(MVD; 121 minutes)

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BY JIM ALLEN

Even though The Zombies' 1968 baroque-pop masterpiece Odessey & Oracle has long been hailed as one of the finest albums of the ‘60s, if not of all time, it's always seemed like some kind of semi-mythical beast. The Zombies, after all, had ceased to exist before it was even released, so it basically entered the world as the work of a ghost band. And of course, some of the tracks had that dreamlike, subtly spooky quality.

So seeing Odessey brought to life on its 40^th anniversary by the original band for the first time, in front of an enraptured London audience, feels a little like a shock and a lot like a revelation. It turns out these brilliantly composed, masterfully arranged, passionately performed art-pop gems, part of the collective pop-culture consciousness for longer than many of their admirers have been alive, were made by living, breathing human beings!

The proof is right before your eyes and ears, as these flesh-and-blood sixtysomething Englishmen turn out note-for-note recreations of the original arrangements in all their harmony-laden, Mellotron-soaked glory. If Sgt. Pepper was the next evolutionary step after Pet Sounds, the third link in that chain is undoubtedly Odessey (it was even recorded at Abbey Road with the Beatles' engineers), and Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone and company sound considerably more spry than you'd think anyone their age reasonably should, as they bring the mythical beast to life in full, living color.

Bonus features: Excerpts from Odessey & Oracle documentary.