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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Feb 28, 2016 17:36:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2016 18:27:07 GMT
Thanks Tony! Good to see a "rare" track, and in nice quality too.
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Post by JamesT on Feb 28, 2016 18:43:17 GMT
Many thanks for that, Tony - great clip!
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Post by anthony on Feb 28, 2016 21:32:11 GMT
Sadly it's the only clip they don't talk through in the show.
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Post by Stranger on Feb 29, 2016 11:38:18 GMT
Thanks for the share and saving my wallet!
That's a very good clip in some ways, very good picture quality and the whole thing seems kind of energetic. It's nice to see them push one of their new songs in this era.
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Post by gee on Feb 29, 2016 16:30:37 GMT
'Burn Out' might have made a far better single being uptempo with fast vocal delivery, recognisable harmonies, and a fine guitar solo etc, than yet more slow melodramatic ballads they or Polydor seemed eternally so obsessed with churning out....no doubt hoping for another 'He Ain't Heavy...'/ 'Can't Tell The Bottom..'/ 'Air That I Breathe' type big ballad success
Along with 'Caracas' it was one of the very few songs with any sense of more characteristic carefree fun and adventure in the style and group performance on the otherwise very heavy going ultra serious (if not downright 'sad and doom laden') 'A Crazy Steal' album that flopped completely in the UK between the chart success of 'Hollies Live Hits' (no.4) and 'Twenty Golden Greats' (no.2) back then circa 1978
- which surely ought to have set some alarm bells ringing both with the band and their record company...?
while they relegated the really excellent 'Crossfire' to the anonymity of a 'B' side on yet another flop ballad single..
I have included 'Burn Out' on my own 'Polydor Singles: 1973-1981' (that SHOULD have been) Compact Disc compilation !
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Burn out
Feb 29, 2016 21:44:46 GMT
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Post by Stranger on Feb 29, 2016 21:44:46 GMT
Interesting Gee I just assumed it was a single.
What are your alternate post Air singles as a matter of interest?
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Post by gee on Mar 1, 2016 19:58:56 GMT
well of course everbody has their own opinions re what would have worked as a single, also if the subject matter would have been deemed 'suitable' etc and re style
we need to bear in mind a single MUST appeal NOT just to us 'Hollie guys' alone BUT be accepted and liked by the wider public...and crucially to the disc jockeys too (!) in order to make the charts
I heard the recently sacked by BBC DJ Tony Blackburn once play 'Son of A Rotten Gambler' on his Radio One show in 1974...and then said; 'hmm I must say I far prefer The Hollies doing more catchy songs like 'Sorry Suzanne' or 'Bus Stop'....'
thus a certain 'commercial' appeal and instant accessability is normally required to work as a single - often I think merely keeping it SIMPLE re if it's memorable, catchy, danceable, and 'appealing' to most folk across the board is the key...
and after 'Air' in 1974 there WAS re-awakened larger public interest in the group...so 'Rotten Gambler' and 'I'm Down' were perfect...to shoot that renewed interest down !
