The Hollies - Classic or Dud?

And then he gave me an annotated and illustrated history of melodic English guitar pop since 1985 or so, of which I recognized no names whatever. If Minna hadn't come along I think he'd have worked his way up to about 1991 by now.

And, Tim: I don't think Meltzer intended to be taken completely seriously; or at least not by 1970, when I believe that piece was written! (Have to re-read it myself - I know I've got it at home somewhere.)

A friend of mine used to say that if he had a daughter, he'd name her Carrie Anne. A son, Bus Stop.

Still I love "Look Through Any Window" and "Stop Stop" and several others. The Soft Boys' "Kingdom of Love" is the greatest rip of "Long Cool Woman" I know of. Hermans Hermits did have a few good ones, "I'm into Something Good" and "A Must to Avoid." But give me the Zombies over the Hollies any day--the Zombies weren't one-dimensional (that's a compliment too).

I still love the Distant Light LP.

Hollies-Zombies parallels are certainly worth drawing. I'd say Butterfly was probably as close to the perfection of Odessy & Oracle as the Hollies ever got, but look how many LPs they made in that period (both Evolution & For Certain Because are just as good really). There's not much of their 70s material I can listen to with pleasure, but Beatles aside, their probably my favourite UK band of the 60s. It's all in those ultra-tight harmonies and the clanging guitars.

Oh, and
You got me goin', I need you baby, I can't let go and I want you baby, I gotta have you, you know, I CAN'T LET GO-WOAH!

Yeah. "Two Yanks" is OP here in the states, at least. It's certainly one of the greatest of all '60s albums. Nearly all the songs are written by the team of "L. Ransford." As good a record as "Revolver" or, name it.

no. it's absolute rubbish, and it would probably go in my top 20 most hated songs list. on the other hand "jennifer eccles," "pay you back with interest," "king midas in reverse," and "carrie anne" would go in my top 20 most loved songs list. they had some appalling duds, but the strongest moments are gorgeous.
what about gerry & the pacemakers? i associate them with freddie & the dreamers, but "ferry cross the mersey" is so much better than "i'm telling you now."

WANT

wow, that's nice. and essential if you ask me. i would buy one.

would totally buy a 70's box too. my hollies love is deep.

Tracklisting

I've got the '67 albums in the Sundazed editions, and am currently listening to For Certain Because... in glorious MONO. This looks like a great & inexpensive way to get everything else.

Got the box in the mail today from amazon (for that price, how could I refuse?). Sort of a bare-bones affair, albeit with convoluted packaging (six discs in a double-wide case w/fold-out double trays on the outside and teeth to accommodate two discs in the center frame). Small booklet as well, although it does have a nice new interview w/Nash and fairly detailed discography info. About to actually listen to the thing.

lol, in '67 they put out this single in Italy: "We're Alive" b/w "Kill Me Quick" (sadly the B's tile doesn't appear in the lyric)

The box is outstanding - although the packaging and booklet are a bit diappointing. Still, for £15 it's great.

Got myself the copies of _Evolution_ & _Butterfly_ with both mono & stereo mixes, & an early EPs in mono comp, which all came to about the same price. The box was tempting, but their decision to go with stereo where possible, led to some maybe not great decisions.

"We're Alive" ?

Not "I'm Alive" then?

i've become such a hollies booster over the years. pretty much the only thing they ever did - that i've heard - that i'm not into is the dylan covers album. i mean i like pretty much all the 60's and 70's stuff. from really early to really late.

(same thing has happened to me with manfred mann stuff. after being a casual fan of the 60's era stuff, it turns out that i'm a big fan of that stuff AND the chapter three stuff which i think is amazing and i became a big fan of all the 70's stuff that i had never bothered with for years. kinda three different entities completely, but whatever.)

OTM about the Dylan album. The production and arrangements are quite annoying. Practically every song is ruined with some kind of idiocyncratic instrumentation like tubas or banjos or something. I always assumed that was a hangover from the quite successful steel drum bits on Carrie Ann. It could've been a cool album too. The folky covers on "Would You Believe" which are played harder and bluesier, are awesome. That's actually my favourite album of theirs. The later stuff doesn't grab me as much but I haven't actually heard much of it past the s/t album from '74. I love it when they are really shouting out those harmonies and I don't hear that so much after the 60s.

"We're Alive" ?

Not "I'm Alive" then?

"I'm Alive" is on there. A different song, "We're Alive" is a very sunny, very 1967 pop number that apparently was only issued in Italy with a flipside, "Kill Me Quick", which (no joke) has lyrics that undermine the message of the A-side.

I wanna hear that.

