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Post by cameron on Jan 19, 2014 11:29:42 GMT
This is a bit of an appeal really to find out more about this chapter of the Hollies' career.
In the summer of 1970, the Hollies set off for their first tour of Australia. The Hollies had always been very popular there, so to mark the occasion, Channel Two filmed a concert and turned it into a feature length TV documentary about the Hollies and their tour. Sadly, by all accounts, this tape has been wiped.
HOWEVER, the original unedited 51 minute concert recording remains (IN COLOUR!!) in the RITY Archive. The tracklist is as follows:
1. Amazing Grace
2. Blood Red Roses
3. Bus Stop
4. Carrie-Anne
5. Gasoline Alley Bred
6. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother
7. Let It Be
8. On A Carousel
9. Stop! Stop! Stop!
10. Too Much Monkey Business
11. Too Young To Be Married
12. Woodstock
Obviously, there's some interesting tracks there. The cover of "Amazing Grace" appears over the end credits of the LTAW DVD but all the remaining recordings remain unreleased, apart from poor tape recordings that were included on the "In A Spin" bootleg. The set includes the only known recorded live concert recording of "Gasoline Alley Bred" at the correct original recorded tempo. I also think it's interesting that by 1970, they were still playing "Too Much Monkey Business"! It also seems odd that no tracks were included from Hollies Sing Hollies and only one from Confessions Of The Mind, as "Too Young To Be Married" was a BIG hit in Australia.
Anyway, does anyone have any information to contribute? Or even better, any recordings of the concert? Thanks.
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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Jan 19, 2014 16:02:44 GMT
Have the audio which includes Let it be
Bus Stop
Too young to be married
Amazing Grace
He ain't heavy
Blood red roses
Woodstock
On a carousel
Too much monkey business
Dear oak tree
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2014 16:38:59 GMT
A black and white video of 'Too Young To Be Married' has circulated for years (though I can't find it on youtube). A very brief clip of 'He Ain't Heavy' can be seen here:
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Post by dirtyfaz on Jan 19, 2014 22:16:01 GMT
Just to clear things up, this wasn't from the Hollies first tour of Australia.
The boot copies on CD that have circulated for many many years came from a cassette copy of a reel to reel tape I made by holding a mike to the TV speaker.
I traded copies to some American guys back a long time ago and next they appear on bootlegs like In A Spin.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2014 9:21:52 GMT
Just to clear things up, this wasn't from the Hollies first tour of Australia. When did they first tour Australia? With Nash? |
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Post by stuball on Jan 20, 2014 19:22:05 GMT
Just to clear things up, this wasn't from the Hollies first tour of Australia. When did they first tour Australia? With Nash? The Hollies very first tour of Australia was in 1970, in the wake of the massive success of 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother'. The 'Don't Get Sunburnt' concert film was from their Far East tour of early '71, when the 'Too Young To Be Married' single, culled from the 'Confessions Of The Mind' LP, had topped the charts. |
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Post by stuball on Jan 27, 2014 16:56:11 GMT
The tracklist is as follows: 1. Amazing Grace 2. Blood Red Roses 3. Bus Stop 4. Carrie-Anne 5. Gasoline Alley Bred 6. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother 7. Let It Be 8. On A Carousel 9. Stop! Stop! Stop! 10. Too Much Monkey Business 11. Too Young To Be Married 12. Woodstock What a strange setlist! I'm wondering if this selection wasn't 'worked up' deliberately for the TV special. It's a real head turner, as much for what's missing, as for what's included. First the missing: where are selections such as 'Just One Look' and 'I Can't Let Go', old chestnuts that The Hollies dined out on for decades. And how about 'Sorry Suzanne', a major Australian hit less than 2 years previous to this gig? They could hardly get away without playing that number on tour. Now check out the additions: 'Too Much Monkey Business': A fun lively number, granted, but talk about being out of sync with the times. And the cover versions of current hits is bizarre for a big name group: Judy Collins current pop hit 'Amazing Grace', The Beatles year-old classic 'Let It Be' and CSN&Y's recent smash, Joni Mitchell's 'Woodstock'. All fine selections for showbands, or up and coming acts, but for The Hollies? It really plays into the hands of their critics of the time, who said The Hollies were fine as interpreters of other artists' work, but sadly lacking as a creative force themselves. For a group that had umpteen hits of their own to choose from, picking a setlist so heavily weighted with others' Top Ten Hits, seems bizarre! That's why I tend to think these tracks were probably assembled especially for this TV production, to show off the group's versatility. Or perhaps this list was only part of the group's live concert setlist, with some of their other hits edited out by television time constraints. Whatever the case, it is an unusual and eye catching collection of tunes. Definitely something that every true Hollies fan would give their eye teeth to see! Looking back, Don't Get Sunburnt!' would have made a wonderful companion disc to RITY's Hollies retrospective, the 'Look Through Any Window' DVD, and wouldn't have been out of the question, since RITY held the rights. However, since Graham Nash was not part of the 1971 Hollies package, that was never going to happen. Sadly, as things stand now, I wouldn't give 'Don't Get Sunburnt!' a snowball's chance in hell of ever seeing the light of day. A real shame. |
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Post by Stranger on Jan 27, 2014 19:22:20 GMT
They were doing Let It Be and Amazing Grace at other shows in Europe during this era too, so, those weren't just for the benefit of TV.
I get what you are saying about it being a showband thing to do but I will give them a pass on Amazing Grace because, for me, it is a stunner.