I tend myself by choice to go towards a few 'rockers', plus pop/rockers, but you also need the occasional more romantic ballad (occasional that is !) and maybe a nod to pop music and even yes maybe a disco-ish number (but NOT 'Wiggle' !) that could be danced to thus pick up play at the clubs that were always packed then - hence ABBA doing 'Voulez Vous' and 'Lay All Your Love on Me' etc
so bearing all that in mind after a ballad success with 'Air' which had followed a 'rocker' (Curly Billy) I think I would have alternated back to a pop/rocker next, then moved between pop/rockers, romantic ballads, rockers, with the occasional variation
like these songs maybe:
1. 'Out on The Road' (Clarke version) - more lively than 'Rotten Gambler' thus likely to get more airplay being a simpler 'Rock & Roll' praising song (maybe remixed to sharpen up backing vocals and guitarwork compared to the polydor album version) 2.'Tip of The Iceberg' - another rockin' track with commanding Clarke vocal and strong guitars 3.'Sandy' - this might have charted if following a couple of recent uptempo 'hits'(?) 4.'Look Out Johnny' - an 'Elvis' style slightly echoy rocker (shades of LCW) the lyrics might be controversial with drug scene references etc, but with the style of the lead vocal most people probably wouldn't have noticed ! - it was danceable with fine guitar solo 5.'Sweet Country Calling' - a rather 'singalong' very typically Hollies carefree pop song that might have picked up radio airplay again being more commercial, chances are people might singalong to this rather than; 'someone went through pain to have me...' etc 6.'There's Always Goodbye' - a romantic ballad but not slow and too ponderous, a more commercial love song tale, with tight harmonies and a nice 'layered' guitar intro (shades of 'Air') - this might have had some appeal to the wider public (c/w 'Crocodile Woman' maybe) 7.'48 Hour Parole' - an out and out rocker showcasing Clarke's voice and Hicks guitar 8.'Draggin' My Heels' - which made the chart in Canada, the album version was brisk, danceable and had good percussion that would I think have got disco airplay - it did not have the slow tempo or naff lyrics of 'Wiggle' and was a concert fav for a long time, tho' it became an extended evermore lengthy keyboard item, the original was tight and compact. 9.'Burn Out' - another uptempo pop/rocker with strong Clarke vocal, recognisable harmonies and fine guitarwork and might have also appealed to the biker crowd into the likes of Steppenwolf, Thin Lizzy, etc (a mate of mind is a former biker and he really loves this one !) 10, 'Hello To Romance' - might have charted had it been following more recent chart hits and got more radio airplay, a very different style to the singles either side of it (I'd have put a rocker like 'Louise' on the 'B' side as a style counterpoint) 11. Double 'A' side - 'Caracas' / 'Amnesty' - with the first song probably the more featured, with cool sax and strong harmonies this 'joke' song re their experience there had commercial appeal and would have gone down well with the younger overseas holiday maker crowds I think 12.'That'll Be The Day' - done like Status Quo would do their HIT cover of 'The Wanderer' two years after...this strident pop/rocker version had fine vocals, strong guitarwork and solid drumming (- it makes the dreary cover of 'Heartbeat' look a poor choice as a single) it was possibly (arguably) the strongest cover on the 'Buddy Holly' album re the band's strengths - this rockin' stompin take (not unlike Slade's hit style) would not have upset the Rock & Roll fans as did most of the styles the other Holly songs were arranged in...(maybe c/w 'Think it Over' and 'Take Your Time' - NOT that daft 'Reprise' nonsense...) 13.'Soldier's Song' - DID make the UK chart in 1980 - barely - despite little or no radio airplay or group/record company promotion, again had it been following more recent chart hits it might have done even better than the lowly UK chart position it still managed to reach... 14.'If The Lights Go Out' (Sylvester version 1980) - cut as a single...yet 'shelved' (not the last time that would happen) it was a perfectly decent uptempo number done really well by the band 15.'Sanctuary' - Polydor apparently vetoed it a little earlier...a shame as they gave an excellent version ! 16. 'I Don't Understand You' - per the 'working version' that once crept out this was a perfectly good number they should have used...
Try putting all those together on a CD - with 'Curly Billy' and 'The Air That I Breathe' as the first two songs...an 18 track imaginary 'Polydor Singles: 1973-1981' sort of 'fantasy' CD - and see how they all sound together (I closed my compilation with 'Sanctuary' coming after 'I Don't Understand You')
I honestly didn't see any potential hit singles on 'Five Three One..' album in 1979, despite what Ron Richards thought..maybe; 'Say it Ain't So, Jo' or 'It's in Every One of Us' but I didn't think anything on that album would have ever really have been likely to chart in the UK...
there were however a few other strong singles contenders too - 'Down on The Run', 'Crocodile Woman', 'Thanks For The Memories', 'Lady of The Night', 'Louise', 'Crossfire' etc, and later on the same poor choice issue would happen again in the 80's when great obviously strong songs like 'Laughter Turns To Tears' would be relegated in favor of...you guessed it - a slow meandering ballad (that flopped !)
