{"id":10173,"date":"2013-07-11T11:32:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T18:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=10173"},"modified":"2013-07-11T11:32:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-11T18:32:49","slug":"turtles-zombies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/07\/turtles-zombies\/","title":{"rendered":"TURTLES & ZOMBIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

TURTLES & ZOMBIES<\/b><\/h1>\n

Having seen The Turtles and The Zombies (twice) in the last month, I can already declare this summer to be a success.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"the-zombies\"

The Zombies<\/p><\/div>\n

Actually, several years ago I got to see both bands together<\/i>, at the Hippiefest<\/i> tour stop in Coney Island. The two groups, both dating back to the 1960s and retaining their two key original members, quite appropriately shared the same backstage trailer, and each stayed on stage to watch the other\u2019s show, with Turtles lead singer Howard Kaylan afterward intimating that he was so in awe of Blunstone, that he was building up the courage to tell him, before the end of the tour, that he was his biggest influence as a singer.<\/p>\n

I saw the obvious connection last week at the second Zombies gig. Kaylan definitely matches Blunstone\u2019s truly awesome range and precision, though no one can meet his level of joy. Then again, as Rod Argent noted at the beginning, he and Blunstone never imagined that at this stage of their careers\u201452 years after first forming\u2014they\u2019d be out there singing their British Invasion hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re as old as you feel,\u201d Blunstone said early on July 3 at the Payomet Performing Arts Center in the Cape Cod village of North Truro. \u201cI sometimes feel very, very old!\u201d<\/p>\n

No older\u2014or not by much\u2014than anyone in the intimate outdoor house (front rows were so close, Blunstone noted, that if they were any closer those in them would be singing backup, \u201cunpaid, I hasten to add!\u201d), and when they played Central Park SummerStage three weeks earlier, it was all-ages, what with twenty-somethings and younger singing along to not only the big hits but album tracks from the band\u2019s 1968 album masterpiece Odessey And Oracle<\/i>, which they focused on along with songs from equally excellent new album Breathe Out, Breathe In<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"The-Turtles-Howard-Kaylan-and-Mark-Volman\"

The Turtles’ Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman<\/p><\/div>\n

As Blunstone noted, The Zombies\u2019 also performed material that they hadn\u2019t done live the first time around, as well as Blunstone and Argent solo songs recorded between 1968, when the group disbanded, and 2001, when it commenced its second life. These included his cover of \u201cWhat Becomes of the Brokenhearted,\u201d recorded for Dave Stewart and a huge hit in 1980 in England and Europe\u2014but not the U.S., \u201csadly,\u201d said Blunstone, \u201cbut I don\u2019t want you to think I hold you personally responsible!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The-Zombies-Colin-Blunstone-and-Rod-Argent\"

The Zombies Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent<\/p><\/div>\n

Argent, of course, contributed \u201cHold Your Head Up,\u201d his signature 1972 hit with his band Argent. He noted, for accuracy\u2019s sake, that the chorus is not<\/i> \u201cHold your head up, Whoa!,\u201d as is generally believed, but \u201cHold your head up, woman!\u201d His baroque organ solo on it and the set-closing, letter-perfect version of the Zombies\u2019 monster debut hit \u201cShe\u2019s Not There\u201d underscored his position among the handful of rock\u2019s great and readily identifiable keyboard aces\u2014just as Blunstone remains among its greatest and most distinctive vocalists.<\/p>\n

Not to leave the others out, for bassist Jim Rodford was the band Argent\u2019s co-founder and played for years with The Kinks, as well as The Animals and Lonnie Donegan. His son Steve was on drums, and Tom Toomey was, to use Argent\u2019s word, delicious<\/i>.<\/p>\n

One more thing: Argent and Blunstone, on and off stage, are two of the nicest guys imaginable: You couldn\u2019t ask for a softer sell when it comes to promoting a new album, as Argent informed the crowd that he and the band had signed all the new CDs, that they were available, and that purchase or not, he hoped everyone would visit the Zombies\u2019 website to sample it.<\/p>\n

\"the-turtles\"

The Turtles<\/p><\/div>\n

Cut to Howard Kaylan and his longtime partner Mark Volman, together now almost as long as The Zombies. Nice guys, too, they continue to have a blast on stage, as evidenced by their current Happy Together Tour<\/i> stop a couple weeks ago at NYCB Theatre at Westbury. Kaylan, who gives Blunstone credit as an influence in his new memoir Shell Shocked<\/i>, goofed on both his and Volman\u2019s longevity and mortality, when he encouraged the crowd to take a posed picture of the pair, perhaps the last one ever, he suggested, noting that at their age, either or both could drop dead afterwards.<\/p>\n

But the Turtles\u2019 set (following shorter ones by fellow \u201960s icons Gary Lewis, Mark Lindsay, Gary Puckett and Chuck Negron), like the Zombies\u2019, sounded live\u2014and dead-on: Miraculously, Kaylan, Volman, Blunstone and Argent have lost not a note in 50 years, their songs sounding as fresh and perfect today as they did when first heard on the radio. And really, hardly a day goes by when you don\u2019t hear \u201cHappy Together\u201d in a movie or commercial, not to mention \u201cHold Your Head Up,\u201d still frequently heard in a Scottrade spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to our music, man<\/i>?\u201d Kaylan asked at the beginning, after he and Volman hysterically took the stage in Psy garb and \u201cGangnam Style\u201d song and dance. They answered with their music\u2014our<\/i> music\u2014that brings us back in touch with who we are, and lets us feel good about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That neither The Turtles nor The Zombies are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is, as they say, a travesty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jim Bessman<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TURTLES & ZOMBIES Having seen The Turtles and The Zombies (twice) in the last month, I can already declare this summer to be a success. Actually, several years ago I got to see both bands together, at the Hippiefest tour stop in Coney Island. The two groups, both dating back to the 1960s and retaining […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4976],"tags":[6839,6837,6838,6840,6836,6835],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10179,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10173\/revisions\/10179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}