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Post by cameron on Oct 20, 2019 8:07:35 GMT
Tonight (20th October) at 11pm, Allan Clarke joins Jools Holland and his rhythm and blues orchestra on his BBC Radio Two Show to play a selection of tracks live in the studio (pre-recorded before broadcast) from his latest album “Resurgence”. He also will be playing a cover of his favourite Conway Twitty song. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009jt8I’ll post an iPlayer link when the show has been broadcast for those who can’t listen live.
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halls
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Post by halls on Oct 20, 2019 10:40:07 GMT
Fabulous news, cheers for the heads up. Maybe we may get a future TV performance on Jools Holland when it returns 👍
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Post by thejanitor on Oct 20, 2019 17:56:21 GMT
So happy to hear Allan is testing the "live" waters again with these new songs. 😀 Hopefully it will lead onto some greater things like a TV performance or two and even concerts!
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Post by cameron on Oct 20, 2019 23:02:24 GMT
I have to confess, I'm a little disappointed with this show. 30 minutes was nowhere near long enough for Allan and Jools appeared to be constantly rushing him along, even speaking over him at one point when Allan was going to mention another story. His life story and song choices only got him to the very start of the Hollies' career. Contrary to what some write ups claimed, no songs from 'Resurgence' were played live, only his cover of 'It's Only Make Believe' with Jools Holland's backing group was live. A bit of a wasted opportunity, I feel.
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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Oct 21, 2019 6:32:25 GMT
I have to confess, I'm a little disappointed with this show. 30 minutes was nowhere near long enough for Allan and Jools appeared to be constantly rushing him along, even speaking over him at one point when Allan was going to mention another story. His life story and song choices only got him to the very start of the Hollies' career. Contrary to what some write ups claimed, no songs from 'Resurgence' were played live, only his cover of 'It's Only Make Believe' with Jools Holland's backing group was live. A bit of a wasted opportunity, I feel. Agree, wasted opportunity, expected it would be 'It's only make believe' when told it would be a Conway Twitty number, It was okay, Allan's voice was strong but.......didn't really work for me...
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Post by thejanitor on Oct 21, 2019 12:54:02 GMT
Sadly, me three. Still, we got It's Only Make Believe as Allan's first public live performance in a while from this programme 😀 but disappointed to hear the Resurgence songs are just the album recordings. I respect Allan's decision if it was his to only do one live song.
I do like his song choices though. It would be cool if Allan did a Desert Island Discs episode as part of his current promotion he's doing. ☺
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 10:10:05 GMT
Good to hear Allan singing live again, though it's not the greatest of versions (to be honest I was never over-keen on The Hollies' version either).
Incidentally, it's a little odd that some of the keenest of fans on here haven't commented at all on Allan's recent activities. I won't name them, but I'm genuinely curious to hear their opinions.
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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Oct 22, 2019 10:14:58 GMT
Good to hear Allan singing live again, though it's not the greatest of versions (to be honest I was never over-keen on The Hollies' version either). Incidentally, it's a little odd that some of the keenest of fans on here haven't commented at all on Allan's recent activities. I won't name them, but I'm genuinely curious to hear their opinions. Even worse on official Hollies site, not even acknowledged,I think it's disgusting and offensive that they have little or no respect for Allan...
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Post by eric on Oct 22, 2019 11:08:56 GMT
Good to hear Allan singing live again, though it's not the greatest of versions (to be honest I was never over-keen on The Hollies' version either). “It’s Only Make Believe” has forever been one of the few songs recorded by The Hollies that I have never taken a liking to. The song plods along and the middle solo by the impressive seventeen year old Tony Hicks, whilst incredibly fluent, is way too long. I have returned to this song many times over the years hoping to find it more appealing but unfortunately it remains in my “don’t play” basket.
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Post by baz on Oct 22, 2019 15:22:16 GMT
Good to hear Allan singing live again, though it's not the greatest of versions (to be honest I was never over-keen on The Hollies' version either). Incidentally, it's a little odd that some of the keenest of fans on here haven't commented at all on Allan's recent activities. I won't name them, but I'm genuinely curious to hear their opinions. Even worse on official Hollies site, not even acknowledged,I think it's disgusting and offensive that they have little or no respect for Allan... Comes as no real surprise to me unfortunately.
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Post by stuball on Oct 22, 2019 16:01:45 GMT
Personally, I don't find it surprising that the THE OFFICIAL SITE avoids mentioning Clarke's latest opus.They'd have to be crazy to put up an article praising a member of the classic Hollies current release. And why is that? Largely because it invites comparison between the international chart-busting group and today's current outfit. And that can only end badly for the Howarth Hollies.
I've never thought highly of THE OFFICIAL SITE, but in this case I can see their logic.
