Hollies in Italy

[christocello]

Some days ago I listened to the Hollies' "italian" singles. What's stunning, is the difference in quality. "Kill me quick" ist full of energy and IMHO could have been a hit in the UK if it only had been released there. It's a refurbished and much more professional version of a song/demo named "Bring back your love to me" which the Hollies originally recorded in 1965 in New York (Bell Studios). It became the title song of an Italian B-Movie in 1967.

On the other hand there's "Non prego per me", which has not been written by the Hollies themselves but by a well known and successful Italian composer. The Hollies original performance of the song is said to have taken place on the famous San Remo Song festival in 1967 (no visual testimonies survived?). The recording seems somehow lacklustre to my ears, the vocals even sometimes missing the correct pitch. The song does certainly not display the Hollies' special abilities or strengths (apart from the intricacies of the italian idiom).

What im asking is - where did the recording of both singles take place? Were the recordings supervised by Ron Richards? Was there any evidence that the Hollies would establish a bigger fanbase in Italy?
Did the singles chart at all in Italy? What else made the Hollies look for the italian market? Is there perhaps some connection with the Rokes, the British band that settled in Italy and even recorded a version of "Listen to me" in 1968?

enough asked - I'm eager to hear from you Hollie-holics everywhere :-)

[Deleted]

Jun 27, 2015 16:25:07 GMT christocello said:

Some days ago I listened to the Hollies' "italian" singles. What's stunning, is the difference in quality. "Kill me quick" ist full of energy and IMHO could have been a hit in the UK if it only had been released there.

In 1965 perhaps, but it sounds far too dated to have been a big UK success in 1967.

Presumably this song (and it's B-side) were only heard in the Italian movie, and there was no on-screen appearance. Has anyone here seen it? 

[gee]

'Non Prego Per Me' and 'Devi Aver Fiducia In Me' were cut at Abbey Road on 13 January 1967 and became Italian 'A' and 'B' side of the mono Parlophone QSMP 16402 single

Allan Clarke years later said he could still sing them...but didn't know what they meant !!

'Devi...' I think is something like; 'Put Your Trust or Faith in me' etc

These were featured in stereo on 'The Clarke Hicks Nash Years' CD set, as were the following two Italian issued tracks that were sung in English.

'Kill Me Quick' and 'We're Alive' were recorded at Abbey Road studios on 22 February 1967 with Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer John 'Mitch' Mitchell deputising on drums due to Bobby's then ongoing ill health - swollen appendix that turned into peritonitis !

Clarke-Hicks-Nash penned both sides which formed Italian mono single Parlophone QMSP 16410 - possibly this was a Double 'A' side (?)although at various times over the years I have seen both sides referred to as the 'A' side & the other as the 'B' side...

The rare mono single version of 'Kill Me Quick' - a must for any future 'Rarities 2' CD set - should have no backing vocals unlike the more common stereo version Ron Furmanek mixed in 1991

I believe Ron Richards would have produced all four songs

I'll see if I can dig up any info re any of them charting in Italy (not per their International chart placings records I currently hold - any one know otherwise ?)

I understand they sang the first 'A' side at that San Remo song festival, but I have never seen that film (& doubt if they appeared in the Italian film...they never appeared in 'After The Fox' the year before, just sang the title song...)

[knut]

I have a dvd of the film and the group does not appear. However there is a different version of We're alive which is much longer and with different harmonies.

[cameron]

There's a surviving recording of them playing "Non Prego Per Me" at the San Remo festival... hear it here:

The mono mix of "Kill Me Quick" is rare indeed as it was only released on the original single and hasn't appeared officially since... however, you all already have it. Remove the right channel from the stereo mix and you're left with the original mono mix. I suspect the stereo mix was sent to Italy by mistake and not folded down when it came to pressing the vinyl, missing the backing vocals and Allan's double tracked voice. At the time, Europe was in turmoil over stereo vs. mono. Germany, France, Holland and Denmark had stopped pressing in mono in 1967, whereas other countries had yet to make the change. I believe that Italy was on the cusp of changing over, hence why they were probably supplied with the stereo mixes and had to fold them down at the last minute.

I've not heard the longer version of We're Alive, although I suspect that's just the left channel of the stereo mix again, which produces a slightly different backing vocal and then various verses and choruses edited together to stretch the track out to fulfil it's purpose in the film - but I couldn't be certain without hearing the original film version.

[roots66]

Rehearsing with the composers (Get-tea)






Onstage (Europhoto)

[Deleted]

Great pics!

I still live in hope that a video will surface one day, similar to this.