Description
Label Review.
• ZAGER & EVANS was the duo of US folk-rockers Denny Zager and Rick Evans.
• They are fondly remembered for their classic 1969 single, ‘In The Year 2525’, a prophetic forewarning of technology taking over humanity in centuries to come.
• ‘In The Year 2525’ was No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic in July 1969, in the aftermath of the hit movies Planet Of The Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey — and as all things futuristic were in the news as Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
• The single is one of the best-loved in pop history, having been covered more than 60 times in seven different languages.
• This 24-track CD features 2525 (Exordium And Terminus), the US hit LP that spawned the single, and its follow-up Zager & Evans, released in 1969 and 1970, respectively.
• Also featured are four non-LP bonus tracks, including the ‘censored’ version of the duo’s controversial follow-up single ‘Mr. Turnkey’.
• In The Year 2525 includes a detailed interview with songwriter Rick Evans.
Our overview.
"In the year 2525" an iconic melody once heard buried into our musical souls, whether around in the 60's to hear it on original release, or as a tune that haunts and entices you into to it's rapturous delight despite your age.
Zager and Evans were a folk duo from Nebraska and met as part of "Beat outfit the Eccentrics". They stuck together after that band split and began to play the local gig circuit, doing so almost right up until their big hit.Ian Canty in a review from "Louder than War" Magazine posted (oct 2016): "Despite the general tone of optimism of the decade, along with the celebration of innovation and novelty, as the 60s drew to a close a new wave of paranoia was making its presence felt. The proponents of this downcast trend focused mainly on the dehumanisation and manipulation of man via the very same emergent technology that was in the process of powering a rocket to the moon. This fear manifested itself amid the popular culture of the time in film, television and music (which is, of course, which is why I am talking about it here). It may seem crazy today but for that split second in time Zager & Evans’ one hit wonder “In The Year 2525” shared space with David Bowie, whose breakthrough disc “Space Oddity” was similarly themed".
Every artist in our history has made social comments through all various forms of media, and we delight in that fact, that we live in an environment that everyone can and will have their say. Whatever the "genre" that artists are pigeon holed into they all contribute to a wealth of tales through music. And Zager and Evans fans will be eager to get their hands on this new release and long may they live among the other folk artists and heroes they have been compared to and live alongside.