Despite flop after flop Polydor single in the seventies (mostly slow ballads) The Hollies DID still have commercial appeal with the wider public in the UK right throughout the seventies - 'Hollies Live Hits' made no.4 in 1977 and 'Twenty Golden Greats' shot to no.2 in 1978 with TV promotion, yes these largely consisted of known older hits but the wider public were obviously still liking of their sound as their concerts continued to sell tickets right through the seventies and eighties into the nineties - remember 'Stop in The Name of Love' charted in the USA in 1983 while 'The Woman I Love' reached no.42 in the UK as late as 1993 even minus any record company or band promotion ('The Woman I Love' an uptempo pop/rocker charted through some radio airplay alone as a number of Disc jockeys actually LIKED it...!)
I'm NOT saying my choice of songs would have worked every time of course, (tho' I could not have done any worse than they did do with my song choices eh ?) but the songs I chose at least had no ghastly lyrics like 'Rub-a-dub-hug me..' or featured rather unlikely characters like 'Sass E. Frass' or 'Joe D. Glow' etc, that were frankly an embaressment (I felt) and the songs I've picked were pretty much all far more characteristic of 'The Hollies' sound and played rather more I think to the band's core strengths: Powerful assertive Clarke vocal, Hicks guitarwork, tight vocal harmonies, and strong drumming...
..... duly presenting a largely more uptempo far 'Livelier' Hollies than just the endless diet of slow ponderous very 'serious' songs that made them often sound mega miserable (when their TRUE vocal sound was normally such a joyous tight harmony sound as they first rose to fame with back in the sixties) and slow ballad after slow ballad quickly bored the single record buying masses making them far less accessable to the WIDER public over 1975-81 whom they really badly needed to reach on their Polydor singles...yes ?
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Post by Stranger on Mar 2, 2016 14:25:57 GMT
Thanks Gee, I must burn a CD of that and give it a go in the car. I can't even remember what 48 Hours Parole sounds like.
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Post by stuball on Mar 2, 2016 14:37:21 GMT
Re 'Burn Out': I can't speak for Britain of course, but stateside it was seen as a blatant ripoff of Bruce Springsteen. I recall one review from the time referred to it as 'The Hollies aping' Springsteen. So I can't see 'Burn Out' getting out of the gate at the time. No doubt taken on its own merits, 'BO' was a great rocker, and yes, this is definitely the type of material the group should have been releasing at the time, but it's 'borrowing' of the Springsteen style would have ruled against its success as a single. Much like 'Sandy' was stopped dead in its tracks on U.S. charts, (Why play a cover version when we can listen to the 'Master's own'?). I believe Program Directors mid-70's already entrenched aversion to the perceived 'lightweight Hollies' was only heightened by the group's audacity to, as they saw it, ride the coat tails of the 'genius' Springsteen.
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Post by Stranger on Mar 2, 2016 14:39:34 GMT
I've always thought this comes from Allan's genuine love of Springsteen and not a cynical attempt to ape him. I think when Springsteen came along it was like Allan found something he really loved.
Maybe in some ways that was to Allan's detriment but I do think it was genuine.
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Post by stuball on Mar 2, 2016 16:25:23 GMT
Yes, I think you're quite correct. Clarke had a good eye, or should I say ear, for talent, and there's no doubt he thought very highly of Bruce Springsteen's talent. And, as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery, but at the time the critics were having none of it. They saw 'Burn Out' as a, ripoff is too strong a term, as a knockoff of Springsteen's work. And, speaking of an ability to spot talent, let's not forget Allan was also an early champion of Buckingham Nicks, when they were a new and upcoming act, prior to joining Fleetwood Mac. He spoke very highly of them in the press, well before they became household names.
