Zombies "As Far As I Can See" -- as bad as I fear?

On one listen, not AS bad — but not great either. The most surprising thing is how Argent's knack for surprising chord changes hasn't dissipated. But the lyrics are iffy, and the arrangements, while not awful, sound very rushed at times. The strings, in particular, are disappointingly scholocky at certain moments. I may yet review this for Stylus.

I love the Zombies immoderately, and saw them here in Nashville back in February. They were amazing. Bought the CD at the show, so I've been listening to it for a while.

Have to say that it's pretty much a dud. Blunstone sings well as always--his voice is a little thinner--but the material is fairly awful. "Memphis" is a dead ringer for a minor Prefab Sprout song, one of the three good songs on the CD. Title track is, to my ears, pretty cool, nice "advanced" harmonies and sharp strings. I mean you can tell Rod Argent knows a lot about music and has ears, all that. Plus I'm a sucker for those strings. "Time to Move" is a nice basic blues driven by that Argent electric piano, the Zombies were always credible doing those kind of numbers. Overall, maybe actually a little better than the "New World" CD which featured all the original group in various combinations (and which included a pretty pointless cover of the Sprout's "When Love Breaks Down" sung not by Blunstone but by Chris White). And a really pointless remake of "Time of the Season."

Having listened to it again today, well put -- particularly good call on "Memphis", though, that DOES show some of the old Argent melodic innovation (that is, the writer, not the group).

Should say, though, as much as it's a sub-Prefab tune as performed by Elton John ca. 1970 (and with some really tripe lyrics), "Memphis" has been in my head all day. Perhaps Rod was inspired by Jordan: The Comeback?

yeah, funny, "Memphis" has kinda stuck with me too lately. I bet Colin and Rod listened to "Jordan," which is such a cool album. As songs about Memphis goes it's not bad at all--I lived there for ten years and attempts to sentimentalize that wacky town are, uh, always misguided I think--and altho the lyrics are tripe, there's something about them, and the tune, that's good.

So--you gonna review the album for Stylus?