Post by cameron on Mar 7, 2015 21:36:26 GMT
It's been a bit quiet here lately, so I thought I'd share a little history piece I've been working on about my favourite Hollies LP, "Butterfly". I've done a lot of my own research for this and while all that I've written I believe to be true, I am happy for others to add it and even correct details to get the definitive story of the album. Here goes...
The story begins in August 1967. The Hollies had all taken a break for around six to eight weeks to allow Bobby Elliott to recover from having his appendix removed. He had previously collapsed on tour in Germany in February 1967 and was hospitalised for a few weeks. The remainder of the Hollies' tour was completed with session drummer Tony Mansfield filling in for Bobby but their next global tour including visiting Australia for the first time was put on hiatus while he recovered from his operation. This period of downtime allowed the Hollies to start writing material for their next LP: Graham took the time off to take a trip to Morocco with his first wife Rose. Allan got involved producing a couple of pop-psyche singles for other bands including a track called "Bird Has Flown" by a group from Scotland called The Societie. It's long been debated whether he sings vocals on the track, as his distinct voice can clearly be heard. His time getting involved with these groups who supported the emerging trend for 'flower power' affected his offerings for the Hollies' forthcoming LP - he was developing an interest in Astral Projection and the art of fortune telling. Tony was busy moving house during this period and consequently only managed to write the backing track for the yet to be finished track "Pegasus". Bernie too was working on refurbishing his house near Lancashire.
The Hollies reconvened at Abbey Road studios on 1st August 1967 to begin recording tracks for their next LP, with Ron Richards resuming his role as producer. On this first day of recording, "Charlie And Fred" was started and a second fresh attempt was made at "Step Inside", which had previously been recorded on 3rd April 1967 but this early take was abandoned and remains unreleased. "Step Inside" was the only true Clarke-Hicks-Nash joint effort released on Butterfly. All the remaining tracks, despite being credited to Clarke-Hicks-Nash were often written by just one or two of the Hollies' in-house songwriting team.
Two days later on 3rd August, "King Midas In Reverse" is completed (minus the orchestral overdub) and selected to be a choice for the next single. It was predominantly written by Graham Nash, who claimed the track to be his first serious piece of music. Allan Clarke helped him out with some of the chords and the middle-eight section. "Everything Is Sunshine" is started but not finished and "Maker" is recorded with the exception of the sitar and orchestral overdubs.
The following day, Johnny Scott is at Abbey Road with Ron Richards recording the dramatic orchestration for "King Midas In Reverse". It's an unusual orchestral score as it uses more flutes and piccolos than a standard 30-piece orchestra. The Hollies aren't present at the session as they are busy rehearsing for their brief tour of Scandinavia which begins the next day starting with radio promotions for the tour in Sweden:
The shows commence on the 10th August in Gothenburg and finish on the 23rd August in Vanersbourg. The setlist for these shows consists of “The Games We Play”, “Stop Right There”, “Carrie Anne”, “On A Carousel”, “Very Last Day”, “Bus Stop”, “Stewball” and “A Taste Of Honey”. The Hollies appear for the first time in full psychedelia mode - with Allan sporting a Jimi-Hendrix style afro and moustache! Graham and Allan help the Swedish group The Lee Kings record their next single "Coming From The Ground", and the two of them are pictured with acoustic guitars on the cover of the single. Again, Allan is believed to have contributed vocals to the track, especially in the chorus.
Live in Sweden, August 1967
Upon returning to England, a mammoth 12 hour recording session takes place at Abbey Road to try to get the new LP recorded. The morning sessions are taken up developing "Try It". An early take escaped as the B-side to "Jennifer Eccles" in Australia in early 1968 which was missing the final psychedelic effects and had a different guide vocal track. Despite the connotations of Graham Nash being the 'Hippie' of the band, "Try It" was actually predominantly written by Allan Clarke! It is said to be about Astral Projection. "Everything Is Sunshine" is completed during this session. Two Graham Nash written tracks, "Wishyouawish" and "Postcard", are also recorded. The latter was originally written with Jimi Hendrix in mind as Graham was sharing a flat in London with The Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist, Noel Redding at the time and gave it to him to present to the band. Alas, the song was rejected. Completing the session, "Would You Believe" and "Away Away Away" are started but not finished.
