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Post by cameron on Jul 28, 2016 17:07:43 GMT
Unfortunately, other bands are more on the ball at securing their place in music history. A classic example of this is the Zombies. Ten years ago, "Odessey And Oracle" was a mere cult classic and now it's mentioned in the same breath as Sgt. Pepper and Piper At The Gates Of Dawn. The Zombies got back together as many of the original members that they could, got a great new rhythm section behind them and went back out on the road, doing small gigs and getting better and better. Then they crowd funded a new LP and now they're seemingly enjoying a new phase of their career, almost 50 years since they split. Their back catalogue has also been remastered and re-released and all of it is available quite easily.
The Small Faces too, recently took it upon themselves to oversee their lavish "Here Comes The Nice" box set with all the remasters overseen personally by Kenny Jones and Ian McLagen.
What happens when the Hollies delve into their back catalogue? We get the awful remix of King Midas, a BBC collection that is arguably worse than most of the bootlegs out there with all the radio chatter spliced out (seemingly at the request of Bobby Elliott based on his sleeve notes), horrendously "overcooked" remasters of certain tracks (namely on Clarke Hicks And Nash Years) and it's just one repackaged product after another. It's so frustrating. Tony and Bobby are the only ones who have any say, as the remaining active members of "Hollies LTD" but in interviews, they're quite damming of the unreleased material and I remember one radio interview last year for "Changin Times" where the radio presenter played them "Don't Give Up Easily" and they had completely forgotten that the song even existed!
Perhaps they should employ a "Hollie Historian" as part of Hollies LTD to chase all their back catalogue up, compile officially what's still there on the tapes properly (not just rely on hearsay from Ron Furmanek who was the last person to go through the tapes as far as I'm aware - way back in 1992!) and start treating the life long fans and the die hards who have bought all the records over the past 50 years to something new! It just seems to me that there's no active figure as part of their company who thinks of ideas of what to issue next. Based on what Tony and Bobby have said, it's only when the record company approaches them to suggest a compilation, do they act upon it.
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Post by cameron on Jul 28, 2016 17:16:42 GMT
The Long Road Home was absolutely great. As I understand it though, it was a very fair production - all the Hollies were involved. Plenty of new tracks, lots of rarities that had been out of print for years and that great book that had interviews with all the main members since day one (apart from Eric Haydock but that was understandable considering there'd just been a law suit against him at the time). Sadly it's long out of print and chancing a copy on eBay is your only way to get it now. Be warned that it will cost you somewhere in the region of £50 - £100 for it too!
Clarke Hicks & Nash Years, again, brilliant set. A good balance of tracks to entice casual buyers and some top rarities to please the fans. And the icing on the cake was the inclusion of the mythical Lewisham Odeon concert from 1968, although the general consensus among fans is that it was a heavily edited version. Perhaps similar to how Bobby vetoed the talking from "Radio Fun", he wanted the audience chatter cut to a minimum? (Very much like their new compilation "Live Hits - We've Got The Tunes" which jumps from song to song) I think there may have been issues with financing copyright on some of the covers on the set too. But that said, it was excellent value for money as a box set.
I think for a band that was known as the "band's band", live albums are overdue. Perhaps a bootleg series like those from Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan? Something new for the fans, with the hits there to please the record company.
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Post by gee on Jul 29, 2016 11:07:39 GMT
Certainly the December 1966 Stockholm concert, the 1968 Lewisham Odeon concert, plus (if possible) that 1968 Yugoslavia televised concert soundtrack, all with Graham Nash, could be compiled together for a CD release
The Feb 1969 Hippodrome concert with Terry Sylvester BBC TV soundtrack is already out on an unofficial CD
maybe ALL of the available Nash, Sylvester era live concert recordings together with the Rickfors Hollies live tracks / TV recordings plus the later full 1982 Mainz concert and that Magnum Centre Irvine, Scotland concert (featuring Clarke-Hicks-Coates) and the seventies Australia/New Zealand live tracks ('Don't Get Sunburnt' / 'Hollies Live Hits') and finally the Nash reunion set at Kings Head Park could all be released as a complete 'Hollies Live' larger CD set
properly mixed the live recordings would make an important historical release
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Post by cameron on Jul 29, 2016 13:23:01 GMT
The problem as the Hollies themselves see it is that none of these recordings are ready to go. Most were radio recordings or TV and mixed to mono as they performed.
Stockholm '66: radio recording but it's in very good quality. The problem is that three tracks are missing: Very Last Day, A Taste Of Honey and Stewball. No one knows if they survive or not. The recording was re-broadcast in the 1980's with those three tracks missing. But interestingly, they are from a few songs into the set, so perhaps left out on purpose? Without them, it's quite a short set, clocking in at around 20 minutes.
Lewisham Odeon '68: a professional recording but the mix we got on 'Clarke Hicks & Nash Years' was the original two track stereo mix, that Ron Richards seemed to think was acceptable to offer it for release with the instruments on the left and vocals on the right! So it does want a total going over from the original multi-track tapes. Also, I believe the songs omitted were a mix of Bobby and Tony being unhappy with the performances (of their own songs - which in 1968 could have included Just One Look, Stay, The Games We Play) and them not being able to afford the copyright on some of the covers that they were doing in 1968 like Dang Me, Puff The Magic Dragon, Very Last Day, Blowin In The Wind, A Taste Of Honey, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine and any other random tracks that may have been thrown in on the night.
Yugoslavia '68: sadly there's a terrible audio flaw throughout. The audio was seemingly recorded over something else and the erase head on the tape machine wasn't operating properly. It sounds like a high pitched squeal that comes and goes over most of the set, clearing up around 'Do The Best You Can' onwards. Also, two tracks were performed as an encore: Bus Stop and Kisses Sweeter Than Wine but it's unknown if these survive or not. You see the Hollies walk back onstage on some of the bootlegs of the concert with flowers, so I assume they could have caught the encore on tape.
In Concert '69: this is available easily on CD via Amazon but it is a bootleg. I absolutely know that the BBC won't have the complete tapes, but two days of shows were staged for the recordings, leaving - allegedly - around 30 tracks filmed. Curiously, it was also filmed in colour but only survived in black and white. Perhaps the colour could be restored like they've done with some of the old Dad's Army and such like BBC shows. A defect in the tape allows a computer to "recolour" the black and white footage. Again, time and money that Hollies LTD won't want to spend.
Melbourne '71: this was recorded for TV in mono, but survives in perfect quality. This is definitely worthwhile of release. Again, Hollies LTD is responsible for paying for copyright due to their licensing deal. I can't see them forking out for Woodstock, Let It Be although Blood Red Roses and Amazing Grace should be okay.
Live Hits '76: someone told me that Boulder To Birmingham and Amazing Grace were omitted due to a "phantom whistler" who appeared every night! They recorded four complete shows though. The Hollies were so professional by this point that I bet all the recordings sound identical! I know bootlegs of the same era certainly do.
Mainz '82: this is a great two hour concert. A stereo FM radio recording so excellent quality. To me though, Alan Coates' voice sounds a bit sore? Perhaps this stops it being issued officially. As for the early 1990's recordings, due to Allan's ailing voice, I don't think we'll ever get these officially other than the odd cover that was pitched to suit his voice.
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Post by dirtyfaz on Jul 31, 2016 3:03:35 GMT
Cameron Can you give me a little more info re the Melbourne 71 recorded for TV. I actually thought that TV show (I'm taking it was Don't Get Sunburnt) was recorded at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney.
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