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Post by gee on Mar 2, 2016 18:56:59 GMT
Obviously Springsteen was the influence on 'Burn Out' - they attempted his 'Born To Run' besides 'Sandy' and AC did several solo recordings too
but then just HOW original was Springsteen to start with ? - wasn't he too really copying Bob Dylan's style on 'Subterranian Homesick Blues'...and that in turn Chuck Berry's 'Too Much Monkey Business' (also covered by The Hollies in 1964) re fast fired collage of lyrics telling a tale etc.....
if we start saying a song won't have ANY chance because of this or that...would 'Long Cool Woman' have ever been issued as a single ? (it's vocally ripping off early Elvis surely ?)
didn't Springsteen tell his drummer to; 'play it like the guy in The Hollies did...' too ?
'48 Hour Parole' is a driving guitar led rocker with rock piano and powering drums ! - it's track two on 'Russian Roulette' and along with the title track and 'Louise' (with Jim Jewell on sax) was one of the three out and out guitar led rock tracks - maybe they should have done more songs like that as along with 'Burn Out', 'Crossfire', 'That'll Be The Day' etc these seem to be the most urgent, energetic, and assertive tracks they cut in that latter period at Polydor
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Post by gee on Mar 2, 2016 20:35:50 GMT
Stranger here is the full track listing for my suggested imaginary 'Polydor Singles; 1973-1981' (including the odd 'double A' side)
the compilation would be;
1.The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee 2.The Air That I Breathe 3.Out On The Road - 1974 'Clarke version' 4.Tip Of The Iceberg 5.4th of July Asbury Park (Sandy) 6.Look Out Johnny (There's A Monkey On Your Back) 7.Sweet Country Calling 8.There's Always Goodbye 9.48 Hour Parole 10.Draggin' My Heels 11.Burn Out 12.Hello To Romance 13.Caracas 14.Amnesty 15.That'll Be The Day 16.Think It Over 17.Soldier's Song 18.If The Lights Go Out - 1980 'Sylvester version' 19.I Don't Understand You 20.Sanctuary
Let us know what you think after you do it - one thing I really noticed here was all Hicks great guitarwork hidden away across those seventies albums !
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2016 21:06:46 GMT
if we start saying a song won't have ANY chance because of this or that...would 'Long Cool Woman' have ever been issued as a single ? (it's vocally ripping off early Elvis surely ?) I've always thought of it as more of a Creedance Clearwater Revival influenced song (though of course CCR were heavily influenced by early rock & roll such as Elvis). Agreed though, nothing is truly original... even Chuck Berry (who surely influenced more people than just about anybody) has always admitted that he's done nothing that hasn't been done before!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2016 21:45:46 GMT
It's also worth remembering that Bruce Springsteen wasn't particularly well known in the UK in the late 70s (it wasn't until 1980 that he had his first top 10 album, and as late as 1985 when he finally had a top 10 single). He certainly didn't have The Hollies' fame.
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Post by gee on Mar 3, 2016 13:34:19 GMT
Manfred Mann's Earthband gave Springsteen a massive boost with their big hit cover of his 'Blinded By The Light' (covered by AC too of course) and they recorded his 'Spirits in The Night' (with vocal versions sung by both Mick Rogers and Chris Thompson) and 'For You' as well
so Bruce got a UK intro from both AC/Hollies and Manfred helping make popular his material
Even The Shadows cut an instrumental version of his 'Dancing in The Dark' too
re LCW - I've heard it actually began as a more country & western style song (!) - which ties in with co-writer Roger Cook's later move to Nashville etc and over time it became more 'early Elvis' of his Sun Records era hence the echo vocal and very stripped down 'lean' sound - Sun Records having a very country base of course
CCR of course had revived that very 'lean' echo vocal R & R style - they also covered Elvis 'My Baby Left Me' and so in 1971 it's CCR whom we would immediately see as the influence (I'm sure they DID have a big influence on it besides early Elvis)
apparently it got faster and faster on each take, and Tony added a 'counter' guitar part behind AC's guitar intro
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Post by cameron on Mar 4, 2016 21:39:38 GMT
According to the sleeve notes written by Allan on his 'Best Of Allan Clarke' LP, he recorded 'Born To Run' a whole year before Springsteen and due to a strike at EMI, his version was released late - unfortunately the same week as the Springsteen version! I grew up with the Springsteen version but never liked it. When I heard Allan's version, I loved it. IMO, Springsteen's voice is dreary and he doesn't sound like he's putting much effort in. Allan sings the absolute proverbial out of it and really goes for it. I am biased, but as I've said before, Allan could sing the phone book and I'd still enjoy it...
