Robert Schwartzman examines how five friends from the home counties ended up as part of the British invasion of the US music scene
The happy-sad story of 60s band the Zombies is recounted in this very watchable documentary from actor, film-maker and Coppola family member Robert Schwartzman, younger brother of Jason. Keyboardist Rod Argent, singer Colin Blunstone, guitarist Paul Atkinson, drummer Hugh Grundy and bassist Chris White were the amazingly talented group from the English home counties who, in this film, look heartbreakingly like a five-man team on University Challenge.
The Zombies became a hugely prominent part of the British invasion of the US, while at the same being royally manipulated and exploited. Their eerie and sublime harmonies, topped off by Blunstone’s beautiful, plangent and weirdly vulnerable lead vocals, were the foundation of iconic songs like She’s Not There, praised by George Harrison on Juke Box Jury (the equivalent of getting a simultaneous OBE and papal blessing). Then there was the mysterious, psychedelic and weirdly unwholesome masterpiece Time of the Season from 1968, although sadly Schwartzman doesn’t ask the band to walk us through those groovy lyrics: “It’s the time of the season for loving / What’s your name? What’s your name? / Who’s your daddy? Who’s your daddy? / He rich? Is he rich like me?” It stormed the US charts after the band had made the gloomy decision to break up, exhausted and demoralised and, above all, needing money to pay the bills.
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