Review: Hung Up On A Dream: The Zombies Documentary

Even if you couldn't name a Zombies song, you've more than likely heard one. There's the megahit "Time of the Season" or smaller classics "She's Not There," "The Way I Feel Inside," and "This Will Be Our Year" - all loved and covered by decades of musicians.

So it makes sense to ask why so few people know of The Zombies if their records were so influential and I was excited to see that there was a new documentary that would give them the spotlight.

As an introduction to the concept of The Zombies as a band, the doc succeeds in proving its point - The Zombies were great and are still worth listening to. But to someone who has listened to Odessey and Oracle many times, I found the story lacking in depth.

The film is comprised of multiple interviews with the four surviving members: keyboardist Rod Argent, singer Colin Blunstone, drummer Hugh Grundy and bassist Chris White. Crucially missing is guitarist Paul Atkinson who went on to become an equally influential A&R scout. Tying together the interviews are archival clips band appearances, public domain B-roll to evoke the era, and snippets of music set to lyric videos. Told in generally chronologically order, we follow the formation of The Zombies in the early 60s to their success with Begin Here and recording Odessey and Oracle, the band splitting up right before "Time of the Season" finds no.1 success in America, and what everyone did in the 70s and 80s before reuniting in the early 2000s. What we don't really get is how the songs were written or what tensions were like in the studio or the mechanics of being a band in a Murray the K show doing seven performances a day.

To a degree, this is a fault of the interviews, which frequently skate over the details that make the story worthwhile. There are many instances where the band members are allowed to elude specifics: the break up happened because of "everything that was going on" and the songs were about "feelings about growing up." It's just frustrating to walk out of a film where one of the lyricists put, "what's your name/who's your daddy/is he rich like me?" down on paper in 1967 and to know absolutely nothing about what it meant to them or how it came about. The lyric videos segments end up feeling like filler because we get so many clips of music without context or introduction.

Additionally, there are very few in-depth moments with any of the band members. The little bit of bio we get, about Blunstone growing up adopted, comes into the narrative after the Zombies have broken up and all the songs have been written, and isn't tied to any song or moment in particular. In terms of influence, it's very clear what sort of domination The Beatles had (their photos are used as frequently as possible) and the rock and roll of the 50s, like "Hound Dog" and "Tutti Frutti" get their usual due, but there's not mention at of all their choice to cover "Summertime," a Gershwin classic. I have no sense at all about anyone's musical style or interests or how they came together to harmonize in incredible melodies.

There are hints of something deeper at work that won't come to the surface: there's a discussion about the recording of "Time of the Season" when tensions were running high and time was running out. Blunstone frequently regrets getting taking advantage of by management, and Argent at one point refers to the "horrors" of being on the road in the 60s and 70s - clearly things were happening behind the scenes that lead to the band breaking up after their second record. But most of the group interviews involve discussing how the studio used to be set up or isolating a drum track in the recording booth.

The film gains a little traction in the years after The Zombies break up - perhaps because it's removed from the harder years of being in the band. Going back to civilian life after having multiple hits certainly presents a unique problem, and it was interesting to see how each member dealt with it individually. The tribute to Paul and clear respect for him personally and professionally focuses the rest of the film, which ends neatly with the band's reunion and induction into the Hall of Fame in 2019.

If nothing else, Hung Up On A Dream presents the opportunity to revisit a truly unique and influential band, listen to some insanely good music, and understand a little bit more of what the British Invasion did for Western culture. I just wish we had a little more insight into what brought us there.

Side Quest: While looking for the cover of "This Will Be Our Year" I went down an hours long Youtube hole and ended up here.

There is nothing Swifties love more than watching people figure out that Taylor is incredible not just as a songwriter but as a musician and performer. I know this is a favorite Swiftie pastime because every "I just listened to Taylor Swift" vid is quickly followed by 50 more because any Swift video is incredibly popular. I particularly liked this guy because he's very observant and clearly has a lot of musical experience and knowledge. (Where I actually ended up was re-watching the making of a song for IDSB but that's not as broadly interesting. RATATATATATATATATA)

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