The Zombies' "Heaven's Gate"

I'm listening to the Zombies' album New World, and for the first time, I noticed the expansion in the a cappella part at the beginning of "Heaven's Gate."  The first few lines ("And now Heaven's gate is open wide / For you have put a light inside me / I can see that Heaven is near") are mostly centered, but the next line ("Heaven is here") is spread throughout the stereo channels.

That stereo expansion and the instrumentation's coming in only after that a cappella introduction both serve to further what's in the lyrics - the feeling of arrival at the titular Heaven's gate.

Furthermore, the drumming pattern is similar to that on "She's Not There."  Like I've said before, I'm not a drummer, and I don't know the terminology, but both songs have two drum hits followed by a cymbal crash (although I think "She's Not There" uses a snare and "Heaven's Gate" doesn't).  It's important to note that I'm referencing the stereo version of "She's Not There."  The mono version has an overdubbed drum part.  However, the drum part during the choruses of "Heaven's Gate" (and at the very end) sounds a bit like the overdubbed version of "She's Not There," with the extra drum beat.  In any case, it's interesting that Hugh Grundy's drumming retained that characteristic element.

The Zombies' I Love You

I went a bit out-of-order this morning and listened to the Zombies compilation album I Love You.  The Zombies have been my favorite band for the past five or six years, yet I'm still finding new things about their music (although I don't know whether that means they're a incredibly nuanced band or whether I'm not very good at listening).

I finally determined that "How We Were Before" features twelve-string guitar.  I'd been suspicious of this (I'd played parts of it on my own twelve-string and thought it sounded pretty good), but now I'm fairly certain of it.

I discovered that Rod Argent uses organ on "Woman."  This realization came after noticing the really long sustain on the G major chord during the guitar solo.  It just keeps going, which means it has to be organ rather than electric piano.

For the first time, I noticed the three distinct vocals parts at the end of "Don't Go Away."  Two parts are alternating with "don't go away," but the third is just an "ooh."

This album includes some stereo mixes of songs (which in some cases are different stereo mixes than those that appear on The Decca Stereo Anthology), so on some songs, things were placed in sonically different places, which made it easier to distinguish some parts.  This is the case on "I Love You," and because of that I heard some interesting rhythmical interplay between the guitar and the bass during the "if I can find / the words in my mind" part.

Another suspicion that was confirmed is the guitar glissandoes at the beginning of "Remember You."  I'd been suspicious of these since I listened to The Decca Stereo Anthology about a month ago.  The guitar part at the beginning alternates between two D's an octave apart and a D and some-other-note-that-I-still-have-to-determine that then slides up to a D.

Also, I may have found a reference to "She's Not There" in "She Does Everything for Me."  "She's a girl who makes me feel / That you're not there, you weren't real" recalls the "she's not there" from "She's Not There."  The "she" in "She Does Everything for Me" seems to have replaced the "she" in "She's Not There."  In any case, it's an interesting parallel, as "She's Not There" was the Zombies' first single for Decca, and "She Does Everything for Me" was the B-side of their last single for Decca.  Also, kudos to Rod Argent for getting the relative pronoun correct.