Into the Afterlife

The legendary missing link years between the Zombies and Argent. This deluxe anthology features demos and alternate mixes as well as singles cut by Colin Blunstone as Neil MacArthur.

Although the Zombies broke up at the end of 1967, there wasn't a wholly clean break between that era
and the time by which Rod Argent and Chris White established themselves with Argent, and Colin Blunstone
established himself as a solo artist. For a year or two, they variously wrote, recorded, and produced demos
and low-profile official releases as they hatched their next moves, Blunstone even left the music business
entirely for a while. While some of this material came out under the Zombies name, much of it either remained
unreleased or (in the case of Blunstone's recordings) was issued under the pseudonym of Neil MacArthur.
The 20-track Into the Afterlife compilation rescues much of this rare material, combining numerous previously
unissued demos recorded by the group's primary songwriters (Argent and White) with both sides of all three of
the singles Blunstone released as Neil MacArthur. It also offers a couple MacArthur/Blunstone outtakes,
alternate "orchestral" mixes of a few late Zombies tracks, an Italian-language recording of MacArthur's "She's Not There,"
and even a genuinely live-on-TV 1967 Zombies cover of the Miracles' "Going to a Go-Go." Far from being a barrel-scraping exercise,
it shows the musicians to be making interesting music in its own right that often sounded like a natural
continuation of what the Zombies had recorded in the late '60s. Argent handles lead vocals on the Argent/White demos,
and while he's not quite as good a singer as Blunstone, he's both good and has a similar style, making those cuts sound
pretty close to genuine Zombies tracks. Their songs share many traits with the Zombies' material circa Odessey and Oracle
in their baroque melodicism, breathy vocals, and haunting flavor, though with just a tinge of the progressive rock that
was starting to emerge at the end of the '60s. "Telescope (Mr. Galileo)" and "Unhappy Girl" are both standouts in this
regard, and "To Julia (For When She Smiles)," the best track on the entire CD, is more than a standout; its delicate
combination of quasi-classical balladry and choral backup vocals is every bit the equal of the best tracks on Odessey and Oracle.
The Neil MacArthur tracks (including the minor U.K. hit remake of "She's Not There") are more floridly produced orchestrated pop/rock,
but also have their silky charms, particularly the cover of Nilsson's "Without Her" and the more understated, acoustic-oriented sad
ballad "World of Glass." Thorough annotation by Zombies expert Alec Palao ices the package, and as none of the tracks appear on the
otherwise thorough Palao-compiled Zombies box set Zombie Heaven, this CD is a necessary supplement to that box for fans of the group.

Review by Richie Unterberger