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Post by thejanitor on Oct 22, 2019 16:15:36 GMT
Seems like Allan's recent doings have only been very lightly mentioned by the folk on the official forum also, the latest they've talked about it being back in August, before the album was even released!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 16:39:53 GMT
Personally, I don't find it surprising that the THE OFFICIAL SITE avoids mentioning Clarke's latest opus.They'd have to be crazy to put up an article praising a member of the classic Hollies current release. And why is that? Largely because it invites comparison between the international chart-busting group and today's current outfit. And that can only end badly for the Howarth Hollies. I've never thought highly of THE OFFICIAL SITE, but in this case I can see their logic. It would be slightly different if Allan was seen as a "rival" act (ie, it is impossible to imagine The Searchers prior to their recent demise plugging tours and releases by Mike Pender), but it wouldn't hurt them at all to mention releases by (say) Allan, Mikhail or Alan Coates.
Do they ever plug Peter H's activities outside the group? Again, I don't see why not.
Must confess, I haven't looked at the official forum in years.
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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Oct 22, 2019 16:45:13 GMT
Personally, I don't find it surprising that the THE OFFICIAL SITE avoids mentioning Clarke's latest opus.They'd have to be crazy to put up an article praising a member of the classic Hollies current release. And why is that? Largely because it invites comparison between the international chart-busting group and today's current outfit. And that can only end badly for the Howarth Hollies. I've never thought highly of THE OFFICIAL SITE, but in this case I can see their logic. Yeah, I get that and it is consistent with their lack of acknowledgement of anything Nash or Sylvester, still find it disrespectful..
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Post by cameron on Oct 24, 2019 0:20:12 GMT
I can see why there's no official word from the Hollies website - Allan Clarke is no longer a part of the Hollies, so what business is it of theirs to advertise his album on their site? I think it would only be different if the Hollies had disbanded, as they stood nothing to gain or lose by promoting his solo career. Although Allan is no threat to the Hollies, I can see why it's perhaps a conflict of interest to promote his latest LP. Also, remember that Allan has tried a bit to distance himself from the Hollies, trying to establish this album in its own right. As Stuball points out, promoting Allan Clarke would only open up the whole "Clarke Vs. Howarth" wound again, drawing comparisons with Allan's voice and the current Hollies. Though I have been a little annoyed that Peter Howarth is touring with a group called "Frontm3n", billed as "the lead singer of the Hollies" and exclusively singing Hollies songs that he didn't specifically make famous. I feel like this is very misleading to the general public. Yes, he is technically the lead singer of the Hollies, but he's not the voice that made all those songs famous. What separates him from any other tribute act, other than the blessing of Tony and Bobby? He's very good, I will add, but if the current Hollies are upset with Allan's recent quip about not having any original members, I think Allan has a right to be upset about someone on tour as the lead singer of the Hollies, singing only songs that Allan himself made famous! Ask Joe Public who the lead singer of the Hollies is, and 100% of them who actually know his name will say Allan Clarke.
Speaking of which, whenever arguments about Allan Clarke vs the Hollies erupt, I think it's about time ALL sides acknowledged what they achieved TOGETHER. Despite it deserving to, Allan's solo career never really took off to anywhere near the heights of success that he enjoyed with the Hollies, and likewise, the Hollies' UK chart successes ended when Allan left the group in 1972, and only re-started when he returned, despite them recording some of their best work in between. Allan is THE voice of the Hollies. And Allan needed the backing of the Hollies.
Someone posted on here when I asked about the defunct Hollies Fan Club that the editors were forbidden to mention any ex-members in the Carousel Magazine, which ultimately lead to its demise as the then current Hollies had nothing new on offer towards the end of the publication, so it was a struggle to fill the magazine. I find this attitude has perhaps opened up the chasm between fans who obviously love and enjoy the original members and the original records, and those who perhaps don't feel as if they can mention them if they're closely following the current line up. I know people on this forum reported not being accepted on the official forum - myself included - perhaps because they'd said something against the current line up somewhere on social media in the past. I think that is censorship at an unbelievably petty level and to be honest, for many years drove me to dislike the current line up on principal, that they were seemingly okay with vetting fans to join their official website forum, just because they *might* say something mean. Innocent until proven guilty, and all that.
Either way, I feel no one is perfect in all this. The Hollies past and present just want a quiet private life with no trouble (well, seemingly apart from Terry Sylvester!), so I think they'd sooner say nothing about Allan's latest work than either speak in favour of it or speak against it. I know Allan massively put his foot in it with his quip about the current band having no original members, which he later apologised for publicly. If there was a shred of amicability between Allan and the current Hollies, it was lost in that moment I feel. I cringed as I read it, actually, because there was no point saying it. No Hollies fan in the world would ever make a case for Vic Steele or Don Rathbone being "original" core Hollies members.
The whole thing is a bit of a mess. Just sit back and enjoy the music, it gets upsetting when you delve deeper into personalities, egos and the way in which their "squeaky clean" image is maintained.
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Post by gee on Oct 24, 2019 16:40:45 GMT
Cameron makes valid points here
I can advise that whatever Tony might feel now it seems that there is NO acrimony from Bobby Elliott re Allan as on 7 October Bobby told me in an email;
'Wonderful news that Dear Allan can sing again, I wish him well...'
