The Zombies, one of the most celebrated bands of the early ‘60s British Invasion and pioneers of the later “orch pop” movement, came to Woodstock to showcase Hung Up On A Dream, an entertaining new documentary about their star-crossed career and ultimate critical resurrection directed by Robert Schwartzman.
One of the highlights of the always star-studded 24th annual Woodstock Film Festival, the event took place before a sell-out crowd at the recently renovated Bearsville Theater. Rod Argent, the band’s visionary keyboardist founder and principle songwriter, was joined by the still choir-boy voiced Colin Blunstone for a post-screening Q&A and a rousing five-song duet performance.
Though The Zombies reached the top of the charts in 1964 with their debut single “She’s Not There” and a strong follow-up in 1965, “Tell Her No,” theirs is a story of old school showbiz mismanagement/exploitation followed, years later, by a critical reassessment and successful reunion. Earning countless millions via aggressive touring and recording at the start of their careers, the barely out of their teens bandmembers would each be forced to survive on a paltry 10 British pounds a week. That was until they recorded and broke up before the release of their 1968 psych/pop masterwork, Odessey and Oracle. By the time its single, “Time of the Season,” topped the charts, the band was well over and done with. And three decades would pass before they would make their triumphant return.
The documentary begins with a rapid-fire mélange of YouTube videos where new generations of music lovers wax poetic about their love of The Zombies, and especially their orch pop motherlode, Odessey and Oracle.
Thankfully, this documentary has none of the forced drama and cliched stupidity (drug ODs/inter-band incest/ songwriter royalty battles) popularized by VH-1’s “Behind the Music.” Perhaps that’s because The Zombies all seem like remarkably well-adjusted suburbanites with great senses of humor (especially the always hilarious Blunstone).
After the breakup, keyboardist Rod Argent would go on to immediate success with his surname titled band of “Hold Your Head Up” fame. Singer Blunstone would become an insurance agent and then emerge as a solo singer – first with a new name, Neil McArthur, before returning to his own for another classic disc, the orchestra-swaddled One Year, produced by Argent and the Zombies’ other great songwriter, bassist Chris White. Drummer Hugh Grundy and guitarist Paul Atkinson would go on to working in car sales and computers respectively before serving as beloved record company A&R executives responsible for kickstarting the careers of bands like ABBA, Queen and Bruce Hornsby. In the immediate aftermath of the success of “Time of the Season,” the rip-offs continued with two bands of “fake” Zombies touring the U.S., one even including two musicians who would later go on to found ZZ Top.
Filmicly, the documentary benefits from clips from the band’s many early appearances on television shows like Hullabaloo, American Bandstand and BBC’s Juke Boy Jury. The latter is where Beatle George Harrison dubbed their debut single “marvelous” and helped it race up the charts.
Schwartzman does a solid job of covering all the bases on the band’s rise, fall and rebirth. The latter begins to gather steam in the ‘80s and ‘90s as the band’s Odessey and Oracle becomes revered among hipster tastemakers like Beck, who would go on to cover their “Beechwood Park.” It reaches critical mass in 2008 when the band reunites for a 40th Anniversary concert recreating the album, which will be followed by several tours and their ultimate enshrinement in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Tom Petty, Paul Weller, Post Malone, Haim, Harry Styles and Dave Grohl are all featured in the documentary sharing their love of the band, with Foo’s frontman calling Odessey his “favorite all-time album.”
Once again, there is a lot of humor as Argent, White, Grundy and Blunstone tell their story, with the lead singer getting the most laughs. Famously, Argent’s artist roommate Terry Quirk spelled “odyssey” wrong on the album cover painting, but the label was too cheap to re-press it. They were also too cost-conscious to let Blunstone do another take to fix a lyrical flub in “Tell Her No” or to provide money for a stereo mix of Odessey (Argent and White paid the $1,000 from their songwriting royalties). Emotions come to the fore as they recall their final performance with guitarist Paul Atkinson at a 2004 reunion. Suffering from terminal cancer, Atkinson would play with a morphine drip and pass three weeks after the show.
The film concludes with a duet performance of Blunstone’s “Caroline Goodbye” from his Argent/White produced album, One Year, with the obviously music-loving director Schwartzman on acoustic guitar.
Following the screening, Lizzie Vann, the British-born owner/architect of the recently revived Bearsville Theater, took to the stage to introduce Argent and Blunstone and joke about her earlier meeting with the jet-lagged duo over breakfast.
Argent and Blunstone performed a rousing four-song set beginning with a super slowed down and extra bluesy “She’s Not There” and concluding with an extended version of “Time of the Season,” with Argent rolling out long legato solos like a rock-n-roll Art Tatum. The second tune, “You Could Be My Love,” is from their wonderful 2023 album, Different Game. In the film, Blunstone discusses his rigorous three-times daily practice regiment. It came to the fore here, as he is truly in better voice than ever, something remarkable for a man in his 70s.
Radio Woodstock’s amiable Justin Foy then took to the stage to conduct a Q&A. In it, the duo spoke of the importance of Elvis in their decision to live the life of musicians. “He was a creature from another universe and I vowed at my first listen that I would form a band like Elvis” said Argent. When asked how they felt about covers like Santana’s version of “She’s Not There,” Argent commented that he always felt his songs had an “understated Latin feel,” while Blunstone added: “It’s never been a problem for me, it’s a really compliment.” As for the tendency to remix and reissue classic albums by The Beatles and their own Odessey and Oracle, Argent added: “We’re not precious about it at all. Art is a work in progress. We’re always delighted when someone will spend their time to improve it.”
As for the best moment in their career, Blunstone said it was the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame event. “I didn’t know all the words but I got to jam ‘All The Young Dudes’ with Def Leppard, Brian May and Ian Hunter.”
Foy closed the evening by twisting another tune out of the sleepy duo, a spirited version of “This Will Be Our Year” from Odessey and Oracle. With a documentary like this hitting streaming platforms and theaters and their new album, this may be another big year for The Zombies.
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