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Post by christocello on Jul 19, 2015 11:05:43 GMT
This mght be a post for Sunday...
On this forum the different aspects of the Hollies style(s) have been discussed. For instance the country-touch (you could create a whole CD out of it). I'd like to put some emphasis on another point: to me it seems quite unique, that the Hollies from time to time touched the area of gospel. Up to my knowledge, there was only Elvis who did similar moves into that direction.
How could a setlist for the "Hollies Gospel Album" look like?
Amazing grace (live), Very last Day, Jesus was a crossmaker, Why didn't you believe, He ain't heavy, Schoolgirl (because of the chorus), Quit your low down ways.....(to be completed by you Hollies conaisseurs everywhere :-))
Well, this kind of influence you seldom find with the great Stars of Rock...
I ask myself, who among the group was open to those religious themes. Was it Bernie Calvert? There have been 2 or more singles, released in U.S. from the presbyterian church, that had Hollies' Songs and interviews with two members of the group on it. The records had the titel "What's it all about" and Bernie and Terry were speaking on them, the songs were: Long Dark Road and ...sorry, I don't remember the other one.
Bernie still seems to play with a (catholic) church group.
Does anyone know more facts about this subject?
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Post by stuball on Jul 19, 2015 13:30:44 GMT
Well, this is certainly a new subject!
I recall a couple of days before Christmas '72, a friend popping by with a Christmas gift for me: a music magazine containing that rarity of rarities, a fairly long article on The Hollies. It was published during their post 'Long Cool Woman' popularity revival in America, before they returned to their default position of relative obscurity after 'Magic Woman Touch'. Anyway, the interviewer did include the fact that Bernie, a devout Roman Catholic, did faithfully attend church every Sunday when he wasn't on the road. I can remember one other mention of basically the same fact a couple of years or so later, but along the lines of discouraging Bernie from mentioning 'going to church', as it certainly didn't do the group's public image, already perceived in most rock fans eyes as lightweight purveyors of pop froth, any favours.
From about 1969-1972, it was fashionable to add a 'gospel' song or two to your set or album. Everyone was doing it, but whether they were performing it out of any serious religious conviction is debatable. It was just the 'in' thing to do at the time.
Bernie Calvert and Terry Sylvester were longtime roommates on the road, but whether religious compatibility had anything to do with that, I can't say. Perhaps they just got on naturally, or perhaps they had a common religious outlook. Terry, as far as I know was Protestant, and has admitted to learning to sing harmonies in the church choir. Not unlike Graham and Allan singing 'The Lord Is my Shepherd' at school assemblies. One doesn't want to read to much into this though. That Bernie and Terry were roommates may be down to the fact they were the 'new boys', the lower-ranking 'employees' of the old firm.
In the post-Christian society in which we live in today, it really is easy to forget a time when religion was entwined with almost every aspect of public and private life. Prayers and hymns were part of school life, regular church attendance was the norm, cubs and scouts, brownies etc., were all run out of churches, and hymns and bible verses were sang at most public events. One must remember the The Hollies and all their pop contemporaries were raised in this era, and whether or not today they show any outward signs of religious conviction, they have all been influenced by it. In the last forty years or so, as Christianity has progressively been banished from the public square, it has become very uncool to be a Christian. And rock and roll and Christainity have never been a good mix. Rock and roll, in its infancy, was branded 'the music of the Devil'. And we don't need to mention John Lennon's woes in '66 over his 'Jesus' comments.
I have never heard of the two Presbyterian Hollies singles featuring Bernie and Terry. If this was April 1st, I'd think you were putting me on. 'Long Dark Road' never struck me as a particularly religious song lyrically, although with the repeated final mass chorus, it certainly does have a gospel flavour. Bernie and Terry have maintained their friendship over the years since leaving The Hollies, so perhaps this effort is one more way of keeping the friendship growing. I never thought of Terry as particularly religious, but perhaps he keeps that aspect of his life private. The fact that he maintains close ties with Bernie, a deeply religious Christain, points in that direction.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2015 18:14:54 GMT
Only Elvis?
Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and (here in the UK) Cliff Richard are just some very popular artists who've released Gospel albums.
Other UK 60s groups have shown some gospel / religious influence on certain songs, such as The Beatles (Let It Be) and The Rolling Stones (Shine A Light, Far Away Eyes).
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Post by christocello on Jul 19, 2015 20:30:11 GMT
Yes, peterc, you're absolutely right.
In my opinion for American artists who don't regard the church as a part of the state (as it is in a certain way in some parts of Europe) and who probably grew up in a gospel community or in a gospel tradition (look at all the great Soul singers)it has been a common thing to remember those roots of black and white joining together in music (&faith)
Even Dylan (with a different religious background) made some gospel-flavoured albums due to his (temporary?) conversion to christianity.
In Europe people largely seem(ed) to forget about that roots, when it comes to rock music. The Beatles probably got influenced by Billy Preston, who joined them on the Let it be album. Also Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge over troubled water" points in a similar "gospel"-direction as "Let it be" and "He ain't heavy". Even George Harrison's "My sweet lord" seemed to start like a Gospel song (like "Oh happy day" which became popular in 1969), although it was intended as a clever means to turn "Halleluja" singing into "Hare Krishna" chanting. An earlier example of british rock (contradicting my former lines) looking for gospel bleesings ;-) might be "Salt of the earth" by the Rolling Stones dating from the same year as their "Sympathy for the devil" (1968).
When the Hollies sang "Very last day" they probably just reflected the folky Peter, Paul and Mary influence. "He ain't heavy" came from the U.S. as well. But "Why didn't you believe" is a Clarke/Sylvester original coming close to lyrics that grew out of the Jesus People movement of the early 70s. So this might indicate a temporary connection of the hollies or at least of some of their members to (contemporary) christian music in the early 70s.
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Post by Stranger on Jul 20, 2015 10:58:02 GMT
But "Why didn't you believe" is a Clarke/Sylvester original coming close to lyrics that grew out of the Jesus People movement of the early 70s. So this might indicate a temporary connection of the hollies or at least of some of their members to (contemporary) christian music in the early 70s. This song comes from a genuine sentiment from Allan Clarke at the time. I read a contemporary article about it. I think Terry or someone described Allan as deep and serious about these things and he Allan wrote this based on them discussing the topic. Something like that. |
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Post by JamesT on Jul 21, 2015 11:43:27 GMT
But "Why didn't you believe" is a Clarke/Sylvester original coming close to lyrics that grew out of the Jesus People movement of the early 70s. So this might indicate a temporary connection of the hollies or at least of some of their members to (contemporary) christian music in the early 70s. This song comes from a genuine sentiment from Allan Clarke at the time. I read a contemporary article about it. I think Terry or someone described Allan as deep and serious about these things and he Allan wrote this based on them discussing the topic. Something like that. That's what I understood, too.
I was listening to the 'Hollies Sing Hollies' tracks (for the first time in ages) on the Changin' Times box set yesterday and was struck by the diversity and inventiveness of many of them. 'Why Didn't You Believe' has long been a favourite of mine - I love the almost hypnotic 'WHHHHY' backing and the lovely, fluid bass line. A great track: I remember Brian Mathew played it on his 'Sounds Of The Sixties' BBC Radio 2 programme a few years back, much to my surprise. Amen.
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