The Zombies' 1968 album Odessey and Oracle is one of rock history's great what-ifs. It was an achievement to rival anything the summer of love produced, but recorded by a band whose moment had passed, and whose singer celebrated its release by becoming an insurance clerk. It never stood a chance. You could describe it as the Pet Sounds the Beach Boys might have made had Brian Wilson hailed from Hertfordshire rather than Hawthorne, California. This impression was reinforced by the presence on stage tonight of Wilson's "musical secretary" Darian Sahanaja, who seems to have played a similar role in bringing about a live performance of Odessey and Oracle as he did for Wilson's masterpiece. It certainly shares both Pet Sounds' ornate harmonies and sense of ingenuousness; as free love was blossoming, here were the Zombies singing the unrepentantly suburban Friends of Mine, cheerily listing the happy marriages of their various pals.
But as tonight's first-half demonstrates, the Zombies are still an acutely peculiar band. The current touring lineup performs a set that is diverse to the point of lunacy: gorgeous rococo singer-songwriter material from vocalist Colin Blunstone's solo album, One Year, AOR Motown covers and something absolutely unspeakable called Keep On Rolling. The dogged middle-aged fans take it in their stride, but among those who have turned up to hear a psychedelic opus, there is a distinct sense of consternation.
It is quelled when the four surviving original Zombies take the stage. The first half has shown that Blunstone's inimitable voice is intact - and Odessey and Oracle sounds fantastic. Some of it even gains in translation. Live, the surging harmonies of Care of Cell 44 knock you sideways. Friends of Mine takes on a touching melancholy, prefaced by the announcement that most of the married couples it lists are divorced or dead. On record, Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914) is rather a ripe cheese, but tonight it seems to hit home. As the album's solitary hit, Time of the Season, draws to a close, they get a standing ovation. It is the triumphant reception Odessey and Oracle always deserved, 40 years after the event.
· At the O2, London, on Thursday. Box office: 0844 844 0002
