Although
the Zombies
broke up at the end of 1967, there wasn't a wholly clean break between that era and the time by which
Rod Argent
and
Chris White
established themselves with
Argent
, and
Colin Blunstone
established himself as a solo artist. For a year or two, they variously wrote, recorded, and produced demos and low-profile official releases as they hatched their next moves,
Blunstone
even left the music business entirely for a while. While some of this material came out under
name, much of it either remained unreleased or (in the case of
's recordings) was issued under the pseudonym of
Neil MacArthur
. The 20-track
Into the Afterlife
compilation rescues much of this rare material, combining numerous previously unissued demos recorded by the group's primary songwriters (
White
) with both sides of all three of the singles
released as
. It also offers a couple
MacArthur
/
outtakes, alternate "orchestral" mixes of a few late
Zombies
tracks, an Italian-language recording of
's
"She's Not There,"
and even a genuinely live-on-TV 1967
cover of
the Miracles
'
"Going to a Go-Go."
Far from being a barrel-scraping exercise, it shows the musicians to be making interesting music in its own right that often sounded like a natural continuation of what
had recorded in the late '60s.
handles lead vocals on the
demos, and while he's not quite as good a singer as
, he's both good and has a similar style, making those cuts sound pretty close to genuine
tracks. Their songs share many traits with
' material circa
Odessey and Oracle
in their
baroque
melodicism, breathy vocals, and haunting flavor, though with just a tinge of the
progressive rock
that was starting to emerge at the end of the '60s.
"Telescope (Mr. Galileo)"
"Unhappy Girl"
are both standouts in this regard, and
"To Julia (For When She Smiles),"
the best track on the entire CD, is more than a standout; its delicate combination of quasi-
classical
balladry and choral backup vocals is every bit the equal of the best tracks on
. The
tracks (including the minor U.K. hit remake of
"She's Not There"
) are more floridly produced orchestrated
pop/rock
, but also have their silky charms, particularly the cover of
Nilsson
"Without Her"
and the more understated, acoustic-oriented sad ballad
"World of Glass."
Thorough annotation by
expert
Alec Palao
ices the package, and as none of the tracks appear on the otherwise thorough
Palao
-compiled
box set
Zombie Heaven
, this CD is a necessary supplement to that box for fans of the group. ~ Richie Unterberger