Fans of The Zombies might have noticed an interesting version of "She's Not There" in the season three finale of the Netflix hit The Crown.
The jazzier, lighter version, while credited to The Zombies, is actually a Colin Blunstone solo recording from 1969. In fact, Colin used the stage name Neil MacArthur.
He tells us exclusively it came from a session with Cat Stevens's early producer Mike Hurst.They worked on "eight or nine songs" such as The Association's "Never My Love" and "Hung Upside Down" by Buffalo Springfield, as well as reworking "She’s Not There" -- "which was chosen as a single by Deram Records... I always remember the choice of material and the name change as producer Mike Hurst’s idea and I can say with certainty it certainly wasn’t mine!!"
His solo version "sounds quite different because we chose a much lower key" and used a far different arrangement." Though the single reached Britain's Top 30, that was the only success for MacArthur before Colin went back to his original name.
Colin wonders "if poor old Neil is owed any royalties for this late surge in his career or perhaps its simply best to let sleeping Zombies sleep?"