Reunited, Zombies come alive

British quintet the Zombies carved its classic-rock niche with such hits as “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No,” and “Time of the Season,” and co-founders Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent happily performed all three Thursday at a packed Knitting Factory show.

The duo and their band -- guitarist Keith Airey, bassist Jim Rodford and his son, drummer Steve Rodford -- were even joined during the encore by original Zombies guitarist Paul Atkinson, who hadn’t performed with them since recording 1968’s “Odessey & Oracle” album. They also offered songs from subsequent solo projects and a couple of new numbers, but Argent’s rippling jazz- and classical-flavored keyboard work and Blunstone’s breathy, hole-in-my-heart vocals made almost everything pretty Zombie-riffic.

Both artists, now 58, were in buoyant good form, with Argent proving somewhat chattier, announcing song titles and telling anecdotes, such as how he and Blunstone “accidentally reunited” recently after a reunion of his ‘70s band, Argent, eventually putting out a new album, last year’s “Out of the Shadows.”

Their 90-plus-minute set was a mostly satisfying reminder that the Zombies’ melancholy, slightly obsessive otherworldly sound has aged well, and could provide a different model for today’s angrily flailing neo-garage acts.

The players deftly reproduced the old balance of sonic sophistication and raw soulfulness. Highlights included Blunstone’s gorgeous takes on the tied-up-in-knots ballad “I Love You” (a 1968 Top 20 hit for the San Jose group People), Jimmy Ruffin’s Motown classic “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted,” and the devastating “Misty Roses.”

Among the livelier standouts were the new “In My Mind a Miracle” and the Zombies hits. Although it was a crowd-pleaser, they might’ve done without the inevitable rendition of Argent’s plodding 1972 hit “Hold Your Head Up.”