I Love You

Originally issued as Decca(4843)-1966.The Zombies: Colin Blunstone (vocals); Rod Argent (keyboards); Chris White (bass guitar).Liner Note Author: Andrew Sandoval.Photographers: Liz Hays; Andrew Sandoval.In 1966, the Zombies had already realized some success from their debut album, BEGIN HERE, but could not get their initial label, Decca, to release a follow-up. They defected to CBS, for whom they would record their masterwork, ODESSEY AND ORACLE, and, in the interim, Decca put out I LOVE YOU, a singles compilation that never saw US release. THE ZOMBIES (2004) marks the first American pressing of the aforementioned album, buoyed by a generous number of bonus tracks (additional A- and B-sides from the group's Decca years). While the conceptual baroque-pop sophistication of ODESSEY was still down the road, the phase represented by THE ZOMBIES shows the group to be one of the finest of the British Invasion-era bands--at their best they were fully on par with the Beatles' contemporaneous work.Colin Blunstone's smokey, fragile tenor and Rod Argent's jazz/R&B-tinged electric keyboards drive the Zombies' sound, as the disc moves through familiar hits ("She's Not There," "I Love You") and more obscure tracks (the airy, touching "The Way I Feel Inside," the swirling, atmospheric "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself"). While the absence of CBS material keeps this from being a definitive anthology, it's as fine a slice of mid-'60s British pop as one could desire.For reasons that have probably long vanished into the bureaucratic paper-shredder, this 1966 Zombies album was issued only in Continental Europe and Asia. In both the U.S. and U.K., there would be no Zombies full-lengths between 1965 (when varying versions of a debut LP appeared in each territory) and their 1968 finale, Odessey & Oracle. I Love You was not an album of material otherwise unavailable in the U.S. or U.K., however, but a collection of singles and LP tracks, all of which had already made it onto the U.S. or U.K. markets in some form, though most of them were taken from 45s that hadn't made it onto LP in either country. If you were a rock & roll fan traveling abroad in the '60s, then, it was quite a find, containing as it did numerous fine obscure mid-'60s flop singles and B-sides, some of which rate among the Zombies' finest work ("Indication," "Gotta Get a Hold of Myself," and "How We Were Before," for starters). Indeed, at the time, "She's Not There" was the only really commonly circulated track, and though "The Way I Feel Inside" had been on their British debut LP, it hadn't been released in the States. The album has very good music, for sure. But ultimately it would be a redundant item in the Zombies collection save for hardcore collectors (who might prize the sleeve showing the group posed in front of a soccer goal net), as all of the tracks have been subsequently reissued on numerous other compilations -- the Zombie Heaven box set, for example, including every last one of them. The 2004 CD reissue on Varese Sarabande added six additional 1965-1967 cuts, all but one ("I Can't Make Up My Mind") taken from at-the-time non-LP singles, some of them excellent, like "I Remember When I Loved Her" and "Just Out of Reach." It also added a little spice by using mono versions, stereo mixes, and U.K. single versions that might vary from ones more familiar to some listeners. But if you love the Zombies enough to treasure this music, there's a good chance you already have all or virtually all of these tracks, even in the specific mono/stereo formats presented here. (Incidentally, there remains some confusion about what the album is called; some discographies give the title as I Love You, but the Varese Sarabande reissue gives the title simply as The Zombies on the sleeve and spine, even though its liner notes refer to the album as I Love You.) ~ Richie Unterberger

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