Written by: Don Ciccone
Guess what? The Zombies were a great rock ’n’ roll band. As were many other British Invasion groups of the 1960s whose debut albums were split between covers and originals. Begin Here, released in 1965, has long been overshadowed by their 1968 masterpiece Odessey and Oracle, and unfairly criticized for containing too many covers. It’s time to take another listen.
Modern-day critics who compare this album to Beatles and Kinks albums from the same year overlook the fact that both groups relied just as heavily on borrowed material on their own debut LPs. Like those bands, the Zombies covered American rock ’n’ roll and R&B songs because that’s what virtually every British pop group was doing onstage at the time.
The fact that the Beatles had already recorded “You Really Got a Hold on Me” didn’t stop the Zombies from cutting their own arrangement of the Miracles’ 1962 chart-topper. Unlike the Beatles’ version, they neatly folded it into Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home to Me.” But that’s just one example of what these guys could do. Take a listen and you’ll hear just what a tight, straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll band the Zombies were, besides being wonderfully innovative songwriters.
A spirited take on Bo Diddley’s “Road Runner” gets things going immediately. It’s a raw, exciting opener with guitarist Paul Atkinson climbing up the neck of his Gretsch just after Colin Blunstone’s intro vocal. Between verses there’s a frantic guitar break, some deftly handled organ riffs from keyboardist Rod Argent, and a rave-up ending. You’d never know this was the band that gave us “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No” — though Blunstone has said they were drawn to songs they saw the Rolling Stones performing, and that “Road Runner” may even have come straight from their set.
A classy take on the Gershwins’ “Summertime” follows, pointing ahead to the jazzy feel that became the band’s trademark. Argent’s electric piano (the legendary Hohner Pianet) and Atkinson’s acoustic guitar float under Blunstone’s gentle (first take) vocal. Add in some cool bass and restrained drums from Chris White and Hugh Grundy — sum total: signature Zombies.
Now for a pair of originals. The first, “I Can’t Make Up My Mind,” by bassist White, includes a sharp Rickenbacker 12-string solo from Atkinson. It’s a suitably eclectic Zombies composition — restless, like its title. The second, “The Way I Feel Inside,” by Argent, begins with a cappella Blunstone and stays that way longer than you’d expect before Argent joins him on organ. A daring arrangement for a pop group in 1965. According to Argent, it was producer Ken Jones’ idea to bookend the track with footsteps — an intriguing touch.
The mood shifts dramatically with a chaotic instrumental, composed by Jones. It sounds like it would have worked as a TV theme, if not for the harmonica that simply gets in the way. That Smokey Robinson/Sam Cooke medley follows, then comes the blockbuster that put them on the map, “She’s Not There.” It blew minds when it came out as a single and, for first-time listeners, it still does to this day. Every element reveals remarkable sophistication: smart lyrics, an iconic bass line, a distinctive drum pattern and a perfectly cool electric piano solo. Two more Argent originals close out the side.
“It’s Alright With Me” is one of the standout tracks. Looking back, Blunstone sees it as almost proto-punk, and while it’s certainly high energy, that’s where the similarity ends. A driving octave guitar riff and a very fast electric piano solo — Atkinson taking his turn on lead after Argent — prove just how accomplished these young men already were. “Sometimes” opens with a cappella harmonies: “Sometimes I feel a little lonely…” — then switches gears and becomes a call and response Beatlesque rocker.
Side 2 begins with a slowed-down, chunky-sounding version of Ray Charles’ “Sticks and Stones.” Blunstone’s vocal doesn’t quite measure up, but Argent delivers an impressive organ solo in the first lead break and Atkinson matches with a snarling guitar solo on the second. Chris White’s “Can’t Nobody Love You” employs a traditional chord progression and opens and closes with banjo-like 12-string from Atkinson over Argent’s swirling roller-rink organ. “Woman,” co-written by Argent and White, showcases how well Blunstone’s and Argent’s voices could blend. “I Don’t Want to Know” is another Chris White tune, Mersey-style, with glorious Rickenbacker jangle and a confident vocal. Argent’s “I Remember When I Loved Her” has a Latin feel and a ghostly organ solo. “What More Can I Do?” is quintessential Zombies, another White original built around an organ solo for the first lead break and guitar for the second. It’s a twisting, writhing arrangement.
Ready for some revved-up Chicago blues via St. Albans? Argent steps up on lead vocal for “I Got My Mojo Working,” the Muddy Waters classic. His first vocal was an experiment but he never got another try — and his harmonica solo just about makes up for it.
And so, we come to the finale, “Tell Her No.” Argent recalls touring with Dionne Warwick and, as he puts it, “being turned on by Burt Bacharach’s beautiful use of jazz chords — it really sounds like a simple song, but the chord progressions are full of major sevenths, ninths, and elevenths.” The song sounds as inventive today as it did when it made it to number 5 in America in ’65.
Seventeen tracks in all, and the sound across the album is excellent — tight bass and just the right amount of highs, a carefully done remaster of the original mono mixes. Note that this is effectively a whole new animal, combining tracks from both the original UK Decca and US Parrot — and since it’s on the group’s own label, the presentation is clearly artist-approved. New liner notes by David Fricke appear on the back cover, while Rod Argent’s original liner notes are included in an insert.
After this first album, the Zombies wrote more of their own material and released a string of truly excellent (if not big-selling) singles for Decca. They appeared in Otto Preminger’s Bunny Lake Is Missing, switched labels, and cut their mellotron-drenched magnum opus, Odessey and Oracle, now rightly considered a work of genius. But they began here, with a mix of covers that show what a good band they were and originals that range from noteworthy to truly groundbreaking.
No group sounded quite like the Zombies before — perhaps none really have since.
Listen to Colin Blunstone on Stereo Embers The Podcast.
