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Post by irelandcalling4 on Jul 14, 2015 9:33:30 GMT
As part of the new 5-CD set, we have all in one place the non-album Singles & B Sides; as well as the rarities previously released like the excellent 'Eleanors Castle'. I compiled my own album for itunes/ipod of the non-album singles & B's, and a mighty fine listen it is too! I just love 'Dandelion Wine', 'Sign of the Times', 'Mad Professor Blythe'. Two of my top favourites are rarities; it's a wonder these two sterling tracks never made it onto their respective albums; 'Eleanors Castle' and 'She Looked My Way'. 'Eleanors' is a classic pop song methinks, my first hearing was actually the Magic Records Edition of 'Hollies Sing Hollies', loved it on that initial listen. For a long time I was sure it was a 'Sings Hollies' outtake, and it does seem to stylistically fit with that album. Ditto 'She Looked My Way', how was this gem not on a studio album! Great songs aplenty  |
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Post by cameron on Jul 14, 2015 12:05:27 GMT
I think 'Eleanor's Castle' was culled because the lyrics are as cringeworthy as the later 'Wiggle That Wotsit'. Who'd have thought of rhyming "castle" with "hassle"!
Some great tracks though. I've always liked 'Sign Of The Times' and there's another two versions of it still languishing in the vaults.
Some nice rarities for the Romany period too: the sublime 'Papa Rain', the acoustic version of 'Magic Woman Touch' (I forget which greatest hits collection that accidentally crept out on in the 70's), the Eagles cover 'Witchy Woman' and the pure pop 'If It Wasn't For The Reason That I Love You'.
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Post by irelandcalling4 on Jul 14, 2015 12:44:08 GMT
Good point, the lyrics to 'Eleanors' are a bit cheesey, but I love the music! Similar actually to the other example you used, 'Wiggle that Wotsit' - lyrically, yes, quite cringey, but musically sound.
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Post by gee on Jul 15, 2015 11:27:13 GMT
I do recall that one reason 'Eleanor's Castle' was left in the can was due to the line;
'...before she lets her drawbridge down...' (!)
- which back in 1970 was felt a bit of a clear 'double meaning' quite probably too rude for The Hollies ?
sounds laughable today of course, but John Lennon had taken some considerable flak re the: 'you've been a naughty girl you let your knickers down...' line in 'I Am The Walrus', The Small Faces (probably most inoffensive non drug ) song 'I Can't Make it' got a BBC ban, The Monkees 'Randy Scouse Git' became an; 'Alternate Title' - and song lyrics were then generally being gone through with a over-zealousness that today's 'Politically correct' brigade would have admired...!
both 'Eleanor's Castle' and 'Sign of The Times' (re "living in SIN" together - gasp !!) would have back then been deemed too risque - incredible they had got away with 'Stop Stop Stop', thanks largely to their 'nice cheery norvern lads' image (if they had one, that was it..!)
Remember when they appeared on BBC's 'Top of The Pops' (short lived) album spot in 1970 and did 'Too Young To Be Married' when they sang the line ; '...they were gonna have a BABY...' some young very short mini skirted clad audience girls stopped dancing and just stared in shock !!
strange days indeed....
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2015 13:17:24 GMT
I think it's a mistake to assume that the band thought less of songs that they "only" put on B-sides. They (nearly) always sold far more singles than albums, so more people would've bought and heard the B-sides (and the writers would've earnt more from publishing of course!).
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Post by Gralto on Jul 15, 2015 14:27:20 GMT
I do recall that one reason 'Eleanor's Castle' was left in the can was due to the line; '...before she lets her drawbridge down...' (!) - which back in 1970 was felt a bit of a clear 'double meaning' quite probably too rude for The Hollies ? sounds laughable today of course, but John Lennon had taken some considerable flak re the: 'you've been a naughty girl you let your knickers down...' line in 'I Am The Walrus', The Small Faces (probably most inoffensive non drug ) song 'I Can't Make it' got a BBC ban, The Monkees 'Randy Scouse Git' became an; 'Alternate Title' - and song lyrics were then generally being gone through with a over-zealousness that today's 'Politically correct' brigade would have admired...! both 'Eleanor's Castle' and 'Sign of The Times' (re "living in SIN" together - gasp !!) would have back then been deemed too risque - incredible they had got away with 'Stop Stop Stop', thanks largely to their 'nice cheery norvern lads' image (if they had one, that was it..!) Remember when they appeared on BBC's 'Top of The Pops' (short lived) album spot in 1970 and did 'Too Young To Be Married' when they sang the line ; '...they were gonna have a BABY...' some young very short mini skirted clad audience girls stopped dancing and just stared in shock !! strange days indeed.... That's a great last recollection of that TOTP moment Gee and sadly not one we are ever likely to see given it's not an Ep that is known to survive either within the BBC or in a private collection |
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Post by anthony on Jul 15, 2015 23:27:59 GMT
I think Mad Professor Blyth is one of the best songs the Hollies recorded, way too good for a b Side
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Post by dirtyfaz on Jul 15, 2015 23:46:24 GMT
Mad Professor Blyth, Dandelion Wine & Not That Way At All.
