Customer Reviews

2525 (Exordium & Terminus)/Zager & Evans

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Well gang , here it is. A "legal" release of these (sadly) one-hit wonders of the 60's. "In The Year 2525" is , of course , the high point of this duo's output , but there is so much more to discover , or in my case , revisit than just that one classic song.
Having owned the original vinyls for many years , I have been forced to listen to pops and clicks for far too long. The releasing label has issued quality product for many a year , and I was comfortable that this would be up to their usual standards.
I'm glad to report that it is.
Although the liner notes are non-existent , it is all about the music here. Some of the selections are dated (and humorous to listen to now) , but both albums are full of finely-crafted and performed songs.
If you are a fan of 60's folk / semi-psych music , you will be pleasantly rewarded with this release. ENJOY!

In the annals of the One-Hit Wonder, no single artist or group ever fell off a steeper cliff than the Lincoln, Nebraska duo of guitarist/vocalists Denny Zager and Rick Evans. After being part of a group formed at Nebraska Wesleyan University called The Eccentrics, they recorded a song as Zager & Evans in 1968 that Evans had first penned in 1964 called In The Year 2525 (Exordium And Terminus) for the small, local Truth Records label b/w Little Kids (Truth 8082). Backing them were drummer Dave Trupp and bass player Mark Dalton, both previously with the popular local Liberation Blues Band.

The rather morose lyrics, which painted a stark, bleak future for humanity by warning of the dangers of unchecked technological and scientific advances, caught the ears of enough local listeners when played by a number of DJs in both Lincoln and Omaha to interest RCA Victor who picked up the record and re-released it as RCA Victor 0174. To everyone's amazement, it shot up the Billboard Pop Hot 100 AND Adult Contemporary charts to # 1, where it sat on July 20, 1969 - the day Neil Armstrong placed his foot on the moon. It spent 6 solid weeks at # 1 Hot 100 and two at # 1 AC, and was still holding the top spot on the opening day in August of the legendary Woodstock Festival.

Figuring they had struck gold, RCA then rushed out an album bearing the same name as the song (RCA LSP 4214), using the same four artists, and these are reflected in this CD as tracks 1 to 10. The original B-side of the debut hit, Little Kids, was not included and remains impossible to find on CD. But while the album sold modestly well thanks to that one huge hit, nothing else they did could ever get back that national attention. Nor did the follow-up album titled Zager & Evans in 1970 (RCA LSP 4302) containing tracks 11 to 20 here. A single combining Mr. Turnkey from that second LP (with an even blacker subject about a rapist nailing his wrist to a jail wall out of guilt) b/w Cary Lynn Javes from the first album, failed dismally.

Another album had been released in 1969 by White Whale Records, first launched in 1965 in L.A. by Ted Feigin and Lee Lassiff, who owned material cut by the duo when they were part of The Eccentrics, but since they only had the rights to a handful of songs, the flipside contained tracks by a group known as J.K. & Co., hence the title The Early Writings Of Zager & Evans (And Others). Clearly an attempt to capitalize on their huge RCA hit, sales were less than modest. The same applies to an LP cut in 1971 for Vanguard, Food For The Mind, out of which one single emerged - Hydra 15,000/I Am (Vanguard 35125 - which also went nowhere.

Most of the material in the two LPs represented here was unexceptional, to put it mildly, so if it's the one big hit you're looking for, seek it out on a multi-artist compilation because here, collectors of hit singles won't even get the B-side. In that regard I would recommend the BMG Special Products 2004 3-CD (30 tracks) release "Sixties Classics."

This was previously owned on an 8 track; that's how long ago I listened to it!! It was great to hear it again. Sound quality wonderful compared to what I remembered. Fun, bittersweet and timeless music!

Well I was kind of disappointed in this CD. But the one hit wonder is still great to this day! In the year 2525!!!!!

This CD was a gift and was an instant hit. It was more exciting that there were 2 for the price of one.

Zager & Evans/ 2525 Exordium Terminus & Zager & Evens (two albums on one CD from Wounded Bird Records): The only hit here is "2525". All the other songs are good but unremarkable. Still, it is a pleasant CD and it remains the best place to get your copy of the one hit song.