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After the show,
Colin Blunstone said, "It's not often you come off stage feeling as good
as this. They were a brilliant audience and seemed to be really enjoying
the the show. I know we did!" That sentiment was echoed by Rod Argent.
An excellent night with everyone including the sound man on top form.
 Colin Blunstone
and Rod Argent are brilliant musicians and have stood the test of
time. There have been some good times, some quiet times, but now is the
right time. There is a huge surge in popularity for these two, partly due
to the quality of their live shows and partly due to their superb new
albums. Now is the time to see them. Read on, then order your
tickets, you will enjoy this show!
The recent album "OUT OF
THE SHADOWS"
produced the single "Sanctuary"
and scored lots of airplay from the radio
stations especially BBC Radio 2 which has the biggest block of
listeners in the UK.
Joining Rod and Colin on
stage are a fantastic band comprising of former Argent bass player Jim
Rodford with his son
Steve on drums plus top session player
and local lad Keith
Airy on guitar. The show will have songs such as the Zombies "She’s
Not There"; "Time Of The Season", Colin’s solo
hit’s, "Say You Don’t Mind"; "Caroline
Goodbye", the best of Argent such as, "Hold Your
Head Up" and "God Gave Rock & Roll To You"
amongst a host of other well known and much loved songs drawn from the
careers of these two great talents.
The
background story .....
In
the early 60's four teenagers from Hertfordshire formed a new group that
was destined to achieve top ten hits on both sides of the Atlantic, sell
millions of records and carve out a singular niche in the history of pop
music.....the ZOMBIES. With 18 year
old Colin Blunstone on lead vocals and Rod Argent on keyboards, they first
came to prominence when their debut single "She's
Not There" reached Number 12 in the U.K. pop charts. The song
when released in the USA achieved even greater success, hitting the Number
1 spot in the Cashbox Chart and Number 2 in Billboard. (that's big!)
The
individual, breathy voice of Colin Blunstone, coupled with Rod's
distinctive keyboard style and his brilliantly penned songs gave the Zombies
an unmistakable style and musical identity.
Further
hits came with "Tell Her
No" and "Time Of The
Season" whilst two successful albums "Begin
Here" and the oddly spelt, but beautiful "Odessey And Oracle" were released in 1965 and 1968
respectively, proving the extent of the bands exceptional talents, still
widely acknowledged today.
When
the Zombies split, Colin and Rod moved in different directions, Colin into
the World of pop and Rod into the World of progressive rock.
Colin
signed to the Epic Label and recorded the albums "One Year" (1971) and "Ennismore" (1972), which respectively spawned the huge
hit singles "Say You Don't
Mind" and "I Don't
Believe In Miracles". These were followed in 1974 by the fabulous
"Journey" album before
Colin signed to ELTON JOHN'S Rocket label and moved out to
California where he recorded "Planes"
(1976), "Never Even
Thought" (1978) and "Late
Night's In Soho" (1979).
In
the 70's, Rod Argent formed his self named band ARGENT with whom he
scored a massive hit "Hold Your Head Up" which
became one of the rock anthems of the decade on both sides of the
Atlantic. Argent enjoyed further single success and two of the bands eight
albums hit the upper reaches of the LP charts.
The
80's found Colin back in the UK but unable to release solo material due to
a long contractual dispute. He was however able to perform on a number of
releases by the ALAN PARSON'S PROJECT and featured on DAVE
STEWART'S version of Jimmy Ruffin's "What
Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" which saw Colin back in the charts
once again.
Rod
Argent meanwhile released a couple of acclaimed solo albums. One,
"Ghosts" was recorded in conjunction with saxophonist BARBARA
THOMPSON and legendary drummer JON HISEMAN. The remainder of
the 80's was spent in production work and scoring television drama's.
Colin
began the 90's with a new album entitled "Colin Blunstone Sings His Greatest Hits" (recently
re-released). It's an excellent collection of re-recorded tunes from
Colin's Zombie days and also from his solo career. The album proved that
Colin still possessed one of the most distinctive voices in the business
and spurred him on to work once again. This was followed by "Echo
Bridge" in 1995 and "The
Light Inside" in 1998. Colin by now was back on the road,
enjoying sell-out shows at London's Borderline Club and prestigeous
appearances at The Cafe Royal.
Rod
Argent, who had witnessed one or two of Colin's shows, was enticed back on
stage for a Zombies reunion at the Jazz Cafe to help promote the release
of the four CD box set "Zombie
Heaven". Colin and Rod, who had always kept in touch, discussed
the possibilities of recording and playing live together once more which
led to a few shows in May 1999. The success of those shows led to a major
U.K. tour throughout May and June 2000 with the highlight being two
sell-out shows at the Jazz Café in London.
Some
old songs, some new songs,
but a guaranteed great night!
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