On 12th September 1967, the Hollies return to Abbey Road to record "Pegasus". Tony Hicks takes a rare (and first for a whole track) lead vocal here. He finished the lyrics off the evening before only having had the outlined tune written some months before. The mythical "Ashes To Ashes" track is also recorded during this session but remains unreleased. Fans suggest that this track could be the Hollies recording their own version of the track "Coming From The Ground" by the Swedish band, The Lee Kings. It features the line 'ashes to ashes' in the middle eight. The track has yet to see the light of day and languishes in the EMI vaults. Also during this session, Allan Clarke's beautiful ode to his wife "Would You Believe" is completed minus the orchestral overdubs. Bobby Elliott's trick of using vari-speed to gain a deeper sound to his drums (as used on the overdubbed drums on "King Midas") is used extensively here on the backing track, which is presumably why the track took two sessions to record.
At the end of the month on 22nd, "King Midas In Reverse" is released in the UK with "Everything Is Sunshine" as the B-side. It was the Hollies' biggest critical success to date with the NME magazine pretentiously stating: 'now the Hollies skip gaily through the white cloud with another even greater, more beautiful sound to follow through the valleys and up the hills as the music of the pied pipers and seahorse strings echo back into the sky.'! The Hollies promoted the single on Top Of The Pops but sadly the audio and footage have long been lost.
On 26th September, "Dear Eloise" and "Elevated Observations?" are both recorded at Abbey Road. The former was written in 'about 15 minutes' by Allan Clarke as he waited to go into a meeting with the Hollies' management. Graham Nash added the introduction but the arrangement was created by Bobby Elliott. "Elevated Observations?" was also surprisingly written by Allan Clarke as perhaps the heaviest track on the LP, with Graham chanting 'EGO IS DEAD' in the middle eight section!
A week or so later, on 5th October, orchestral overdubs - all written and conducted by Johnny Scott - are added to "Would You Believe", "Maker", "Away Away Away" and "Charlie And Fred". "Butterfly" is recorded with Graham singing live with the full orchestra.
The next day, the sitar parts to "Maker" are added by Tony Hicks who 'borrowed' it from George Harrison from Studio Two next door!
That was a wrap as far as recording was concerned. Over the following weeks, the mono mix was prepared by Ron Richards and it's questionable as to whether the Hollies were present for the mixing. Graham Nash was present at the mixing for the stereo mix, which was deputised to an unknown engineer as it was seen as being less important than the mono mix.
On 1st November, 1967, "Butterfly" is released in the UK as Parlophone PMC/PCS 7039. Little was done by EMI to promote the album, but a BBC radio session was recorded three days later to help promote it. This was followed by a performance on the Morecambe and Wise show on the 12th. Radio Luxembourg ran a competition to win an advance copy of the LP a couple of weeks before it was released.
"Butterfly" was the first Hollies LP to be released in stereo on EMI's newly developed "musicassette" which is just a pre-recorded cassette. It was also released on reel-to-reel tape in mono and was the first Hollies' LP to be released in this format that was housed in a jewel case. The stereo mix is the preferred mix as it offers a clearer mix and is complete with all the original sound effects, some of which were left off the mono mix. Original first UK pressings of the stereo mix were 'unbanded' like Sgt. Peppers, meaning that there were no clear 'black lines' separating tracks on the vinyl, meaning that the album flowed from one track to another with little or no gap between them.
Around the world, "Butterfly" was released in various forms. In Germany, it was released on Hansa records with an alternative cover using the photo originally placed on the back cover. This release also features a rare 'double' version of "Elevated Observations?" whereby the track finishes and then starts again, but the second time doesn't speed up at the end and is missing the wind effects. In South Africa, it was released as "Dear Eloise" in mono only with a different cover. The tracklist remained the same. In America, the whole LP was re-hashed and re-titled the wordy "Dear Eloise/King Midas In Reverse". This features entirely new mixes, bodged together by the Hollies' US label Epic which were created to "correct" the UK mixes - not realising that the pitch control and sound effects were intentional!
Aftermath... what did the Hollies make of "Butterfly"? Graham sited it as one of his favourite Hollies LPs, Allan said "I'd put it against any of the top psychedelic albums of that time", Bernie said it was fun to make, Bobby said the album was an experience to record due to how many techniques were used, but the album isn't the Hollies' best whereas Tony largely dismisses the album, stating that tracks such as Wishyouawish and Away Away Away are weak. We know for sure that Tony didn't want the Hollies to go down the psychedelic route and had a few disagreements with Graham about it, who ultimately won out. It was Tony's suggestion to get things back on track to success in 1968 with an album of Bob Dylan covers after 'Butterfly' was a critical success but failed to chart. Hollies Sing Dylan was the Hollies' highest charting studio album of their entire career but obliterated by the press at the time - so who's to say who was right!
