One can be forgiven for sometimes thinking that the post-Beatles British invasion bands were a dime a dozen, but every once in a while one emerged which kept itself afloat on the power of its own prodigious talents. Some, like The Move, spread their wings immediately and mixed deft Fab Four homages with experimenation in other styles. The Zombies, however, stayed a bit closer to home, sticking fast to the beat group parameters and even borrowing some of the Beatles’ trademark maneuvers, such as covering old blues tunes (including “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me”, a Smokey Robinson classic which had already been appropriated by the Beatles). But it’s sometimes easy to overlook that the Zombies had their own dynamic duo in the form of Rod Argent (later of Argent) and Colin Blunstone (who, among other solo and session work, has done guest lead vocals for the Alan Parsons Project). While some of the Zombies’ material sometimes washes into the background of Beatles imitators, there are some bright gems which singled them out for praise.
Chief among these is jangling lament of “She’s Not There”, a song with a brooding verse, a driving chorus, and great minor key harmonies that distinguished it from the sunnier beat numbers of the mid 60s. The more laid-back “Tell Her No” has also become an oldies radio chestnut. Some of the Zombies’ other early numbers are less familiar (who remembers “I Got My Mojo Working”?), but those two singles paved the way for a career that, while brief, afforded them a more worthy status than just Beatles wanna-bes. Argent later formed a group named after himself and gave us the 70s rock anthem “Hold Your Head Up”, and in the late 1990s reunited as a 
duo with Blunstone for a successful UK tour and a subsequent studio album. Not everything on Begin Here will trip your trigger – I’ll admit that I really only listen to it for three or four songs, and the “bonus material” of two demos and two alternate takes are of negligible value to all but the most serious fans. But that’s just it – it was a beginning, and a promising one at that.
- Road Runner (2:07)
- Summertime (2:18)
- I Can’t Make Up My Mind (2:33)
- The Way I Feel Inside (1:51)
- Work ‘N’ Play (2:09)
- You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me / Bring It On Home To Me (3:40)
- She’s Not There (2:25)
- Sticks And Stones (2:57)
- Can’t Nobody Love You (2:16)
- Woman (2:28)
- I Don’t Want To Know (2:07)
- I Remember When I Loved Her (2:01)
- What More Can I Do (1:40)
- I Got My Mojo Working (3:37)
- It’s Alright With Me (1:53)
- Sometimes (2:06)
- Kind Of Girl (2:11)
- Tell Her No (2:08)
- Sticks And Stones – alternate take (3:08)
- It’s Alright With Me – alternate take (1:56)
- I Know She Will – demo (2:28)
- I’ll Keep Trying – demo (2:19)
Released by: Ace Records
Release date: 1998
Total running time: 52:18
