Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Welcome Back!, May 25, 2007
In the broadest sense, I think it's fair to say that the Zombies got a raw deal. They were one of the most talented and intelligent bands during the latter part of the British invasion, and yet they were thrown on the scrap heap of history. Two ridiculously catchy hit singles swept through America during our '64-'65 obsession with the London scene; "Tell Her No" and "She's Not There" combine raw rock and roll with a jazz sensibility that still sounds fresh today. Subsequently, their record company rewarded the band by refusing to issue their brilliant psychedelic album masterpiece entitled "Odessey and Oracle." Thankfully, Al Kooper (of Blood, Sweat & Tears, the Dylan sessions, et. al.) saw the folly of this decision and begged Columbia to right the situation. Eventually, the album saw daylight, but sold poorly, despite the extracted single that became a best seller. "Time of the Season" sounded ahead of its time in 1968, despite the fact that it was recorded nearly two years before its release. Eventually, the band collapsed under the weight of so much indifference, and the most we've heard since then is the occasional project by keyboardist Rod Argent.
"Live at Bloomsbury Theatre" celebrates the reunion of Rod Argent with vocalist Colin Blunstone. Technically, they alone cannot represent a reforming of the Zombies, since songwriter/vocalist Chris White has always been an integral part of the band. His absence is felt, but after so much time, it's nice to hear these tunes, even without White's crucial input. The CD is a generous 2-disk set containing 25 songs, while the DVD pairs the song selection down to a less unwieldy 15 tracks. The editing is a good thing, allowing the video to hold the viewer's interest significantly better than the CD collection. All of the major hits are here, including Argent's best-known solo work, such as "Hold Your Head Up" and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You." The performances are admirably executed, often utilizing a string section to augment that standard rock and roll configuration of the actual band. Argent sounds great and Blunstone is in fine voice throughout. In summation, "Live at the Bloomsbury" is a fine but faulted collection, never quite transcending its aura of nostalgia, while glossing over the absence of Chris White. B Tom Ryan
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
BUY THE ENGLISH IMPORT, April 12, 2007
Great show, but if you want the complete show and have an all region dvd player , spend the extra bucks to get the English Import!!! Missing from the American release of this show are 5 songs. Say You Dont Mind, Misty Roses, Old and Wise, Just Out of Reach, and Summertime. The performance, video and sound are however brilliant. I only gave the American release 4 stars because of the hatchet job they did to this dvd. Too bad!!! Dont understand why this was done!!!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific concert video, June 9, 2007
The Zombies were always the most underrated of British Invasion bands, and the crowning insult from history was having their best album, Oddessey and Oracle, come out after their breakup and disappear under the radar. In my opinion that record is one of the best rock records ever produced, with song writing that rivaled the Beatles best. It's a tremendous treat, then, to have this concert video of Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone performing many of those songs with a strong backing band. The production is perfectly appropriate for the band, too, with classy lighting and a minimum of quick cuts and other examples of the director upstaging the band. The sound is good, too. The real treat, though, is in the performances. The most exciting thing about this DVD is finding that Colin Blunstone has lost none--absolutely none--of his incredible voice. His range is still there and his judgement is flawless in every situation. He sings with passion and joy and a set of pipes that no singer has rivalled since the 1960s (for a real treat, find a CD called Five Live Zombies, which features the early Zombies doing a lot of R & B--you won't believe what Colin does with that material). The whole band plays with feeling and verve; no bored resting on laurels or phoning in the performances. It really feels like it's 1965 again. And it doesn't get better than that. There's a companion CD of this concert, and it contains 25 songs as opposed to the DVD's 16; I can't figure out why they didn't include the entire show on the DVD. Usually in this cases, the DVD has more material than the audio CD. It makes this disc shorter than you might expect and certainly shorter than I would like. Other than that, though, it's a slam dunk.
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