Bobby once said that Allan had no riff for LCW originally. He apparently used to play the now iconic intro to 'warm up' on guitar backstage at Hollies shows and Bobby suggested that he add it onto the start of LCW, thus, an iconic song is born! Tony couldn't follow it at first and Allan obviously had it all down, hence how he came to play the guitar on the session, presumably to save time.
My 'Best of the Polydor Years' would be something like this: 1. Won't You Feel Good That Morning 2. The Baby 3. Magic Woman Touch 4. Out On The Road (Rickfors Version) 5. The Last Wind 6. The Air That I Breathe 7. The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee 8. Born A Man 9. Don't Let Me Down 10. Another Night (Live) 11. Give Me Time 12. Second Hand Hangups 13. I'm Down 14. Star 15. There's Always A Goodbye 16. 48 Hour Parole 17. Draggin' My Heels 18. Burn Out 19. Harlequin 20. Say It Ain't So Jo 21. Soldier's Song 22. If The Lights Go Out
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Post by dirtyfaz on Mar 6, 2016 6:09:49 GMT
Thanks Gee for your suggested list. I made up a CD of those tracks. Put the longer Curly Billy promo on it and the US edited Sandy plus I felt the need to include Star so I did.
After playing this through twice it just seemed to confirm my thought that after Another Night LP the Hollies were kaput. I don't like very much of the material after then but always got the 45s and LPs along the way. I must say that I did enjoy most of the released 45s so maybe they did make the right choices re singles but most certainly got into that MOR type feel with the laid back ballad type stuff they did. One of the things we all seem to forget here is that by early 70s radio just wasn't interested in anything the Hollies recorded. Just think back if you are old enough and tell me how many other so called big 60s bands made it into the 70s. Beatles were gone by 1970, the Stones at times were bigger. Yeah the Who as well but the reality is not too may made it into the 70s and sold out stadiums.
I was surprised how much I didn't like the Clarke version of Out On The Road. Rickfors version s**ts all over the Clarke version. Maybe that wasn't Allan's fault but maybe they just should have removed Mikaels vocals and put Clarkes on the original. The backing track is way, way superiour to the later one.
Cameron: As your list contains some of the Rickfors tracks I like it better. Hey Slow Down Go Down is a real rocker as well. I keep going back to that Out On The Road LP with Rickfors. It is a sadly, sadly very underated LP. It would really have be good if the Hollies had kept Mikael when Allan returned but that was never going to happen was it. Clarkes ego would not have allowed that but musically Mikael would have added so much to the band. Oh well us old guys can dream.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2016 9:09:23 GMT
Just think back if you are old enough and tell me how many other so called big 60s bands made it into the 70s. Beatles were gone by 1970, the Stones at times were bigger. Yeah the Who as well but the reality is not too may made it into the 70s and sold out stadiums. Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd didn't do too badly (albeit in different forms to their 60s origins), and Led Zeppelin, ELO and The Faces were essentially 60s bands with new line-ups. The Moody Blues and (to a lesser extent) The Kinks also did well in the 70s.
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Burn out
Mar 6, 2016 10:45:30 GMT
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Post by cameron on Mar 6, 2016 10:45:30 GMT
I totally agree about 'Out On The Road'. I also think that 'Transatlantic Westbound Jet' is marginally better on the OOTR LP than the Clarke version. They really should have just forgotten all about it and moved on. Perhaps Allan should have been allowed some of his solo material to be re-recorded by the Hollies. Didn't they have another go at 'Born To Run' around this time too?
