VINYLART #2 ODESSEY AND ORACLE


The Zombies UK, 1968 Artwork by Terry Quirk


Pseudo-classical references, obligatory flower power flourishes and that typo adorn this autumnal masterpiece of ’60s Britpop. By CARL TWEED.


Y


OU HAVE TO FEEL SORRY for Terry Quirk. Everyone has the occasional dyslexic moment, not helped by the idiosyncrasies of the


English language.


Me, I’m still haunted by one of the questions in my eleven plus exam. The answer was either desert or dessert. I’m buggered if I know even now which word refers to spotted dick and which to the Kalahari.


My nightmares are nothing compared to poor old Grammar School educated Terry’s blunder in writing “Odessey” instead of “Odyssey” in his best semi-legible psychedelic lettering on the cover of arguably the greatest English baroque pop album of all-time.


Didn’t The Zombies’ early publicity make a big deal about their 50 GCEs? No wonder Rod Argent and Chris White –who didn’t spot the gaffe until shortly before the painting was due at the printers –were suitably embarrassed by the linguistic faux pas.


They went so far as to cobble together a story about it being a deliberate play on the word “ode”. Sounds feasible? Angelic-voiced Colin


90


Blunstone certainly believed so. It was only a couple of years ago that Rod Argent let slip the truth!


Funny thing is, more than 40 years down the line, it’s impossible to imagine the album being called Odyssey And Oracle. Instead of a slightly pretentious title suggesting some sort of journey, probably involving Tolkienesque dragons and fairies, leading to spiritual enlightenment, we have a quirky play on words with multiple meanings.


Very English. Very Lewis Carroll or Spike Milligan. (As an aside, did you know Milligan was a neighbour of Quirk et al? Maybe his presence was a sub-conscious influence).


Quirk was undoubtedly a talented artist. He did posters for Middle Earth and The Marquee, and painted his Mini in black and white psychedelic art complete with the Mona Lisa on the roof. I think it’s true to say, however, that he wasn’t operating in the same rarefied circles as, say, The Fool or Hapshash And The Coloured Coat. But two things made him ideal for this commission.


Firstly, his intimate knowledge of the band. He’d watch Chris White in the flat they shared as his songs came together on the


guitar and harmonium, having witnessed the real-life events which inspired them.


Secondly, he had the same English Grammar School sensibility as The Zombies –a love of choral music, Shakespeare, rugby and cricket, the countryside and the changing of the seasons.


You certainly get your money’s worth with the sleeve. The main inspiration is classical mythology, but there’s also Romeo and Juliet, swirls of colour which could be fossils, a sunflower, an artist applying a few final strokes of paint, the band members’ names and lots more besides.


The end result is ethereal and romantic, two words that could just as easily be used to describe the music within –the finest The Zombies recorded in a four year career overflowing with great moments.


Apart from the lettering –which clearly owes a debt to the West Coast counterculture posters of Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley – Quirk manages to avoid the worst excesses and clichés of the Summer of Love and produces something just right for the psychedelic comedown and English winter of February ’68.


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