They actually had a bunch of exceptional B sides. What might have been with some additional work on the those tracks instead of a couple of take and pick the best one.
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Post by cameron on Jul 16, 2015 10:36:33 GMT
The LP 'The Other Side Of The Hollies' is absolutely fantastic, most of the B-sides put together on one album.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2015 12:16:49 GMT
The LP 'The Other Side Of The Hollies' is absolutely fantastic, most of the B-sides put together on one album. Yes, that's the first place I heard most of these songs. They rarely did a below par B-side during their first decade. |
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Post by irelandcalling4 on Jul 16, 2015 13:58:38 GMT
Just looking at that List of songs on "The Other Side..", and being familiar with all of them, it reads to me as one of the greatest pop/rock albums of the era. There isn't a bad song among them, and so many, in my opinion, are excellent! Review from allmusic; stating "as B Sides it's obviously not top rank Hollies" - I'd absolutely disagree with; it IS top rank Hollies! www.allmusic.com/album/the-other-side-of-the-hollies-mw0000314457If I may ask, the mixes; stereo where available, or Mono? The stereo mixes of 'Nobody' and 'You Know he did' for example I found amazing; 'Nobody' has always been a fave, stereo showed it was two duelling harmonica tracks instead of one track. |
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Post by Stranger on Jul 17, 2015 10:52:22 GMT
I think they made some excellent B-Sides, Mad Professor Blythe is pretty cool. Fun lyrics and jaunty instrumentation.
I'm a really big fan of Eleanor's Castle and Sign of The Times too, a lot better than some of the tracks they actually released at the time.
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Post by gee on Jul 17, 2015 11:58:33 GMT
Note; The comment 'gee likes this...' is there only because the damn thing MOVED (due to a windows update !) just as I pressed the edit button on here to add something !  'The Other Side of...' LP (August 1978) was mostly in mono with just a few latter Parlophone 'B' sides in true stereo ('Mad Professor Blyth', 'Dandelion Wine', 'Row The Boat Together' etc) the latest 'Changin Times' set finally sees a UK release of the true stereo version of 'Cos You Like To Love Me' (1969) which was out in the USA on that '30th Anniversary Collection' some years back 'Not That Way at All' is in mono but appeared in stereo on'the Long Road Home' CD box set (& has appeared in stereo on overseas CDs as a bonus track) 'Nobody', 'You Know He Did' were in mono and that '30th Anniversary' set saw Ron Furmanek's stereo mixes of them (& others) appeared in the USA. a CD 'The Other Side of...PLUS' (Nov 1990) on See For Miles label added the missing 1968 'B' side; 'Open Up Your Eyes' (in mono - the stereo version was on that '30th Anniversary' set & finally along with 'All The World is Love' got a UK stereo release on 'Clarke, Hicks, Nash Years' CD set ) and 'Blowin in The Wind' (1968 'Nash version') both 'Running Through The Night' & 'Mad Professor Blyth' were in stereo on 'Other Side of...' and for a time their mono versions (the original 'B' sides) became the rarer versions (like the mono 'Hollies Sing Dylan' PMC 7078) Therefore the Parlophone LP; 'The Other Side of...' and later CD; 'The Other Side of...Plus' are well worth grabbing ! |
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Post by irelandcalling4 on Jul 17, 2015 15:54:56 GMT
Thanks for that info gee; on 'Running Through the Night' (a cracking little song in it's own right), the stereo version on the 'Clark, Hicks and Nash' boxset was very loud I found, I much prefer the mono version. A simple country influenced tune, but like so many others, very addictive.
I'm seeing lots of love for 'Mad Professor Blythe' on this thread; that one always stood out to me aswell on initial hearings.
The '30th Anniversary Collection' was worth it just even for the excellent stereo versions of 'Nobody' and 'You Know he Did'.
The Hollies could have released another self-penned classic album in 1965/66 with the ammount of great original B Sides and extra tracks they had.
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Post by JamesT on Jul 17, 2015 19:59:39 GMT
The B-sides in the period 1969 to 1973 on British singles were superb, with the exception of Cos You Like To Love Me. I once described having this as the B-side to 'Heavy' as like having a shiny vintage Rolls Royce, the height of style and sophistication - and then hanging a furry dice from the rear-view mirror. I dare say some folk will disagree!
I have a soft spot for MPB - great little song.
