The Zombies Different Game LP

Different Game is the long-awaited follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2015 release, Still Got That Hunger, which charted in Billboard's Top 100 and SoundScanned over 12k units in America alone.

The band began working on this album in 2019, shortly after their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, but it was delayed by the pandemic - they strongly prefer to record together and capture a live band performance in the studio (just as they had to do in the 1960s). They were not willing to make this album remotely.

This album is what the current-day Zombies were meant to make. It has the vintage qualities that made them stand out in the 1960s, yet still sounds modern and reflects their continued development as songwriters and musicians. Nine of the 10 tracks are written by Rod Argent, with the closer, "The Sun Will Rise Again," by Colin Blunstone. Rod produced the album (with engineer Dale Hanson), which includes a small string ensemble on three tracks. Rod arranged the strings for two of the songs ("Different Game" and "You Could Be My Love"), with the third ("I Want to Fly") by Chris Gunning (who scored the legendary string arrangements for Colin's 1971 debut solo album, One Year).

The Zombies are a perfect example of how to evolve as songwriters and performers with grace. With no agenda or expectations, the longstanding British pop group can simply be themselves. Principal songwriter and founding keyboardist Rod Argent is interested in earthy, bluesy compositions that take stock of the thrills and heartaches of romance and speak to the realities of getting older with a knowing grin and plenty of fond memories to choose from. It's a tone that vocalist Colin Blunstone embraces with throaty power, grit and wit. The pair save the shiniest pearls, though, for late in the album. 'I Want To Fly' is pure magic as the music is stripped down to just a string quartet that Blunstone adapts to beautifully, singing as he does about wanting to take to the air. And the album closes out with a truly stunning track, written by Blunstone, that plays like a hymn, reverent and solemn in its evocation of life's mysteries.