Zombies and Peter Serafinowicz

by Parsley Post to Twitter

PARSLEY'S COMMLOCK
Concert Review : Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent, Millfield Theatre, 24/10/07
My friend Jorge (supremo of Spanish studios Circo Perrotti) was over to pick up a crazy early keyboard he bought on eBay, and after we got it we were looking for an evening's entertainment. Time Out was showing this gig at £8 a ticket and we rushed along to Edmonton only to find it was actually £18. The Millfield Theatre is one of those 'Mum's & Dad's' theatres like the Wyllyotts in Potters Bar, where you might expect a mixture of Christmas pantomimes, musicals and senior pop stars. The audience was fairly senior too. We got decent seats although it was pretty full, and settled down for the show. In case you didn't know, Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent were singer and keyboard player respectively with 60's band the Zombies, who had massive hits in the UK and the USA with 'She's Not There' and 'Time Of The Season'. However, like most sixties musicians they lived on through the seventies and beyond, so they are no longer wedded to the sixties instruments, songs and ways of recording that Jorge and I tend to work with. Colin Blunstone had a successful solo career in the seventies singing ballads that were sometimes sad and occasionally quite orchestral. 'Say You Don't Mind' and 'I Don't Believe in Miracles' were two of his hits. Rod Argent went on to found a rock band called 'Argent' and they had hits with 'Hold Your Head Up' and the recently revived 'God Gave Rock & Roll To You'. All of these got an airing in the show, as did other 'Zombies' material. Next March, we learned, The Zombies will be back with their original line up, except for the late Paul Atkinson on guitar, to perform the whole of their amazing psychedelic album 'Odessey & Oracle'. Tonight they performed the opening track 'Care of Cell 44'. It was magnificent and shone out in the performance. At the intermission the woman next to me shocked me by asking which one was Colin Blunstone and which was Rod Argent. I couldn't imagine paying £18 to see an act I knew that little about. Jorge's band 'Doctor Explosion' had supported Colin Blunstone when he played in Spain, and it turned out to be a similar show. In fact the guitarist had borrowed Jorge's guitar on that occasion and he recognised him when we met in the hallway during the intermission. Outside the hall we had a surprisingly expensive drink and checked out the items for sale, which included re-issues on Big Beat. I'd been on that label with The SolarFlares, so I enjoyed the thought of being 'stable mates' with them. Back to the hall for some more. Colin Blunstone's voice remains amazing and he was obviously enjoying himself. The songs were punctuated with band members introducing each other, grinning and pointing. It was kind of like they were saying 'yes, look, it's really him!' Generally the line up/sound was more suited to the rock numbers. I was surprised that whilst Steve Winwood plays a classic Hammond these days, Rod Argent was using a much more modern looking one. It was a guy at 'Argent's' keyboard shop (that used to be in Denmark Street) that gave me a list of the second-hand keyboards I should be looking for 27 years ago. I didn't have enough money to buy one of those on sale at the shop. I ended up with a Farfisa Compact Duo that I saw in Melody Maker. I had hoped to tell Rod Argent the story, and Jorge did his best afterwards to get us backstage, but unfortunately Rod was ill (he'd croaked his way through the set) and he wasn't available. Probably for the best, as I had an army of questions for him about writing the music in episodes of Danger Man and then ending up playing with The Who on 'Who Are You?' Danger Man's music was written by Edwin Astley, whose daughter married Pete Townsend of The Who, so I was hoping to learn more about these connections. As it was we were left wondering whether the Zombies performances next year will be reproduced in all their 60's specifics, or whether they will be adapted with the 'rock' ways of doing things that came after...

TV Tip : The Peter Serafinowicz Show, BBC Thursdays 9:30pm
Despite being difficult to pronounce, Serafinowicz's name sounds familiar, and it may be because he featured in Tomorrow's World spoof 'Look Around You'. Now he's got his own show, and despite the embarrassing trailers that told us it was going to be funny, it actually is. The episode I saw had him playing Simon Cowell in the 'X Factor', renamed 'You're A C**t', and featuring similar set/graphics. I think it was funny because he's so deadpan about the absurdity of what he's doing. It's like falling asleep watching trash TV and having it all take on nightmare dimensions in your sleep. The approach is in a Chris Morris vein, although where you could convince yourself that Morris was bordering on sadistic insanity, Serafinowicz, seems to be bordering on a cosy smirk. Very nice viewing and genuinely original.

parsley@gardenrecords.com [www.gardenrecords.com]