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Post by cameron on Jul 18, 2015 9:06:33 GMT
I really like Cos You Like To Love Me, it's typical Hollie-pop akin to Please Let Me Please or Do You Believe In Love. It's very sharply performed as usual, with the unusual accompaniment of an organ, that would hint at things to come on 'Confessions Of The Mind' and 'Distant Light'.
My "best of" the Hollies B-sides playlist:
1. Whole World Over
2. Baby That's All
3. Come On Back
4. You Know He Did
5. So Lonely
6. I've Got A Way Of My Own
7. Don't Run And Hide
8. It's You
9. All The World Is Love
10. Signs That Will Never Change
11. Everything Is Sunshine
12. Open Up Your Eyes
13. Do The Best You Can
14. Not That Way At All
15. 'Cos You Like To Love Me
16. Mad Professor Blyth
17. Cable Car
18. Born A Man
19. Second Hand Hang-Ups
20. Love Is The Thing
21. 48-Hour Parole
22. Song Of The Sun
23. Draggin' My Heels
24. Carrie
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Post by gee on Jul 19, 2015 9:21:44 GMT
you could make a very strong 2CD set out of their 'B' sides
Hollies, Beatles, Shadows, Manfreds, Stones, etc all gave terrific value for money back then as mostly singles were 'stand alone' with a new song on the 'B' side besides the albums
later some artists released practically EVERY album track as a single (with other album tracks as 'B' sides,often just edited)...sometimes you even got a 'backing track' minus vocals as the 'B' side (!)
The Hollies later were guilty of that too...but mostly they gave you a strong 'B' side - they have said they spent MORE time on their 'flipsides' as mostly it was an original song they WANTED to record !
If you expand your track listing above Cameron and going on beyond 1973 to a 2CD or maybe even up to a 3CD set (?) then it could include some additional strong songs - a good number being 'B' sides only - tracks such as;
'Hey What's Wrong With Me', 'Now's The Time', Keep off That Friend of Mine', 'Nobody', 'Running Through The Night', 'Dandelion Wine', 'Row The Boat Together', 'Oh Granny', 'Indian Girl','No More Riders', 'Layin' To The Music', 'Hello Lady Goodbye','Crocodile Woman (She Bites)','C'mon', 'Corrine', 'Crossfire' and 'Take Your Time' (1980 'version two')
....plus if included later; 'Musical Pictures', 'Let Her Go Down' (overseas 'B' side),'Laughter Turns To Tears', 'You're All Woman', 'You Gave Me Strength', 'Your Eyes' (overseas 'B' side), 'For What it's Worth (I'm Sorry)'(overseas 'B' side), 'Hillsborough' (overseas 'B' side), 'No Rules', 'Naomi', 'Two Shadows', & 'Purple Rain' (live), also; 'Shine on Me' and 'Too Much Too Soon' (version one- overseas 'B' side) - a few rarer tracks there.
such a complete B' sides (including a few overseas 'B' sides) CD set would be terrific...!
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Post by dirtyfaz on Jul 19, 2015 14:36:00 GMT
Agree with you Gee. I could use a few expletives to say I agree but I will refrain.
The 5 45s that came out after Nash were in general excellent. Hicks wrote 2 and Clarke wrote 3. They were solo writing performances. Don't know their thinking at the time but they seemed to be on singles that the A side weren't written by them. Because the writer of the B side gets the same royalties as the A side maybe that was a way to cover their backsides and get additional income.
Can anyone explain the writing credits for me. I'm talkin' post Nash, is the order they are written in on the records to show who was the main writer on the track or is it to show who wrote the lyrics and who wrote the Music? Sometime Sylvester's name is first and sometime Clarke's is. I do have another question re external songwriters but I will post a separate post about that in the future.
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Post by dirtyfaz on Jul 19, 2015 15:00:27 GMT
Gee said "the latest 'Changin Times' set finally sees a UK release of the true stereo version of 'Cos You Like To Love Me' (1969) which was out in the USA on that '30th Anniversary Collection' some years back 'Not That Way at All' is in mono but appeared in stereo on' the Long Road Home' CD box set (& has appeared in stereo on overseas CDs as a bonus track)" On My copy of the disc it has Not That Way At All in stereo but uses the reverse stereo to the Furmanek 30th Anniversary Disc. The stereo version of 'Cos You Like To Love Me was on the French 1964-1987 Dial label. (Think that was a forerunner of the Magic Label) with a different mix to the Furmanek Mix from 93. Same reverse channel as wth with Not That Way At All. Can never understand why the channels re reversed for different issues of tracks. |
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Post by JamesT on Jul 21, 2015 11:52:29 GMT
'Singles A's & B's, 1970-1979' was the very first CD I bought by The Hollies. It's still a cracker.
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