In The Zombies: Hung Up On A Dream novelist and musician Claes Johansen follows the band from their suburban beginnings on an adventure through a pop industry that was still very much in its infancy. Surviving relatively unscathed through gruelling package tours of the US, even escaping a promoter's dispute in the Philippines, they carefully avoided many of the pitfalls of their contemporaries. As a result all the band members have remained friends to this day - a rare thing in the pop music world.

The band have many current fans including Paul Weller and Badly Drawn Boy, and echoes of the Zombies' innovations can be heard in the Doors, the Byrds, the Left Banke, the Kinks, and the author asserts from the musical connections that Nick Drake was probably a fan too.

Concisely pieced together from interviews with all members, this book fully uncovers the motivations behind Odessey and Oracle. It is also the intriguing story of the evolution of a unique and highly influential band and their struggle to balance artistic integrity against the often fickle and sometimes conflicting demands of commercial success.

ISBN: 0 946719 34 9
224 pages (illustrated). Hardback

THE ZOMBIES
HUNG UP ON A DREAM

Claes Johansen

£16.99 plus postage