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The Zombies - Girl, Help Me

Track listing:
  1. Girl, Help Me (Cassette) 2:19
  2. Girl, Help Me (Lp) 2:20

Notes


"Girl, Help Me" is one of the "post-Zombies" tracks that are essentially the works of a proto-Argent. This material, commonly known as the "RIP Material," began surfacing on LP shortly after the dissolution of The Zombies, most famously on the double LP "Time of the Zombies" collection.

At least two (and, in some cases, even more) mixes of most of these tracks were prepared. One set was used for "Time of the Zombies" and then languished, otherwise unaddressed, until Big Beat used it for "Zombie Heaven" and in the process made the ToTZ mixes the standard versions. Another set--far rougher, with fewer effects--was utilized for the pre-Big Beat run of reissues, including (but not limited to) the "Meet the Zombies" CD and the 1992/1993 Repertoire/Teichiku reissues of "Begin Here" and "Odessey and Oracle." This set, once the common version, has not seen an additional reissue since 1998. It's well worth tracking down.

Which brings us to this curiosity. "Girl, Help Me" wasn't on "Time of the Zombies"; its first airing (if internet chronology is to be trusted) was on the budget LP "The Best and the Rest of the Zombies," where it appeared in this mix, which Greg Russo describes as a "wandering guitar" mix. When it began airing as part of the pre-Big Beat CD reissues, it showed up in an alternate mono mix. Strangely, Big Beat elected to use a *different*, previously unreleased stereo mix for Zombie Heaven (differing from this one in instrument placement and in having the bridge harmony vocal brought up earlier)...meaning that the "Best and the Rest of the Zombies" mix has never been reissued.

So here it is. A summary of the above: this is a stereo mix of "Girl, Help Me" that's never shown up on CD. It's presented here in the form of an OK needle-drop and an OK cassette-drop (the cassette obviously lacks clicks and pops, but didn't sound so hot.