I think Russian Roulette is their last good album. After that, I don't listen to any of them. 5317704, A Crazy Steal and Buddy Holly are just... awful. Allan hated ACS at the time too. It had barely hit the shops before he was slagging it off to the music press - with good reason too! They'd hit middle of the road and it's so frustrating because Allan's solo LPs get better and better around that time. 1980's Legendary Heroes is marvellous! Why couldn't the Hollies have just put egos to one side and recorded what he wanted to do? I think it was no longer "his" band when he returned in 1973, Tony and to a slightly lesser extent, Bobby wore the trousers dictating which way the Hollies would go. Even to this day, they have final say on historical Hollies releases. It's frustrating because Tony isn't really interested in the past as he's said a few times. Luckily Bobby is like the Hollies' in-house historian! But still, some bad decisions have been made in recent years like that terrible stereo remix of King Midas In Reverse, Radio Fun in general (erratic running order, chopped off intros at Bobby's request), approving hits compilation after hits compilation, messing with stereo mixes by folding them down to reduce the separation, altering mixes like removing the guitar from I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top.... It's frustrating as a fan to see other 60's bands get so much attention to their back catalogues and archives and the Hollies back catalogues on CD are like gold dust. The Album Series Vol.2 has put right some of that but it's still a budget set with paper sleeves and no bonus tracks.
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Post by dirtyfaz on Mar 6, 2016 12:20:23 GMT
Sure we could pull out band names from the 60s that did stuff in the 70s. Fleetwood Mac were nothing like the 60 version of the band. Same with ELO and the Faces.I don't consider Led Zeppelin a 60s band even though they began life as the Yardbirds.
I think the Beach Boys would have to be the most reissued band in the world. Comp after comp just like the Hollies. Sure both band have had most of their LPs issued in more recent time on CD.
I also have to agree with Cameron about the poorly handled narrowing down the stereo, some of the remixes although I am not too sure but I thought that I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top was the long version issued on a comp in Australia.
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Post by gee on Mar 6, 2016 17:10:44 GMT
Well I'm going to go right against the 'accepted view' of many of the people on here re the band suddenly going downhill after 'Another Night' in 1975, regardless of however many forum members may feel that !
- and I have noticed that it gets repeatedly said as if saying that time and time again somehow eventually makes it a FACT, when of course it's NOT, merely just some people's opinions (just as is mine too of course)
- but I think the quality of their material is pretty consistent overall, and the wider public's continued attendance at their concerts, plus success of 'Hollies Live Hits' in 1977 which had about 40% new material besides older hits and then top UK BBC Radio One Disc Jockey Noel Edmonds making 'Write On' his 'album of the week' in 1976, and DJ John Peel praised their seventies work also.... suggests I'm not alone in my feelings
- which I well KNOW I am not as I do know of a number of longtime Hollies fans who share my views too but who either don't ever post on here or have looked in but tell me they just can't be bothered to join the forum due to all the 'accepted view' set in stone hardened attitudes of some people re what is to be liked (Rickfors etc) or detested (Howarth etc) ...and that is NOT a 'dig' at any particular individual on here I stress just what some Hollies fans have told me over the past five years or so
being happy with the seventies Polydor 45s as were released is Great of course - BUT the fact is in the UK after 'Air That I Breathe' in 1974 the wider public clearly were NOT...were they ?
so ballad after ballad, plus the odd slow tempo 'disco' style song etc simply didn't work in the UK, nor mostly in the USA either...hence another style on their singles WAS obviously really required if they were to reach the wider UK and American single record buyers and I'd hazard a guess having a livelier more uptempo characteristic of the group name overall style highlighting their strong vocals, guitarwork, and powerful drumming core band strengths on more catchy energetic 'up' tracks as opposed to slow often melancholic 'down' songs forever trying to be so 'epic' and 'dramatic' (something that we KNOW repeatedly simply failed to strike a chord with the British wider public, and WAS apparent by as early as late 1974 when 'I'm Down' also flopped after 'Rotten Gambler' had done likewise) realistically stood a better chance of obtaining at least a few more seventies UK chart hits after 'Air' on up to 1981....
