Product Description

In 1964, an unknown band from St Albans unexpectedly hit the big time with a song called "She's Not There", later covered by "Santana". Although part of the British invasion that took America by storm in the 1960s, "The Zombies" stood apart by eschewing the more common rhythm and blues style of the day and following an individual approach. Typified by Colin Blunstone's breathy vocal style and Rod Argent's inventive piano and organ, the Zombies went on to produce a string of thoughtfully crafted singles, carving themselves a niche in the history of popular music.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #489358 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 226 pages

From the Publisher
Chris White, founder member of The Zombies had this to say about the book:

"It was a great pleasure to read Claes Johansen's book The Zombies - Hung Up On A Dream.

Firstly it read like a novel - something rare in the field of pop biography. This different approach made it as irrepressible as the Harry Potter books are, in style and interest. Secondly, Claes takes a very specialised, personal viewpoint in his examination of the songs in the Zombies short, but lasting career. This personal analysis is quite fascinating because it even made me go back and listen to the songs again just to see how they appear to another musician's 'eye' and ear. It is also humbling and gratifying to read about our influence on other artists and writers, people for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration.

In short, I've read it through three times now and still find his viewpoint refreshing and irritatingly accurate."

Customer Reviews

A brilliant book!
For some reason this book has attracted some negative comments from one or two quarters.
Why?-I don't know! For goodness sake ignore the doubters and buy it.

I have read it from cover to cover and the book is superb.It recreates in great detail the success and struggles of the Zombies in the sixties.It also delves individually into each members own background-fascinating stuff!

An individual analysis track by track is made of Odessey And Oracle, an album which I consider to be a musical masterpiece.

Believe me I will ignore the critics in future and back my own judgement!

For anoraks only...
Possibly the unluckiest band in the history of rock n roll, I was looking forward to a fine read about The Zombies history - the ups, the downs, the sideways bits, the human drama. Instead I got a lecture about amps, music theory and some factual errors, with a few nuggets of personal information chucked in. Yes, the band were pretty damn influential, but I think it was a bit of a wasted opportunity not to write more of the band's personal histories and give more of a feeling of what it was like to be part of one of the most exciting bands of the Sixties.

Thoroughly entertaining
This book about the Zombies' music was very entertaining. It was different from the usual pop biographies in that it read like a novel. Claes Johansen concentrates on the songs from an often personal viewpoint which makes you want to go back and listen to the music again and again.