He moved on to record for numerous other labels and also lent his voice to recordings by The Alan Parsons Project. Unusually, Blunstone revisited Planes' 'Ain't It Funny' in a rather similar arrangement to the first recording.Ĭolin Blunstone recorded one more LP for Rocket, the rare Late Nights in Soho, with Rod Argent producing it never saw an international release. 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. The two non-Blunstone songs came from eclectic sources. 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. This time, Grammy Award-winning engineer Bill Schnee (Steely Dan, Barbra Streisand) took the producer's chair. Blunstone penned all but two of the album's tracks, working with Alan Phillips and the returning Richard Kerr. The singer's follow-up, Never Even Thought, was a more personal affair.

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.

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. (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. 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). 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. Dudgeon and John's longtime associate Paul Buckmaster provided the string arrangements, with Richard Hewson and Del Newman also handling orchestration duties.Įlton and Bernie Taupin supplied Blunstone with the title track Elton's own rendition wouldn't surface until the 1990s. 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. Handling the keys for Planes was none other than Rod Argent, while other musicians on the album include B.J. The song had first appeared on Sedaka's 1972 album Solitaire Dudgeon's production channeled the spirit of both piano pounders, Sedaka and John. (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 Rocket imprimatur was evident from the very first track of Planes, helmed by the future Sir Elton's producer Gus Dudgeon. 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. 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.

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. Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White and Hugh Grundy - will reunite for a tour centered on their landmark 1968 album Odessey and Oracle. This fall, the surviving members of The Zombies' classic line-up - a.k.a.

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