
Real 60s music collectors will know all about the Zombies. With one of the most distinctive sounds of any of the great 60s beat groups they enjoyed hits with classics like ‘She’s Not There’ , ‘Tell Her No’ while they also recorded a fab version of ‘Going Out Of My Head’.
In singer COLIN BLUNSTONE, the Zombies were lucky to have one the most unusual yet most beguiling blue-eyed soul singers of their era. Oddly though when the Zombies imploded, Colin quit the industry and went off to sell insurance! It’s thought that his disillusionment with the biz stemmed from the failure of a brief stab at solo stardom when he used the name Neil MacArthur.
In the 70s he was tempted back to a music career and in the middle of the decade he was signed to Elton John’s Rocket Records where he recorded two long players – ‘Planes’ and ‘Never Even Thought’. Neither have ever been reissued – till now, as Cherry Red pair them on a welcome “twofer”.
‘Planes’ and ‘Never Even Thought’ aren’t soul albums, of course, but Blunstone’s vocal has a strange soulful quality that is hard to ignore. Amongst the highlights across the 21 tracker are ‘Loving And Free’ (a gentle ballad originally recorded by another great blue-eyed soul voice, Kiki Dee) and his own ‘Ain’t It Funny’