Zombies Album: “Begin Here [Begin Here Plus]”

Total of 22 tracks from this under-appreciated and under-rated British Invasion act.I'm seeing a couple of tunes here that either I've never heard of or I just plain don't remember.Cuts like "Road Runner", the ballad "Summertime","She's Not There","Remember When I Loved Her"(I've been looking for this song for a long time,used to have it as a B-side of a 45 single),"Tell Her No","Kind Of Girl" and "Sticks And Stones".An absolute must-have.

Begin Here is a great album, but not in the later sense of the word.There is no higher concept and there are too many mediocre covers of old soul songs. What you also get with this album is a youthful energy and short amazingly catchy tunes that give one the essence of the mop top.

"She's not there" and "Tell her no" are known, but "I can't make up my mind","I remember when I loved her", and "I don't want to know" are rarely heard today but very satisfying. What you are getting with all these songs is high energy, yet still melodic vocals from Mr Blunstone. These interact very well with the vagely half-witted yet strangely fitting background vocals to give a youthfull energy that was perhaps unique to baby boomers coming of age. Mr.Argent's organ playing and the great transitions keep everything hopping along. No politics or drugged out guitar solos here to spoil the fun, and fun it is.

If you are beginning to become acquainted with the Zombies, then do as they suggest and "Begin Here" with this album than a "Greatest Hits" package. You will appreciate the songs more heard as they were initially intended than in a more jarring effect it is to hear their stuff taken out of context and meant as song for song than the album's total effect. Remember, the Zombies gave the Beatles the only true competitor to "Sgt. Pepper's" when they did "Odyssey and Oracle." And they are still together recording after breaking up and beginning new careers and then coming together again. "Begin Here...Plus" is a great record, an expanded reissue of their 1965 British debut. As singles, "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" were superior many of the Beatles songs of the same period.

This is the one to get if you are looking for all the Zombies' hits. This German reissue of their "Greatest Hits" album renamed "Begin Here" (not to be confused with their debut album of the same name) contains a slew of bonus tracks to give you a fuller picture of what they were all about. Buy this one along with their Odyssey and Oracle album.