Colin Blunstone: A Voice That Still Shines

Colin Blunstone, lead
singer of Britain’s legendary rock band The Zombies has been pushing hard on
his career, especially since the re-formed and re-invigorated version of his
band has taken off in the new millennium. Betwixt and between new music from
the Zombies (including the fabulous Breathe
in, Breathe Out from 2010) Blunstone has recorded two albums worth of top
notch pop. In 2012 he put out On the Air
Tonight on (likely) his own Ennismore Records (named after his first solo
album from 1972).  

Like many Blunstone’s
records this one is mix of soulful love ballads and pop rockers. If you are
looking for vague indie-hipster lyrics here, you’d better skip these. But if
you love Blunstone’s voice, you will want to check out his work here. Frankly,
Blunstone could sing a phone book and it would sound awesome. “The Best Is
Yet To Come” should be a staple of pop radio, bearing as much power as his
hits with Alan Parsons back in the day (Blunstone is the voice on tracks like
“Old and Wise” from “Eye in the Sky”). His take on Duncan
Browne’s great lost hit “The Wild Places” is a real treat.

In 2009 Blunstone put out
The Ghost of You and Me,
 another fine set, this one featuring some lovely lush string arrangements
(a flashback to his early material from the 70s) amounting to a lovely sort of
chamber pop hybrid. There he does a string quartet arrangement of his great
song “Any Other Way,” which they have done with The Zombies live and
in the studio.

And of course, if you
haven’t been keeping up with the reformed and re-invigorated 21st Century
incarnation of The Zombies, you really owe it to yourself to explore their
studio and live recordings. The recent live set at Metropolis Studios is a nice
summation and includes a DVD of the performance in a tiny studio before 120
fans.

Great stuff. You can find
Colin and his fellow Zombies readily up on Amazon.

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Mark
Smotroff is a freelance writer and avid music collector who has worked for many
years in marketing communications for the consumer electronics, pro audio and
video games industries, serving clients including DTS, Sega, Sony, Sharp,
AT&T and many others. Mark has written for EQ Magazine, Mix Magazine,
Goldmine/DISCoveries Magazine, Sound+Vision Magazine and HomeTechTell.com.  He is also a musician / composer who’s songs
have been used in TV shows such as Smallville and Men In Trees as well as films
and documentaries. Mark is currently rolling out a new musical he’s written. www.smotroff.com