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Post by cameron on Dec 11, 2015 22:54:30 GMT
The Christmas season is upon us, here's a Hollies festive track (sadly incomplete):
Aside from their 'Christmas Greetings To BiLD Magazine Readers' in 1966, were there any other Hollies Christmas recordings? I would have loved it if they had done a Christmas LP like the Beach Boys!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2015 9:15:43 GMT
Christmas records have gone through phases of popularity; quite popular in the late 50s (Elvis, Brenda Lee), almost disappearing during the 60s (at least with UK acts, though as well as The Beach Boys the USA had the Phil Spector Christmas album of course), a big revival in the early 70s (Slade, Wizzard, Elton John, etc), disappearing again during the late 70s punk & disco era, a revival in the early 80s (Wham, Shakin' Stevens, Band Aid, etc)...
The Hollies could indeed have done a superb Christmas album around 1965-1966 (I wonder how well it would've done commercially?).
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Post by stuball on Dec 12, 2015 14:18:24 GMT
The Hollies could indeed have done a superb Christmas album around 1965-1966 (I wonder how well it would've done commercially?). Christmas 1968 may have been even better! Imagine The Hollies getting together with a certain young group from Apple, led by one Peter Ham, to produce a Christmas album. There's no doubting the obvious title: 'The Hollies And The Iveys'. A Christmas marketing dream! And the similarly-named carol, the 'title track', would definitely have to be covered. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2015 15:14:52 GMT
The Hollies could indeed have done a superb Christmas album around 1965-1966 (I wonder how well it would've done commercially?). Christmas 1968 may have been even better! Imagine The Hollies getting together with a certain young group from Apple, led by one Peter Ham, to produce a Christmas album. There's no doubting the obvious title: 'The Hollies And The Iveys'. A Christmas marketing dream! And the similarly-named carol, the 'title track', would definitely have to be covered. Even if it this the greatest Christmas album ever made, it would probably have killed The Hollies career! Following Graham's departure and in the era of "serious" music (harder rock sounds and reflective singer songwriters) this would've been a disastrous move. It wasn't until the more ironic Glam era that rock acts could get away with making Christmas records again. |
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Post by stuball on Dec 12, 2015 16:33:15 GMT
Well, it's always fun to fantasize. And what sounds more Christmassy than The Hollies and The Iveys?
You're quite right, of course. By 1968, most pop critics had clambered aboard the holier-than-thou progressive bandwagon, and pop-rock groups were routinely savaged. Take The Iveys' 'Maybe Tomorrow' as an example: a fabulous slice of pop that received mocking condemnation. And The Hollies too were running very much against the tide. With hindsight it's easy to criticize The Hollies moves and decisions, but when you think the way they might have gone ( Hollies Sing Country anyone?), they really did a pretty fair job of mixing pop and rock with a bit of social commentary as well. This allowed themselves to stay true to their past, while gradually moving forward with the times. I don't think the group gets enough credit for maintaining this difficult balancing act.
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Post by cameron on Dec 13, 2015 0:40:51 GMT
I've always thought that too Stuball. I think 'Confessions Of The Mind' is something of a pop masterpiece. It was socially and emotionally conscious with deep lyrics while maintaining a light pop sound to balance it out. It's very clever really. But considered a total bomb at the time. I often see old newspaper articles referring to it as a "failure". I think the only thing that fails about that album is the cover, furthering the Hollies anonymity. Look at other big selling LPs of 1970 - even the Beatles' final effort 'Let It Be' was unstructured, erratic and poorly conceived. I think Confessions Of The Mind certainly holds a candle to it when you really absorb the album and it's production. And then for Distant Light... well, that's just as perfect as any of the top sellers from 1971. The press were mixed, in truth, I think they felt that the Hollies were a bit past their prime and thus gave the album one play before reviewing it as in an emerging glam rock scene, the Hollies were "uncool". One NME reviewer referred to tracks like "Long Dark Road" and "To Do With Love" as 'feeling like you've heard them before'! Two of the Hollies' greatest tunes, just condemned by one silly reviewer who didn't give them a listen!
Anyway, back on topic, for Christmas 1965, a BBC radio special ran "The Hollies and The Ivy" referring to the Ivy League whom the radio presenter referred to as having come and gone. I've never heard anything from the show other than 'I'm Alive' which was recycled for the Top Of The Pops transcription disc. Did the Hollies play any Christmas songs on this show?
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Post by stuball on Dec 14, 2015 16:50:21 GMT
......'Confessions Of The Mind'.....total bomb at the time......furthering the Hollies anonymity......the Hollies were "uncool". Cameron, the above clips from your post really hit home with me and perfectly summed up my thoughts and experiences at the time of the LP's release. i had recently turned 19 when 'Confession Of The Mind' or 'Moving Finger', as it was known over here, hit the stores in March '71. I was very much into the music scene at the time, and particularly into The Hollies. But one soon learned to keep that fact to oneself unless you enjoyed mockery and derision. My favourite record store brought in a single copy of MF, which I eagerly purchased immediately. Only when it was sold would the shop order another single copy. That's the way it was with Hollies' records, unless there was a smash single attached. The general public's attitude toward the group by '71 hovered somewhere between anonymity (virtually no press coverage) and uncool (even their moniker 'The Hollies' sounded very dated, as 'The Somethings' group names harked back to an earlier era). In retrospect, perhaps anonymity at the time was a blessing in disguise for the group, for generally any publicity the band received was almost universally negative. To say the critics despised The Hollies would not be far off the mark. COTM reached #30 in Britain so I suppose the album sold decently in the home market, at least among the group's considerable fanbase, but probably brought in few new converts. In North America it disappeared without trace, as did the attached single 'Gasoline Alley Bred', and later 'Survival Of The Fittest'. It was only with 'Distant Light' and 'Long Cool Woman' that the critics gave half-hearted acceptance to The Hollies, which, perhaps surprisingly, was to last through to 1975 and 'Another Night'. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2015 20:10:46 GMT
Aside from their 'Christmas Greetings To BiLD Magazine Readers' in 1966, were there any other Hollies Christmas recordings? Rockin' Robin? Perhaps not exactly a Christmas song, but Michael Jackson's version gets played a lot at this time of year (I heard it in a pub today along with other festive tracks). |
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