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Post by irelandcalling4 on Jan 5, 2016 12:48:31 GMT
Listening to the Hollies 1969/1970 last few nights, and I'm struck by how many great songs are there.
It was interesting to hear the huge singles and their commercial sound, and then the more artistic album tracks; showcasing very well both sides of the band.
The BIG ballad had come in; 'I Can't tell the Bottom from the Top', the evergreen 'He Ain't Heavy', the fantastic 'Gasoline Alley Bred', and of course the more poppy 'Sorry Suzanne' - mostly top quality singles I think. Quite artistic also, sometimes it's easy to forget how good tracks like 'Gasoline Alley' and 'He Ain't Heavy' are, they are seriously high quality pop singles.
The album then, 'Sings Hollies' contained quite excellent tracks like 'Marigold', 'Soldiers Dilemma', 'Reflections...', 'Don't Give Up Easily', 'Goodbye Tomorrow'.
In my opinion they got even better with 'Confessions' and my favourite, 'Distant Light'. It's amazing though, after Nash left, putting it all together - the huge singles, the wonderful B Sides ('Not that Way', 'Prof Blythe', 'Dandelion Wine'), and the artistry of the studio album, they were progressing in a way only the Beatles, Stones, the Who and the Kinks were, of the 60s acts.
'He Ain't Heavy' is quite a big production, but it's tastefully done; minimal instrumentation, and a very nice and not over the top string arrangement. A classic song, and a different kind of ballad (perhaps 'Would you Believe' from Butterfly is similar) that they had been doing. Ditto 'I Can't tell the Bottom from the Top'. I wonder, were these singles seen as very mainstream, even though the band were a mainstream popular music act, or seen as artistic, or both?
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Post by cameron on Jan 8, 2016 20:53:08 GMT
As much as 1966 - 1968 is my personal favourite for the Hollies, I think they hit their peak around 1969-1973. The music is sublime. I think Romany especially is musical perfection from start to finish. They were forced to spend hours and hours labouring away in the studio as Mikael Rickfors was struggling with English lyrics. Ron Richards actually left them to it, which I thought was a shame, but in a way, I think that was their release. They produced the record themselves with Alan Parsons engineering and helping produce. Each song is so meticulously crafted, not their usual "get it done in one take and get down to the pub" approach. Perhaps Allan Clarke was more responsible for that than first thought? He was the drinker in the band, apparently. Who knows. Either way, Romany is absolutely flawless, and I wish they'd have pushed on with that "west coast" sound instead of going down the ballad route. It's funny really, just as what happened when Graham left because the Hollies weren't "mature" enough, they end up almost out-doing Graham in 1969 with Hollies Sing Hollies and Confessions Of The Mind; the same thing happened when Allan left - he left to pursue a more 'rockier' style, and the Hollies went and did it anyway! They should have really stuck with it, Allan's solo albums around 1976 start to out-do the Hollies' efforts, IMO. Certainly by 1980 with the awful Buddy Holly LP versus Allan's Legendary Heroes.
Sadly, with the exception of 'He Ain't Heavy', the follow ups were largely ignored. It was just accepted that the Hollies were masters of their game and thus the singles never got the exposure that they deserved. Gasoline Alley Bred is perhaps one of their finest songs, IMO. Bobby never liked the mix though, and I agree, his drums are mixed too far back. He absolutely lifts the track to another level on the live recording of their concert in Australia, 1971. It was also the first track that Alan Parsons got sole custody of the engineering role, and he said he's not happy with the mix either. I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top was even worse for being ignored, I don't even think they promoted it on Top Of The Pops (maybe I'm wrong) but that's one of their best ballads to my ears, it just keeps getting better and better as it goes on.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2016 21:26:55 GMT
I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top was even worse for being ignored, I don't even think they promoted it on Top Of The Pops (maybe I'm wrong) but that's one of their best ballads to my ears, it just keeps getting better and better as it goes on. They performed it on the 9th April 1970 edition of the show, with the same performance being repeated on 3 subsequent episodes. |
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Post by cameron on Jan 8, 2016 21:33:54 GMT
Ah I see. I've never heard or seen anything of it. Presumably missing, believed wiped?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2016 21:39:29 GMT
Ah I see. I've never heard or seen anything of it. Presumably missing, believed wiped? Almost certainly... Another "lost" TOTP performance I'd love to see is their two song "Album spot" for the show (broadcast 4th March 1971) where they performed 'Too Young To Be Married' and 'Survival Of The Fittest'. Incidentally, apparently their 1974 TOTP performance of 'The Air That I Breathe' now circulates in colour (I've only ever seen black & white copies), does anyone here have it? |
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Post by cameron on Jan 9, 2016 0:44:43 GMT
I've got the audio for that. Tony introduces Too Young To Be Married as "this is a very naughty song" and Suvival Of The Fittest is sang to a backing track and Allan mixes the words up in the verse from "she said what she had to say, she did what she had to do" to "she did what she had to do, she said what she had to say" but other than that, it's almost identical to the LP version. It was recycled to the TOTP transcription disc.
I've not seen the colour clip of The Air That I Breathe. If quite to hear their recently resurfaced BBC radio live take of The Baby with Mikael Rickfors.
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Post by Gralto on Mar 24, 2016 11:59:01 GMT
Ah I see. I've never heard or seen anything of it. Presumably missing, believed wiped? Almost certainly... Another "lost" TOTP performance I'd love to see is their two song "Album spot" for the show (broadcast 4th March 1971) where they performed 'Too Young To Be Married' and 'Survival Of The Fittest'. Incidentally, apparently their 1974 TOTP performance of 'The Air That I Breathe' now circulates in colour (I've only ever seen black & white copies), does anyone here have it? Correct Peter - Can't Tell The Bottom TOTP clip is lost. And like you, I only have a low quality, low generation copy in black and white (with the occasional flickers of colour) of the Air That I Breathe clip on TOTP featuring Clarke in his favoured Silver Surfer top. And yeah, to turn up the album spot TOTP edition with two songs from The H would be magical. The only time the band performed Survival Of The Fittest on TV. |
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Post by cameron on Mar 26, 2016 20:53:52 GMT
Is it possible to make a list of Hollies TV appearances and Radio performances and confirm what's missing and what's still to look for? It's hard keeping up with it all! On my searches for more live recordings I often stumble upon the odd "lost" audio track - the long lost 'Postcard' at the BBC turned up last year that was a nice surprise. I think I'll copy my list of tracks at the BBC that are known to still exist in a new thread here.
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