The story begins in August 1967. The Hollies had all taken a break for around six to eight weeks to allow Bobby Elliott to recover from having his appendix removed. He had previously collapsed on tour in Germany in February 1967 and was hospitalised for a few weeks. The remainder of the Hollies' tour was completed with session drummer Tony Mansfield filling in for Bobby but their next global tour including visiting Australia for the first time was put on hiatus while he recovered from his operation. This period of downtime allowed the Hollies to start writing material for their next LP: Graham took the time off to take a trip to Morocco with his first wife Rose. Allan got involved producing a couple of pop-psyche singles for other bands including a track called "Bird Has Flown" by a group from Scotland called The Societie. It's long been debated whether he sings vocals on the track, as his distinct voice can clearly be heard. His time getting involved with these groups who supported the emerging trend for 'flower power' affected his offerings for the Hollies' forthcoming LP - he was developing an interest in Astral Projection and the art of fortune telling. Tony was busy moving house during this period and consequently only managed to write the backing track for the yet to be finished track "Pegasus". Bernie too was working on refurbishing his house near Lancashire.
The Hollies reconvened at Abbey Road studios on 1st August 1967 to begin recording tracks for their next LP, with Ron Richards resuming his role as producer. On this first day of recording, "Charlie And Fred" was started and a second fresh attempt was made at "Step Inside", which had previously been recorded on 3rd April 1967 but this early take was abandoned and remains unreleased. "Step Inside" was the only true Clarke-Hicks-Nash joint effort released on Butterfly. All the remaining tracks, despite being credited to Clarke-Hicks-Nash were often written by just one or two of the Hollies' in-house songwriting team.
Two days later on 3rd August, "King Midas In Reverse" is completed (minus the orchestral overdub) and selected to be a choice for the next single. It was predominantly written by Graham Nash, who claimed the track to be his first serious piece of music. Allan Clarke helped him out with some of the chords and the middle-eight section. "Everything Is Sunshine" is started but not finished and "Maker" is recorded with the exception of the sitar and orchestral overdubs.
The following day, Johnny Scott is at Abbey Road with Ron Richards recording the dramatic orchestration for "King Midas In Reverse". It's an unusual orchestral score as it uses more flutes and piccolos than a standard 30-piece orchestra. The Hollies aren't present at the session as they are busy rehearsing for their brief tour of Scandinavia which begins the next day starting with radio promotions for the tour in Sweden:
The shows commence on the 10th August in Gothenburg and finish on the 23rd August in Vanersbourg. The setlist for these shows consists of “The Games We Play”, “Stop Right There”, “Carrie Anne”, “On A Carousel”, “Very Last Day”, “Bus Stop”, “Stewball” and “A Taste Of Honey”. The Hollies appear for the first time in full psychedelia mode - with Allan sporting a Jimi-Hendrix style afro and moustache! Graham and Allan help the Swedish group The Lee Kings record their next single "Coming From The Ground", and the two of them are pictured with acoustic guitars on the cover of the single. Again, Allan is believed to have contributed vocals to the track, especially in the chorus.
Live in Sweden, August 1967
Upon returning to England, a mammoth 12 hour recording session takes place at Abbey Road to try to get the new LP recorded. The morning sessions are taken up developing "Try It". An early take escaped as the B-side to "Jennifer Eccles" in Australia in early 1968 which was missing the final psychedelic effects and had a different guide vocal track. Despite the connotations of Graham Nash being the 'Hippie' of the band, "Try It" was actually predominantly written by Allan Clarke! It is said to be about Astral Projection. "Everything Is Sunshine" is completed during this session. Two Graham Nash written tracks, "Wishyouawish" and "Postcard", are also recorded. The latter was originally written with Jimi Hendrix in mind as Graham was sharing a flat in London with The Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist, Noel Redding at the time and gave it to him to present to the band. Alas, the song was rejected. Completing the session, "Would You Believe" and "Away Away Away" are started but not finished.