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Post by cameron on Jan 28, 2014 0:15:09 GMT
Sadly RITY have no interest in letting it see the light of day. I was in correspondence with David Peck once about it and he was very abrupt in shooting down any possibility of releasing this gem. Very sad indeed. Does anyone have any of the audio, other than the very poor bootleg that circulates? I'd be interested in trading.
I think the only odd inclusion is "Too Much Monkey Business" - that was old hat by 1967 and was booted from the setlist. Would love to hear it though, see what foolery they came up with by 1971! I believe Nash was behind the humour in that song, so it would be interesting to hear what they Hollies did with it.
I find the inclusion of "Gasoline Alley Bred" interesting too, as it was quickly dropped from the Hollies' set once it had fallen from the charts. The single version was slowed down for release, the live versions that I've heard have all been at the correct original tempo, so perhaps it didn't translate well with the fans. As for "Blood Red Roses", I have no idea what that's all about!
Why there's only one track from "Confessions Of The Mind", I do not know. What an amazing album and I'd have thought they'd have showed it off more. I think it involved swapping around a bit more than they were used to, much like they did in the Rickfors era, which as we know turned out to not be such a great idea after all.
Still, it would be nice to hear this concert in full, and any pre-1980 Hollies concerts for that matter. There's a lot of post 1980 concert bootlegs floating about, they all sound more or less the same to me, just Allan's voice declines later on. There's a bootleg due out later this month of the audio of the 1969 "In Concert" show that was recorded for the BBC. I ripped the audio years ago as I like to listen to it in the car! I wonder if there's any other releases in the pipeline...
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Post by stuball on Jan 28, 2014 17:29:20 GMT
They were doing Let It Be and Amazing Grace at other shows in Europe during this era too, so, those weren't just for the benefit of TV. I get what you are saying about it being a showband thing to do but I will give them a pass on Amazing Grace because, for me, it is a stunner. Yes Stranger, you're right about 'Amazing Grace', definitely a show-stopper, and The Hollies were playing it as late as '74, during their '74 Brit tour. I was not aware they carried on with 'Let It Be', so that's news to me. |
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Post by stuball on Jan 28, 2014 18:00:55 GMT
Sadly RITY have no interest in letting it see the light of day. I was in correspondence with David Peck once about it and he was very abrupt in shooting down any possibility of releasing this gem. Very sad indeed. As for "Blood Red Roses", I have no idea what that's all about! I suppose David Peck has to wear two hats at RITY: one as a fan and the other as a producer watching the bottom line. Judging from the 'Look Through Any Window' DVD, I don't doubt David is a much, much bigger fan of the 'Nash Hollies' than the subsequent lineup. And as a producer he would be aware that a DVD release of 'Don't Get Sunburnt!' would curry little media interest and obviously very paltry sales figures, so you can see his position. That's why it's too bad he didn't include it as a 'bonus' DVD for hardcore Hollies fans, along with the 'LTAW' release. 'Blood Red Roses' was an old 'sea shanty' resurrected by The Hollies and sang 'A Capella' by the group. Much like 'Amazing Grace'. According to an old Bobby Elliott interview, Allan, Terry, Tony and Bobby congregated around a single mike and harmonized throughout, with Bobby singing the bass line. Not sure what Bernie was up to at the time. Perhaps grabbing a quick tea! |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2014 19:45:58 GMT
Seems like they pretty much always threw in the odd unrecorded song, at least until Allan left in 1999. Certainly this was the case during the 80s and 90s, and of course back in the Nash era they performed such songs as 'Reach Out, I'll Be There' and 'Dang Me'.
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Post by dirtyfaz on Jan 29, 2014 3:29:05 GMT
The Hollies first tour of Australia sometime in the 60's was cancelled when bobby got sick. The first time they arrived on our shores was like maybe January 1970. They played a few dates at a Sydney nightclub called Chequers. I have It no longer exists. I remember seeing them twice there on different dates. The major thing I remember from those nights is that they played A Taste Of Honey the first night but removed it from the second night. The other thing is I had just got an import copy of Hollies Sing Hollies. Got it signed by all of them, had a couple of drinks with them. Access was easy as it was a nightclub. One of them remarked that this was the first time them had seen the finished LP.
The 1971 tour was when the "Don't Get Sunburnt" 50 odd minutes doco was made.
From my recollection they toured again in 1973 with Rickfors (great live band) and I think 75 and 76.
I have seen them on every tour they have done here. On some tours on multiple occasions and will see them in a couple of weeks at the State theatre.
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Post by Stranger on Jan 29, 2014 11:36:47 GMT
Amazing Grace was still being perfromed when Live Hits was recorded in '76, wasn't it?
I think the RITY DVD missed a trick in not including, say, Too Young To Be Married from Don't Get Sunburnt, just to show how good they were live and how they had various hits in different countries which weren't hits in the UK/US which is an important part of their story.
It is possible that the special was very expensive to license. On YouTube a lot of snippets of other acts like the Stones and Cat Stevens have turned up from the ABC vaults, so, you never know...
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Post by stuball on Jan 29, 2014 15:54:41 GMT
Amazing Grace was still being perfromed when Live Hits was recorded in '76, wasn't it? Yes, 'Amazing Grace' was part of the setlist for The Hollies January '76 New Zealand concerts that became the LP 'Live Hits'. And yet, The Hollies didn't perform 'Amazing Grace' on their North American tours of '75 and '76. Different tunes for different markets, I presume. |
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Post by JamesT on Feb 3, 2014 21:06:59 GMT
I've often wondered about the true effect of the 'phantom whistler' on the 'Live Hits' album who is supposed to be the reason for the exclusion of 'Amazing Grace' and 'Boulder To Birmingham'. One would have thought the interference could have been removed - nowadays at least.
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