superfluous, because all of them contain most or all of the elements that made the group's hits great; Colin Blunstone's incredible, Nina Simone-like voice, Rod Argent's legendary organ skills (also a hallmark of his '70s group, Argent), perfect pop songwriting and a tight-as-Beatle-boots groove. Unlike many of their British Invasion contemporaries, the Zombies were short on imitation and long on innovation. "Odessey and Oracle," which only made it to No. 95 in the U.S. and missed the U.K. charts entirely, is now recognized as one of the greatest works of the psychedelic era. It made Mojo magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made and is a favorite of many modern rock bands, including Fountains of Wayne, who do a live cover of "Care of Cell 44."

The big question here is, if you know and love only the Zombies' big hits -- "She's Not There," "Tell Her No" and "Time of the Season" -- do you really need "Zombie Heaven"? That's a tough one -- but how much do you really need anything? If you don't miss the days when one album could change your whole life, then you will probably be content with any single-disc budget-line Zombies best-of. But if you like to put on a CD and exclaim, "GodDAMN, that's good!" then you won't be disappointed with "Zombie Heaven." Reading about the Zombies' highly intellectual private-school background, you may even be inspired to use more civilized language.
SALON | Jan. 8, 1997