Fact #111721
When:
Short story:
The Zombies announce that the group is splitting up.Full article:
Colin Blunstone (vocals, songwriter, The Zombies) : Odessey And Oracle (their second album) shouldn't have been the end really,. It should have been a new beginning. It's such a shame. But it seemed there was no interest in the album, and we were tired. Also for the three of us who weren't writers finances were getting a bit difficult. So I went back to the first place that offered me a job, and it just happened to be insurance. It was a career move, and I wasn't biding my time; I was out of pop music.
Paul Atkinson (guitarist, The Zombies) : At the start of 1968 Colin was going back to work at the Sun Alliance Insurance Company, and I think Hugh was selling cars, and Rod and Chris of course were putting together Argent, and I didn't know what I was going to do. A friend of mine brought me along to some sessions as a guitar player at [the] Lansdowne and [the] Mayfair [studios]. The money was good but I hated it. So, for most of 1968 and half of 1969 I became a trainee computer programmer at a place called Computers In Business, underneath Waterloo Bridge. I had to programme a computerised chart for Record Retailer and the BBC, with decks of punch cards. Very primitive. I was running it all night on Monday night and then I'd give it to the BBC on Tuesday morning. Colin had that record out under the name Neil MacArthur, and he said, 'You're doing that? What's my chart number'!' I said I'd find out about two o'clock in the morning, because I was on the night shift. So he called and asked 'What position am I?' 'You're #23.' 'Oh damn, I didn't make the Top 20! You couldn't help me could you? Push it up a couple of notches for an old friend?' I said I could - in those days there were no safeguards - but I wasn't going to. He called me names, but it was OK, it was a hit anyway!
(Source : http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Zombies_Chronology_66-68.html)
Tweet this Fact
Paul Atkinson (guitarist, The Zombies) : At the start of 1968 Colin was going back to work at the Sun Alliance Insurance Company, and I think Hugh was selling cars, and Rod and Chris of course were putting together Argent, and I didn't know what I was going to do. A friend of mine brought me along to some sessions as a guitar player at [the] Lansdowne and [the] Mayfair [studios]. The money was good but I hated it. So, for most of 1968 and half of 1969 I became a trainee computer programmer at a place called Computers In Business, underneath Waterloo Bridge. I had to programme a computerised chart for Record Retailer and the BBC, with decks of punch cards. Very primitive. I was running it all night on Monday night and then I'd give it to the BBC on Tuesday morning. Colin had that record out under the name Neil MacArthur, and he said, 'You're doing that? What's my chart number'!' I said I'd find out about two o'clock in the morning, because I was on the night shift. So he called and asked 'What position am I?' 'You're #23.' 'Oh damn, I didn't make the Top 20! You couldn't help me could you? Push it up a couple of notches for an old friend?' I said I could - in those days there were no safeguards - but I wasn't going to. He called me names, but it was OK, it was a hit anyway!
(Source : http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Zombies_Chronology_66-68.html)