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Post by irelandcalling4 on Feb 10, 2021 17:09:14 GMT
The delving in every few weeks to the Hollies wonderful catalogue. I go up to 1978 and ACS normally.
Confessions of the Mind has always been a favourite. Surrounded by what I think are two of their very best, Sing Hollies (besides a track or two) and the excellent Distant Light. Distant Light I'd put up there with For Certain Because, Evolution and Butterfly as their greatest studio album. Stones were making Sticky Fingers, Kinks Muswell Hillbillies, the Hollies released an album as good in Distant Light.
Confessions - some absolutely wonderful stuff of course; Lady Please, Frightened Lady, Separated, Shout it Out Loud, Survival, Man Without a Heart.
What was the view of fans on some of these, either at the time or now? Man Without a Heart for instance - it is so uber dramatic I've seen it likened to a parody simply as the drama is as high musically as you can get. I love it though, love the melody and yes, the drama.
Isn't it Nice - very sugary sweet, even for them. A nursery rhyme quality to it. However, it boasts stunning harmonies and a very strong melody. Is this one rated among the fans?
Perfect Lady Housewife isn't as high a point as the winners here, a competent bluesy number but not a highlight. Much better were some B sides; Dandelion Wine, Prof Blyth.
The almost title track suite at the end by Tony, quite an epic with some stirring sections.
Looking forward to thoughts on this one and those particular tracks.
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Post by paul71 on Feb 10, 2021 18:01:04 GMT
I've always adored this lp.
Too young to be married, man without a heart, separated, title track and frightened lady are my favourites, it felt as though they came of age a little without losing their pop tag
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Post by thejanitor on Feb 11, 2021 0:58:00 GMT
I think COTM picks up nicely where Butterfly left off in terms of them progressing forward with their sound. While Hollies Sing Dylan and Hollies Sing Hollies both have strong moments, I see those two albums as them mainly tinkering around with different musical styles and trying to figure out a good new direction from those, while they sound fully confident as a band with their ambitious songwrititing and arrangements on Confessions. I also think they broke away from the teenybopper appeal around that point which was a big help in them writing and/or recording more mature material into the 70s.
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Post by johnt on Feb 11, 2021 9:08:10 GMT
One of my favourite Hollies albums. I remember going out to buy it on the day of release from my then local record shop - Syd Booths of Mansfield.
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Feb 11, 2021 15:25:32 GMT
I think COTM picks up nicely where Butterfly left off in terms of them progressing forward with their sound. While Hollies Sing Dylan and Hollies Sing Hollies both have strong moments, I see those two albums as them mainly tinkering around with different musical styles and trying to figure out a good new direction from those, while they sound fully confident as a band with their ambitious songwrititing and arrangements on Confessions. I also think they broke away from the teenybopper appeal around that point which was a big help in them writing and/or recording more mature material into the 70s. I almost look at Hollies Sing Hollies as Terry's songwriting thesis, at least on the songs he contributes to. Then he graduated to become a full Hollie! |
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Post by anthony on Feb 12, 2021 22:00:34 GMT
COTM would have to be in the top few best Hollies album, self penned, so many wonderful songs. Allan was really in fine voice. Beautiful acoustic guitar through the Album plus Tony's big Aussie Hit Too young to be married. Struggle to find a weak song.
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Post by The Dude on Feb 13, 2021 17:57:18 GMT
My parents gave me this album as a birthday present for my 14th birthday in late December 1970. I have always loved this album, especially with it's extra track "Gasoline Alley Bred", which was the 6th track on side 2 after "I Wanna Shout", It was not listed on the cover or record label: www.discogs.com/The-Hollies-Confessions-Of-The-Mind/release/7274896 |
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Post by thejanitor on Feb 15, 2021 0:11:11 GMT
An interesting thought I've had for a while now and was going to make a separate thread for but does everyone agree Confessions of A Mind (the title track) counts as the closest that The Hollies ever got to prog-rock?
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Feb 15, 2021 14:54:04 GMT
An interesting thought I've had for a while now and was going to make a separate thread for but does everyone agree Confessions of A Mind (the title track) counts as the closest that The Hollies ever got to prog-rock? Depends on how you describe prog, I guess. To me, it was very much of its time, and influenced more by Paul McCartney who was into those mini-symphonies in the early 70s (ala Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey & Live & Let Die). |
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Feb 15, 2021 17:01:11 GMT
And I'm currently discussing with Tony Hazzard on Twitter whether the word "gentique" from Perfect Lady Housewife actually exists. And why they'd make up a word.
*checks coffee to see if I've been slipped any hallucingenics*
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Post by sandy on Feb 15, 2021 17:20:44 GMT
An interesting thought I've had for a while now and was going to make a separate thread for but does everyone agree Confessions of A Mind (the title track) counts as the closest that The Hollies ever got to prog-rock? Think several tracks on Distant Light were considered close to prog rock over in USA at the time, but UK audience were not so willing to accept such a change in labelling from The Hollies🤔 |
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Post by stuball on Feb 21, 2021 16:30:54 GMT
The one thing that really stands out to me re Confessions, is the tightness of the harmonies. Those 3 voices just soared together as never before, and to my ear at least, never any better after. How much of that was due to recording and engineering advances, or to those couple of years the Clarke-Sylvester-Hicks vocals had to gel and tighten, I don't know. But I suspect they plateaued vocally with COTM, and although later tracks sometimes equaled that high standard, they never surpassed it.
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fjfp
New Member
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Post by fjfp on Mar 8, 2021 22:28:08 GMT
As someone who is usually dedicated to the Nash era, I absolutely adore Confessions, and almost everything about it. I only wish a little more was going on in I Wanna Shout, but I love this album as the last stand of the old 60s production and mixing style, before they get right up to date on the Hey Willy 45. I’m also a big fan of the insert photo, but I couldn’t find a decent scan of it online, so I did one myself:  |
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Post by thejanitor on Mar 9, 2021 21:14:37 GMT
I definitely hear that difference of 60s and 70s production between this album and Distant Light. The sound change that really sticks out in my mind is Bobby's drums - Confessions feels like their last release with that classic rough and punchy timbre his playing had had since their early recordings (I know Bobby has talked in better detail in interviews about how they mic'd up his kit at Abbey Road) whereas once they moved to AIR studios for Distant Light onwards, his drum sound became more polished.
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