I believe The Hollies strong vocal harmonies remain just as tight as ever on their material later post 1975 - 'There's Always Goodbye' has particularly strong harmonies, and with the guitar intro maybe mixed a bit higher for single release could have appealed to the wider public - who the singles HAD to reach, not just some fans set in their views etc...
'48 Hour Parole' featured strong guitarwork, drumming and again decent harmonies and Clarke vocal - as did 'Burn Out', 'IF The Lights Go Out', and their sterling version of 'That'll Be The Day'- all of which proved their ability to rock clearly was unimpaired
'Draggin My Heels' we know did chart in Canada and like their driving cover of 'That'll Be The Day' (note done in exactly the same style as Status Quo's UK single hit cover of 'The Wanderer' two years later in 1982) always went down well in their concerts - so SOME commercial appeal was clearly evident there
'Caracas' had good cool sax work and a holiday feel to it with fine vocals that might have worked if issued in summer etc
Terry Sylvester really rated 'Hello To Romance' which like 'Soldier's Song' (which charted in the UK minus any real promotion) and 'Sandy' might have fared better had they followed a few more recent uptempo chart singles
'I Don't Understand You' and 'Sanctuary' were both decent group efforts as well I think
Another MAJOR problem - partly self inflicted by the group - was the lack of promotion, either by their record company, but most notably their self promotion, their absence from UK Television in the main after 1974 - besides about one ITV special - and a general low key attitude towards their wider public that Clarke, Hicks, and Elliott each had....the latter two still to this day as in truth their 1988 UK number one with 'He Ain't Heavy' re-issue was in spite of them not anything down to them...when Clarke looked as 'miserable as sin' on BBC's TOTP something The Searchers commented on onstage I recall !
Clarke then apparently moaned about being recognised in shops all over again...hardly a very positive attitude - the hit intruded into their private lives something they besides Nash were never happy about even at the height of their sixties fame and that reticence, along with releasing repeated slow often largely unmemorable individual ballad singles, a slow disco style track, a mock reggae number, etc had much to do with their falling from wider public view over the seventies I rather suspect.
it's significant some people seem to think they BROKE UP after 'The Air That I Breathe' - while ex-New Seekers singer Lyn Paul (who covered 'Give Me Time') asked on her website; 'whatever became of The Hollies ?, I always liked them..'
and more than one British DJ on playing 'The Woman I Love' in 1993 said; 'That's the new single from, The Hollies, GREAT to hear from them again...where have they been.... ?'
It does seem that they did seem to be almost happy to fade from wider public view over the course of the seventies - no doubt a key reason Terry Sylvester became so increasingly frustrated...
However I really don't agree with those who feel the band musically or vocally lost it completely after 1975, no matter how many on here may think so, it won't change my opinion
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Burn out
Mar 6, 2016 19:52:19 GMT
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Post by cameron on Mar 6, 2016 19:52:19 GMT
I don't think they went off the boil in 1975 either with Another Night. Write On, Hollies Live Hits and Russian Roulette are excellent albums. Easily of the same quality and standard of the albums preceding them. Live, they were arguably better than ever as they'd stretched to one hour sets that would become two hour sets by the early 1980's.
I just think it all went wrong with A Crazy Steal. Allan was out on leave again by the end of the album, leaving the Hollies somewhat in the lurch and having to finish the album on their own. Luckily he came back before they toured again but I've not seen any record of them performing any of the album tracks as part of their set. 5317704 was an attempt to bring it all back together again - even bringing Ron Richards back into the fold. This was arguably better than A Crazy Steal, the material was a bit stronger but it was always designed to be an album of ballads in an era of disco. It couldn't have been more out of step with what was going on at the time. The whole album from start to finish is a slow burner, but Say It Ain't So Jo shows just how good their harmonies were at the time. Then they had the strange idea to do another 'Hollies Sing Dylan' with Buddy Holly. It was okay, but not particularly stimulating for me. Bobby had really toned down his playing at this point too. And What Goes Around was a disaster. The "band's band" go electric! They even replace Bobby on one track with a drum machine.
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