Colin Blunstone - Old and Wise (2016)

As the lead singer for the Zombies, Colin Blunstone's breathy, controlled vocals could range from tender and restrained to energetically soulful. Blunstone's voice was one of the defining elements of the Zombies' sound, and when the band dissolved in the late '60, he retired from music briefly before returning as a solo artist with the graceful chamber pop of his 1971 debut One Year. Blunstone would remain active as a solo artist throughout the '70s and '80s, contributed vocals to several Alan Parsons Project albums, and in 2004 reunited with former bandmate Rod Argent to re-form the Zombies.
Blunstone was born in 1945, in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. In 1962 he joined with some classmates who had been putting a band together, and took the role of lead singer in the recently formed Zombies. By 1964, the Zombies were signed to Decca and had scored their first hit with "She's Not There." The band worked hard throughout the '60s, but never achieved the level of mainstream success enjoyed by some of their peers, and in 1967 they broke up after a show. The next few years were a strange and purgatorial time for Blunstone. The Zombies' final album, Odessy and Oracle, was released to poor sales in 1968, but a year later one of its singles, "Time of the Season," caught on like wildfire, eventually becoming a Top Ten hit. In the interim, Blunstone had taken a desk job as an insurance agent, but he returned to music under the pseudonym Neil MacArthur in 1969, recording three singles for the Deram label. Blunstone released One Year, his first solo album under his given name in 1971. One Year was a more mature reading on the Zombies' Baroque pop, made with input from fellow ex-Zombies Rod Argent and Chris White, and it enjoyed moderate sales and chart success. Ennismore followed in 1972 and in 1974, third solo album Journey arrived. Blunstone continued releasing new solo work at a steady clip throughout the '70s, and lent his vocals to several Alan Parsons Project songs in the '80s, including Eye in the Sky standout "Old and Wise." There were sporadic releases throughout the '80s and '90s, and in 2004 Argent and Blunstone reunited to work on new songs in the style of the Zombies, eventually reactivating the Zombies name for reunion tours and new recordings. Along with the resurrection of his old band, Blunstone continued to work on solo material, releasing new albums like 2009's The Ghost of You and Me and 2013's On the Air Tonight. In 2021, One Year received the deluxe reissue treatment for its 50th anniversary, with fresh remastering and the release of an album's worth of demos and unused studio tracks from the same time.