Record #0843: Time of the Season / Friends of Mine – THE ZOMBIES

Date 2-1628 (original?) USA, 22. October 1968
Words & Music by:  Side A – Rod Argent; Side B – Chris White
Musicians: Colin Blunstone (lead and backing vocals), Rod Argent (keyboards and backing vocals), Chris White (bass and backing vocals), Paul Atkinson (guitar and backing vocals), Hugh Grundy (drums and backing vocals)
Recording sessions: Produced by the Zombies at the EMI (Abbey Road) Studios, London, UK, on 14. September 1967 (Side B unknown)
Highest chart positions: Side A – US #3, US Cash Box #1, Canada #1, Australia #43, Netherlands #14; Side B – none

When this entered Billboard Hot 100 on 8. February 1969, the Zombies was already long gone, as they disbanded in 1967.

Initially nobody wanted to release this. The album containing this, “Odessey and Oracle”, was originally rejected for US release. Legendary producer Al Kooper discovered the album in England, fell in love with it, and begged Date Records to put out "Time of the Season" as a single.

Because the real band refused to reunite to tour for their sudden #1 hit, American promoters created multiple fraudulent "Zombies" clone bands to tour the US and lip-sync to this exact record. Before teaming up with Billy Gibbons to form ZZ Top, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard were part of one of those fake Zombies bands.

Reportedly first released on 30 April 1968 as Date 2-1604, backed with “I’ll Call You Mine,” it flopped; surviving copies are mostly promos and are worth more than the later hit single.

List price: VG+ $6, NM $12