On 12th September 1967, the Hollies return to Abbey Road to record "Pegasus". Tony Hicks takes a rare (and first for a whole track) lead vocal here. He finished the lyrics off the evening before only having had the outlined tune written some months before. The mythical "Ashes To Ashes" track is also recorded during this session but remains unreleased. Fans suggest that this track could be the Hollies recording their own version of the track "Coming From The Ground" by the Swedish band, The Lee Kings. It features the line 'ashes to ashes' in the middle eight. The track has yet to see the light of day and languishes in the EMI vaults. Also during this session, Allan Clarke's beautiful ode to his wife "Would You Believe" is completed minus the orchestral overdubs. Bobby Elliott's trick of using vari-speed to gain a deeper sound to his drums (as used on the overdubbed drums on "King Midas") is used extensively here on the backing track, which is presumably why the track took two sessions to record.
At the end of the month on 22nd, "King Midas In Reverse" is released in the UK with "Everything Is Sunshine" as the B-side. It was the Hollies' biggest critical success to date with the NME magazine pretentiously stating: 'now the Hollies skip gaily through the white cloud with another even greater, more beautiful sound to follow through the valleys and up the hills as the music of the pied pipers and seahorse strings echo back into the sky.'! The Hollies promoted the single on Top Of The Pops but sadly the audio and footage have long been lost.
On 26th September, "Dear Eloise" and "Elevated Observations?" are both recorded at Abbey Road. The former was written in 'about 15 minutes' by Allan Clarke as he waited to go into a meeting with the Hollies' management. Graham Nash added the introduction but the arrangement was created by Bobby Elliott. "Elevated Observations?" was also surprisingly written by Allan Clarke as perhaps the heaviest track on the LP, with Graham chanting 'EGO IS DEAD' in the middle eight section!
A week or so later, on 5th October, orchestral overdubs - all written and conducted by Johnny Scott - are added to "Would You Believe", "Maker", "Away Away Away" and "Charlie And Fred". "Butterfly" is recorded with Graham singing live with the full orchestra.
The next day, the sitar parts to "Maker" are added by Tony Hicks who 'borrowed' it from George Harrison from Studio Two next door!
That was a wrap as far as recording was concerned. Over the following weeks, the mono mix was prepared by Ron Richards and it's questionable as to whether the Hollies were present for the mixing. Graham Nash was present at the mixing for the stereo mix, which was deputised to an unknown engineer as it was seen as being less important than the mono mix.
On 1st November, 1967, "Butterfly" is released in the UK as Parlophone PMC/PCS 7039. Little was done by EMI to promote the album, but a BBC radio session was recorded three days later to help promote it. This was followed by a performance on the Morecambe and Wise show on the 12th. Radio Luxembourg ran a competition to win an advance copy of the LP a couple of weeks before it was released.
"Butterfly" was the first Hollies LP to be released in stereo on EMI's newly developed "musicassette" which is just a pre-recorded cassette. It was also released on reel-to-reel tape in mono and was the first Hollies' LP to be released in this format that was housed in a jewel case. The stereo mix is the preferred mix as it offers a clearer mix and is complete with all the original sound effects, some of which were left off the mono mix. Original first UK pressings of the stereo mix were 'unbanded' like Sgt. Peppers, meaning that there were no clear 'black lines' separating tracks on the vinyl, meaning that the album flowed from one track to another with little or no gap between them.
Around the world, "Butterfly" was released in various forms. In Germany, it was released on Hansa records with an alternative cover using the photo originally placed on the back cover. This release also features a rare 'double' version of "Elevated Observations?" whereby the track finishes and then starts again, but the second time doesn't speed up at the end and is missing the wind effects. In South Africa, it was released as "Dear Eloise" in mono only with a different cover. The tracklist remained the same. In America, the whole LP was re-hashed and re-titled the wordy "Dear Eloise/King Midas In Reverse". This features entirely new mixes, bodged together by the Hollies' US label Epic which were created to "correct" the UK mixes - not realising that the pitch control and sound effects were intentional!
Aftermath... what did the Hollies make of "Butterfly"? Graham sited it as one of his favourite Hollies LPs, Allan said "I'd put it against any of the top psychedelic albums of that time", Bernie said it was fun to make, Bobby said the album was an experience to record due to how many techniques were used, but the album isn't the Hollies' best whereas Tony largely dismisses the album, stating that tracks such as Wishyouawish and Away Away Away are weak. We know for sure that Tony didn't want the Hollies to go down the psychedelic route and had a few disagreements with Graham about it, who ultimately won out. It was Tony's suggestion to get things back on track to success in 1968 with an album of Bob Dylan covers after 'Butterfly' was a critical success but failed to chart. Hollies Sing Dylan was the Hollies' highest charting studio album of their entire career but obliterated by the press at the time - so who's to say who was right!
