She Looked My Way

[stuball]

I was listening to Changin' Times yesterday and was struck by 'She Looked My Way'. A decent enough pop song composed by Les Reed/ Jackie Ray, it was obviously penciled in as a potential follow-up to 'Sorry Suzanne', and just as obviously it was pipped at the post by 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother' for the upcoming Hollies 45 release.

What really caught my attention was the absence of strings or brass buffering the chorus and used as fills between the vocal lines. If ever a song cried out for orchestral backing, it was this one. The group obviously did their bit musically but Johnny Scott never got the call to orchestrate this number,as it was shelved. One wonders how well it would have done chartwise, if it had been the single of choice.

[JamesT]

I revisited this song. Yes, definitely needs 'something' - sounds rather pedestrian without either orchestration or a nice guitar line.

[cameron]

It is worth remembering that 'She Looked My Way' though it's easy to find now, was an unreleased track for nearly twenty years, finally appearing on 'Rarities' in 1988. It can be safely assumed that it was discarded in 1969 and not finished. They decided to put it out as it was in 1988 rather than try and finish it which I think was wise. Otherwise you end up with something like that awful 2010 remix of 'King Midas In Reverse'. Although I think Tony did a nice job of finishing off the 1967 abandoned track 'Schoolgirl' with his guitar part in 1997. Much of what is still left unreleased in the vaults is unfinished and it depends on how Bobby and Tony feel about it as to whether it gets released or not. Sometimes it's obvious that it's not finished like 'She Looked My Way' and 'Sign Of The Times' and sometimes it's not like 'Relax', which Graham has since claimed was simply a demo. However it is though, I enjoy hearing it. 'Marrakesh Express' has always been denied release because it's incomplete but I think the backing track is great!