So it's not all gloomy news between them !
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Post by ransford on Oct 28, 2019 15:28:40 GMT
Amazing six pages interview with Allan Clarke in the Swedish magazine Rock´n Roll Magazine. It´s far too long to translate but he speaks a lot about his years in The Hollies, his relation with Graham Nash and of course about his new album. Allan even says he can do Swedish TV if there's a show that's interested. There's also an apology to Mikael Rickfors for not being polite to him many, many years ago.
I didn't know that his contract with BMG is for ten years. Wow, he's 77 now!
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Post by Gralto on Oct 29, 2019 8:08:14 GMT
Good to hear Allan singing live again, though it's not the greatest of versions (to be honest I was never over-keen on The Hollies' version either). Incidentally, it's a little odd that some of the keenest of fans on here haven't commented at all on Allan's recent activities. I won't name them, but I'm genuinely curious to hear their opinions. Hi Peter - not sure if you are referring to me here - which is fair enough! - but Allan asked what I thought and I said I wasn't going to offer an opinion until I had heard the album from start to finish. I'd deliberately avoided listening to the online songs - except for journey of regret - and was waiting for the CD to arrive to take it all in. This has now landed and I'm preparing my review - you know me, I don't do succinct very well! It's coming...
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Post by knut on Oct 29, 2019 8:25:33 GMT
Frankly, I am not too impressed I am afraid. Nice enough but somehow I think it lacks that special Allan Clarke sound that I have always loved. My favourite is Long cool woman's back in town.
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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Oct 29, 2019 8:35:41 GMT
Frankly, I am not too impressed I am afraid. Nice enough but somehow I think it lacks that special Allan Clarke sound that I have always loved. My favourite is Long cool woman's back in town. Sorry that you are not impressed Knut, but I think it's brilliant, but there again you are a big fan of the current line up aren't you...?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 9:22:12 GMT
Good to hear Allan singing live again, though it's not the greatest of versions (to be honest I was never over-keen on The Hollies' version either). Incidentally, it's a little odd that some of the keenest of fans on here haven't commented at all on Allan's recent activities. I won't name them, but I'm genuinely curious to hear their opinions. Hi Peter - not sure if you are referring to me here - which is fair enough! - but Allan asked what I thought and I said I wasn't going to offer an opinion until I had heard the album from start to finish. I'd deliberately avoided listening to the online songs - except for journey of regret - and was waiting for the CD to arrive to take it all in. This has now landed and I'm preparing my review - you know me, I don't do succinct very well! It's coming... Hi Simon, Actually it was aimed more at Geoff (Gee). He usually has an opinion on everything Hollies-related, something which I welcome, so I'm curious about his thoughts on the new album. Looking forward to your review!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 9:29:12 GMT
Frankly, I am not too impressed I am afraid. Nice enough but somehow I think it lacks that special Allan Clarke sound that I have always loved. My favourite is Long cool woman's back in town. Sorry that you are not impressed Knut, but I think it's brilliant, but there again you are a big fan of the current line up aren't you...? It will never get played by me as much as (say) 'Evolution' or 'Sings Dylan', but I do consider it to be (at least) the best Hollies-related product since AC's 1978-1980 albums. Much, much, preferable to 'Buddy Holly', 'What Goes Around' and (of course!) the Howarth-era albums.
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Post by baz on Oct 29, 2019 9:49:03 GMT
It will never get played by me as much as (say) 'Evolution' or 'Sings Dylan', but I do consider it to be (at least) the best Hollies-related product since AC's 1978-1980 albums. Much, much, preferable to 'Buddy Holly', 'What Goes Around' and (of course!) the Howarth-era albums. That's pretty much my feeling as well though I don't dislike 'Buddy Holly'. For me, Allan's new album is like a surprise letter from an old friend we've not heard from in years, letting us know he's still doing fine, still has things to say and prove. It's a pleasant listen and the musical highlight of this year as it came as such a genuine unexpected surprise. I'm happy that Allan is singing and playing again and hope now there will be more to come. It sits nicely alongside his earlier solo albums and Allan should rightly be proud of it.
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Post by dirtyfaz on Oct 29, 2019 20:21:40 GMT
Mine is still in the Amazon system. Should be here this week. It will be interesting to hear. Like Simon I avoided listening to all the stuff on line.
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albatros
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albatros
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Post by albatros on Nov 7, 2019 18:04:31 GMT
Allan Clarke's new solo album. What shall I say. Any good songs on it. I specifically like JOURNEY OF ... and 2 or 3 others. But I think that especially his solo LP`s from 1978 - WASN`T BORN YESTERDAY and that from 1990 REASONS TO BELIEVE and also I`VE GOT TIME are a lot better. A good album but not anymore. Why should one overvalue something if it is not so. The old version of DON`T LET ME DOWN is many times better than the new version of Allan Clarke. Conclusion of me: It is nice that he is back - let's wait and see what's left. Live performances I`m not sure that it can work.
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