The time frame in which the Zombies formed, created their best-known material, and initially broke up was roughly six years, burning bright from around 1962 until going into the recording of their 1968 masterpiece Odessey and Oracle knowing they were going to disband after it came out. Their second act has been considerably longer, with founding members Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone officially taking back up the Zombies mantle in the early 2000s and producing multiple albums of new material thereafter. Different Game is a ...
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The time frame in which the Zombies formed, created their best-known material, and initially broke up was roughly six years, burning bright from around 1962 until going into the recording of their 1968 masterpiece Odessey and Oracle knowing they were going to disband after it came out. Their second act has been considerably longer, with founding members Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone officially taking back up the Zombies mantle in the early 2000s and producing multiple albums of new material thereafter. Different Game is a snapshot of where the Zombies are at in 2023, ruminating on what in life changes and what stays the same as the seasons keep moving forward. A legacy act of the Zombies' caliber could simply rewrite their hits over and over, but they choose a different path here. While there are some beautiful moments of baroque pop, like the eerie strings and vocals that constitute "I Want to Fly" or the bittersweet balladry of "You Could Be My Love," the most ear-catching moments come in the songs that sound cut from a different cloth than the band's '60s material. While the album-opening title track is driven by a loud and emphatic "Whiter Shade of Pale"-evoking organ, the song has a more forceful presence than the fragile and haunted sound the group is best known for. The drums pop and the song amps up to an almost hard rock chorus heavy on guitars and slightly snarling backing vocals. This harder-edged sound shows up again on songs like "Merry-Go-Round" and the sauntering "Dropped Reeling & Stupid," a song whose cool electric piano and crunchy guitars sound like Steely Dan in a particularly aggressive mood. The band never stray completely from the sound they established decades ago but adapt it to new ideas, often returning to themes of progress. "Got to Move On" embodies this, trying on a bluesy style complete with honking, distorted harmonica and a shuffling pace, but does it in a Zombies style. The song reprises the overlapping piano and guitar noodling of the band's biggest hit "Time of the Season" yet updates it with more-ferocious soloing. The album is split fairly evenly between tunes that branch out into relatively newer territory and those that stick closer to the band's signature sound of distantly beautiful pop. As ever, all the surrounding details are reduced to afterthoughts whenever Blunstone sings. Regardless of the direction any particular song takes, his one-of-a-kind voice steals the show. After all these years, his ability to convey magnanimous emotions in the space of a gentle whisper is still what makes the Zombies so special. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi
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