The Zombies Announce The Releases of Their Album ‘Odessey and Oracle Mono’

by Glenn Sargeant | Sep 11, 2025

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and “British Invasion” pioneers, The Zombies, announce the release of ‘Odessey & Oracle Mono’ Remastered on Friday 26th September 2025.

The album, the first of four definitive physical reissues from their catalogue, includes the classic songs “Time Of The Season,” “Care of Cell 44,” and “This Will Be Our Year” and is a regular entry in “Best Albums of All Time” lists in publications like Rolling Stone, NME, and Mojo Magazine.

The release, which coincides with The Zombies’ documentary, Hung Up On A Dream, broadcast earlier this Summer marks the first time the band’s original mono mix, remastered from studio tapes, has appeared on LP since the record’s British issue in 1968, presenting the album as they originally intended it to be heard.

Recorded primarily at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios in 1967, Odessey & Oracle was self-produced in Mono on a shoestring budget by primary songwriters Rod Argent (keyboards/ vocals) and Chris White (bass/vocals). Under last-minute pressure from their record label, the album was hastily remixed in the newly emerging Stereo format, which sacrificed key elements from the Mono recording, most notably the beloved horn parts, now restored in “This Will Be Our Year”.

Although never released as a single, this deep cut has found a new life thanks to prominent uses in TV and film, including memorable scenes in Mad Men, The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel, and Schitt’s Creek, along with covers by artists like Foo Fighters, OK Go and Susanna Hoffs. Its positive and uplifting message has been embraced by couples as a popular wedding song and become a staple of New Year’s playlists.

The album also includes new liner notes from famed writer, David Fricke.

Excerpt here:

Odessey and Oracle is very much of and about its time: songs of youth and love – the

lucky strike of attraction (“I Want Her She Wants Me”); flickering memories held tight

(“Brief Candles”); longing that defies the odds (“Maybe After He’s Gone”) – from pop’s

high season of amour, a crowded nirvana of landmark debuts (Pink Floyd, the Doors, the

Jimi Hendrix Experience) and definitive accounts of Britain’s psychedelic bloom…This

album was also built to stand the test of time, at the 11th hour by a band with everything

to prove.

“We were always dissatisfied with the production of our records,” Argent said in

1971 of the Zombies’ Decca work. “We wanted to produce an album before we broke up

to satisfy ourselves.” The result was a fearlessness that still rings fresh, that invention

driven by the Zombies’ stringent resources and their confidence in the songs.

The Zombies’ four surviving founding members, lead singer Colin Blunstone, keyboardist Rod Argent, bassist Chris White, and drummer Hugh Grundy, along with Helen Atkinson, the widow and Estate Trustee of late guitarist Paul Atkinson, acquired the rights to their catalogue last year from Marquis Enterprises Ltd, the independent UK production company they originally signed with as teens in 1964. Q Prime will manage all aspects of manufacturing, distribution and licensing for The Zombies’ new label imprint Beechwood Park Records, with a catalogue, that includes the timeless hit singles “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “I Want You Back Again.”

Of the partnership, Q Prime co-founder Cliff Burnstein says,

“There’s a very narrow window in a Venn diagram where love, admiration and business overlap. That’s what the deal is all about.” Q Prime boasts full label creative and digital marketing teams have offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Nashville and London.

Additionally, Primary Wave Music has formed a strategic marketing alliance with the band which will see the publisher provide marketing support alongside the team at Q Prime. The Zombies and their team will now have access, not only to Primary Wave’s marketing team but also their branding, content, digital, and sync departments.

Opportunities to see The Zombies coming up:

12th September – 180 Studios in London, listening session, with Q&A after

David Hepworth will moderate the Q&A with Colin Blunstone and Chris White.

25th September -In store with Rough Trade at Earth,

11 Stoke Newington Rd, London N16 8BH

Doors are at 7, Performance at 8, followed by Q&A moderated by Will Hodgkinson (The Times) w/ Colin Blunstone and Chris White.

Colin will be performing an acoustic set (5-6 songs) accompanied by Marc Rapson.

1st Oct – Listening session and Q&A at the Pioneer Club in St Albans

(The Zombies home-town)

Mike Naylor (Of BBC & Tri-County radio) will moderate the Q&A with Colin Blunstone and Chris White.

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By Hush PR

The Zombies ‘Odessey & Oracle Mono’ Remastered is released on Friday 26th September 2025.