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This fall, the surviving members of The Zombies’ classic line-up – a.k.a. Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White and Hugh Grundy – will reunite for a tour centered on their landmark 1968 album Odessey and Oracle.  Then, on October 9, Cherry Red and End Records will release Still Got That Hunger, an all-new album from the current line-up of Blunstone, Argent, Jim Rodford, Tom Toomey and Steve Rodford, fresh off acclaimed festival appearances.  With so much renewed interest in the band, the time has never been better for Cherry Red Records’ reissue of two of the most overlooked items in the versatile Blunstone’s solo catalogue.  The label has recently released a two-fer of 1976’s Planes and 1978’s Never Even Thought – both produced for Elton John’s Rocket Records label and released under the Epic banner.

The Rocket imprimatur was evident from the very first track of Planes, helmed by the future Sir Elton’s producer Gus Dudgeon.  (Dudgeon, then an assistant engineer, had worked with Blunstone on The Zombies’ smash hit “She’s Not There” at the beginning of his career, making Planes a reunion.)  That opening track was “Beautiful You,” written by another Rocket signing, Neil Sedaka, with Phil Cody.  The song had first appeared on Sedaka’s 1972 album Solitaire; Dudgeon’s production channeled the spirit of both piano pounders, Sedaka and John.  Handling the keys for Planes was none other than Rod Argent, while other musicians on the album include B.J. Cole on steel guitar, Paul Keogh on guitar, Ray Cooper of The Elton John Band on congas, and Tony Burrows and Russ Ballard among the background vocalists.  Dudgeon and John’s longtime associate Paul Buckmaster provided the string arrangements, with Richard Hewson and Del Newman also handling orchestration duties.

Elton and Bernie Taupin supplied Blunstone with the title track; Elton’s own rendition wouldn’t surface until the 1990s.  Another Rocket signing, Kiki Dee, was tapped for the breezy soft rock of “Loving and Free,” which had served as the title of her own 1973 album.  Other covers in Blunstone’s diverse repertoire came via Tim Moore (the catchy “I Can Almost See the Light”), Buddy Holly (“Tell Me How”) and The Beach Boys (Dennis Wilson and Mike Love’s moving “Only with You,” from Holland).  (Moore’s “When You Close Your Eyes” was released as a non-LP single prior to the album, but is not included on this release.)  Blunstone wrote five originals for Planes, including the jazz/bossa-inflected “Dancing in the Dark” and two with Richard Kerr of “Mandy” and “Looks Like We Made It” fame.  Strings and some particularly attractive harmonies accompany Blunstone and Kerr’s piano-driven ballad “Ain’t It Funny” which might have suited Barry Manilow, while the funkier, upbeat “Good Guys Don’t Always Win” – the B-side of “When You Close Your Eyes” – is more Elton-esque, particularly in the background vocal part.  Most intriguing for Zombies fans might be Blunstone’s revival, nearly a decade later, of the Argent-penned Odessey and Oracle track “(Care of) Cell 44.”  The recording is faithful to the original, but imbued with a sheen comparable to that of the rest of Planes.

The singer’s follow-up, Never Even Thought, was a more personal affair.  Blunstone penned all but two of the album’s tracks, working with Alan Phillips and the returning Richard Kerr.  This time, Grammy Award-winning engineer Bill Schnee (Steely Dan, Barbra Streisand) took the producer’s chair.  Elton John’s bandmates Davey Johnstone, Ray Cooper and future film composer James Newton Howard joined Toto’s Jeff Porcaro and David Hungate as the core rhythm section.  The two non-Blunstone songs came from eclectic sources.  Murray Head’s rocking “Never Even Thought” was plucked from his 1975 album on A&M, Say It Ain’t So; “Do, Magnolia, Do” was introduced by Jackson’s brother Severin Browne on his sophomore album for Motown, 1973’s New, Improved.  Unusually, Blunstone revisited Planes’ “Ain’t It Funny” in a rather similar arrangement to the first recording.

Colin Blunstone recorded one more LP for Rocket, the rare Late Nights in Soho, with Rod Argent producing; it never saw an international release.  He moved on to record for numerous other labels and also lent his voice to recordings by The Alan Parsons Project.  Cherry Red’s Planes/Never Even Thought two-fer, premiering on CD two of his smoothest pop records, has been reissued by Simon Murphy and includes new liner notes by Andy Davis.  It’s available now; you can order below!

Colin Blunstone, Planes/Never Even Thought (Cherry Red CDMRED 665, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. Beautiful You
2. Planes
3. Since I’ve Been Loving You
4. Ain’t It Funny
5. Only with You
6. I Can Almost See the Light
7. Good Guys Don’t Always Win
8. Loving and Free
9. Dancing in the Dark
10. It’s Hard to Say Goodbye
11. (Care Of) Cell 44
12. Tell Me How
13. I’ll Never Forget You
14. Lovelight
15. Ain’t It Funny
16. Who’s That Knocking?
17. Never Even Thought
18. Touch and Go
19. You are the Way for Me
20. Photograph
21. Do Magnolia Do

Tracks 1-12 from Planes, Epic EPC 81592, 1976
Tracks 13-21 from Never Even Thought, Epic EPC 82835, 1978