Romany is a good 70s album, w/the Swede on lead vocals and covers of Judee Sill & David Ackles. "Touch" is a should-have been hit. Not "Magic Woman Touch," that's here too.

http://image.kazaa.com/images/53/094639471553/The_Hollies/Romany_Expanded_Edition/The_Hollies-Romany_Expanded_Edition_3.jpg

Is the Judee Sill song they cover "Jesus Was A Crossmaker"? Crowe's use of it in Elizabethtown was one the few good things about that movie.

the air that i breathe &
king midas in reverse &
long dark road

are three of my favorite tracks of all time

"We're Alive" not on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84ZfPUr2_tg

s/t album from 1974 with air that i breathe on it is so much fun! part of me probably likes it so much cuz so much of it reminds me of a late Raiders album with the exception of the air that i breathe. and my raiders love is deep.

any powerpop fan needs that s/t album.

never heard this one from 1979. never came out in the states.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Hollies-5317704.jpg

i tend to stop at 1979 with 60's bands that i like. not always, but for the most part. unless i have some sort of sick fascination with a band's 80's output.

Holy shit! Youtube just threw this at me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaGD-QVZ9qM

holy lol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfuFZfL7qps

Nash turned 70 yesterday.

God bless him. "Carrie Anne" slays me.

Happened on this today, it's been up for three years and where was I?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=WKZqrC97qAU&NR=1

Sometimes all I need is "The Air That I Breathe" to feel temporarily better about both my life and the world in general. The consoling power of hyperaccessible pop music is either underestimated or underappreciated. One of those. Consolation is not the only thing I look for from art but often, maybe too often, it's the main thing.

I love Butterfly, really underrated record.

underrated in general imo. Nash should never have left

Tbf I reckon Nash is glad he left.

Not sure which version I love more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVoyd7lotgw

I take it that the title Kill Me Quick is a pun on the seaside hat etc slogan 'Kiss Me Quick' which I think was a common sight at the time.

Also assume taht the blonde guy who is always photographed in hats was going prematurely bald? I think he was the drummer of the time, notice him in 60s photos but don't see a hat in 70s ones so did he get a better wig or leave or what?

THink I heard that pre-fame the Hollies were one of the hardest rocking groups on the Manchester scene. I'm not familiar with their very early studio work, does any of that come through or was it sanitized for the teen pop crowd?

The drummer was I think Bobby Elliott who, yes, was bald by the 70s. Fierce drummer too - my folks dragged me to see 'em in the late 80s and he was still shit-hot (and the songs and harmonies were great too)

he had upgraded to a wig by the 70s, that's him on the bottom right:

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/85515753-photo-of-bobby-elliott-and-hollies-and-bernie-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QXQinf53r8RxzJ20ToGjoKjwdRGBBoN9d%2BU2R%2BVbVyYO88721nlfY%2FSJRK4a6zzpXQ%3D%3D

and then adopted the skinhead look in the 80s:

http://eil.com/images/main/The-Hollies-Stop-In-The-Name-558013.jpg

those shoes look so mid-00s pop punk band

reminds me a bit of this as well

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/The_rapture_-_pieces_of_the_people_we_love.jpg

I heard that pre-fame the Hollies were one of the hardest rocking groups on the Manchester scene. I'm not familiar with their very early studio work, does any of that come through or was it sanitized for the teen pop crowd?

First couple of albums have a lot of that frantic UK take on rock'n'roll that the Beatles and everyone else did and they pull it off well - especially because of their vocals. But their toughest-sounding album imo is "Would you Believe?" which has a raw R&B/roots sound throughout, great songs and a good choice of covers. It's the kind of album that bands like the Barracudas spent decades striving to emulate. Note that the schlocky song "Would You Believe?" is not actually on this album.

Schlocky? I actually came to this thread to mention that “Would You Believe” is poss. my favorite Hollies song. The lumbering guitar strumming, the arco strings darting in and out, and Nash’s harmony vocals are all so, so great.

Sorry Suzanne is the pop masterpiece for me

“would you believe” tears my heart up (in a good way) for personal reasons

Yeah, they made a lot of schlock, but they also made a lot of enjoyable if lightweight music. Definitely a singles band, but Evolution is quite good - still the only Hollies LP I'd want to listen to in addition to the singles.

Listen To Me is a solid gold banger. And I Can't Let Go. Sublime singles band.

Unearthing the dustier corners of my record collection, I found my vinyl copy of the American edition of Evolution, which weighs in at 10 tracks and a epic 25-minute runtime. Seems like Epic was pretty ruthless in cutting down Brit albums in this era, as there are a bunch of their US release Dave Clark Five albums that are even shorter (20-22 minutes).