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Post by Gralto on Nov 22, 2019 14:52:10 GMT
Now this is unexpected - just happened upon this yesterday by fluke: thegaiety.co.uk/i-love-jennifer-eccles-the-hollies-story/If I was over there, I'd definitely be paying this show a visit - here is exhibit A, the next generation of musicians coming through, beginning to discover The H. JamesT - is Ayr far from your digs elsewhere in bonny Scotland? |
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Post by JamesT on Nov 22, 2019 18:46:31 GMT
Now this is unexpected - just happened upon this yesterday by fluke: thegaiety.co.uk/i-love-jennifer-eccles-the-hollies-story/If I was over there, I'd definitely be paying this show a visit - here is exhibit A, the next generation of musicians coming through, beginning to discover The H. JamesT - is Ayr far from your digs elsewhere in bonny Scotland? That's Valentine's Day sorted for the wife, then đ đ I'm now on the east coast; it's about 2.5 hours away, so doable! Thanks for the heads up, Simon. |
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Post by cameron on Nov 22, 2019 21:16:19 GMT
Not sure how much I could handle listening to the Hollies' hits being sung with such a forced American accent...
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Post by Gralto on Nov 23, 2019 11:10:44 GMT
Not sure how much I could handle listening to the Hollies' hits being sung with such a forced American accent... Come on Cam - don't fight it. You've got the campervan thing sorted so no probs for you with finding transportation - looking forward to your report on 15 Feb! :-) JamesT - yes mate, I fully empathise. I don't think my other half has asked me a single question about my interest in The H in the nearly 9 years we've been together! I suspect others on this site reading this may be silently nodding - my goodness, aren't these musical obsessions singular pursuits! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2019 11:23:07 GMT
I don't think my other half has asked me a single question about my interest in The H in the nearly 9 years we've been together! I suspect others on this site reading this may be silently nodding - my goodness, aren't these musical obsessions singular pursuits!
I'm reasonably lucky in this respect, as my better half is also into music, albeit largely a different genre. So, I drag her to shows by (mostly) 60s pop artists, while she takes me along to concerts by Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention and Lindisfarne. To be fair, it's opened both of our ears to other sounds, even if we still have our particular faves! |
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Post by JamesT on Nov 23, 2019 12:23:17 GMT
Not sure how much I could handle listening to the Hollies' hits being sung with such a forced American accent... JamesT - yes mate, I fully empathise. I don't think my other half has asked me a single question about my interest in The H in the nearly 9 years we've been together! I suspect others on this site reading this may be silently nodding - my goodness, aren't these musical obsessions singular pursuits! She's actually quite a fan of The Hollies now. I have told her that if I snuff it tomorrow, one of my greatest achievements in life is the 'musical education' she's received from me  After all, the sole music purchase she'd made of a particular artist was a tape of 'PJ and Duncan' when she was a teenager! |
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Post by cameron on Nov 23, 2019 15:35:22 GMT
I got a worrying awakening when I saw the Hollies live, my and my other half were just about the only two people there who knew absolutely every single word to every song that they played, to the point of seemingly getting some impressed/bewildered looks from Tony Hicks, who was closest to us on the stage, as we were also probably the youngest people there by at least 20 years! What worries me, is that my other half has no interest in the Hollies whatsoever, but knew all the words. Obviously I listen to the Hollies far too much, so they've been learnt by osmosis! Sorry, not sorry.
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Post by paul71 on Nov 23, 2019 23:05:38 GMT
When we first met, my wife sort of knew some of the Hollies hits. But now she has been brainwashed to the point that 'I would fly' was the 1st dance song at our wedding.
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Post by JamesT on Nov 24, 2019 8:38:00 GMT
When we first met, my wife sort of knew some of the Hollies hits. But now she has been brainwashed to the point that 'I would fly' was the 1st dance song at our wedding. 'The Air That I Breathe' at ours! The words 'then, now, always' were in my other half's vows, which I totally missed at the time. One quite remarkable coincidence was that she liked the poem 'i carry your heart with me' by E.E. Cummings. She then found the beautiful version put to music by Michael Hedges, an artist I've since investigated. Backing vocals by none other than Messrs Nash and Crosby! She walked down the aisle to that. What a soppy bunch. đ |
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Post by johnt on Nov 24, 2019 14:56:17 GMT
When we first met, my wife sort of knew some of the Hollies hits. But now she has been brainwashed to the point that 'I would fly' was the 1st dance song at our wedding. 'The Air That I Breathe' at ours! The words 'then, now, always' were in my other half's vows, which I totally missed at the time. One quite remarkable coincidence was that she liked the poem 'i carry your heart with me' by E.E. Cummings. She then found the beautiful version put to music by Michael Hedges, an artist I've since investigated. Backing vocals by none other than Messrs Nash and Crosby! She walked down the aisle to that. What a soppy bunch. đ Likewise, James. The Air That I Breathe featured at our wedding in 1975. A year earlier, I took her to her first Hollies concert (my third) at The City Hall in Sheffield where they played it, having just reached No. 2 in the charts. (I think it was Billy, Don't Be A Hero by Paper Lace that kept it off the Number One spot.) I remember our big day well. Seeing her walking down the aisle, reaching the altar then singing a hymn. They are the three words that she has remembered for almost 45 years - Aisle Altar Hymn!! |
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Post by Tony Wilkinson on Nov 24, 2019 20:51:49 GMT
'The Air That I Breathe' at ours! The words 'then, now, always' were in my other half's vows, which I totally missed at the time. One quite remarkable coincidence was that she liked the poem 'i carry your heart with me' by E.E. Cummings. She then found the beautiful version put to music by Michael Hedges, an artist I've since investigated. Backing vocals by none other than Messrs Nash and Crosby! She walked down the aisle to that. What a soppy bunch. đ Likewise, James. The Air That I Breathe featured at our wedding in 1975. A year earlier, I took her to her first Hollies concert (my third) at The City Hall in Sheffield where they played it, having just reached No. 2 in the charts. (I think it was Billy, Don't Be A Hero by Paper Lace that kept it off the Number One spot.) I remember our big day well. Seeing her walking down the aisle, reaching the altar then singing a hymn. They are the three words that she has remembered for almost 45 years - Aisle Altar Hymn!! Don't give up yer day job...........!! At the City hall Sheffield show did they have a small backing orchestra...they did when I saw them there around that time......? |
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Post by johnt on Nov 24, 2019 22:14:12 GMT
Likewise, James. The Air That I Breathe featured at our wedding in 1975. A year earlier, I took her to her first Hollies concert (my third) at The City Hall in Sheffield where they played it, having just reached No. 2 in the charts. (I think it was Billy, Don't Be A Hero by Paper Lace that kept it off the Number One spot.) I remember our big day well. Seeing her walking down the aisle, reaching the altar then singing a hymn. They are the three words that she has remembered for almost 45 years - Aisle Altar Hymn!! Don't give up yer day job...........!! At the City hall Sheffield show did they have a small backing orchestra...they did when I saw them there around that time......? I think they did, Tony. They had a special guest to open the show - James Griffin, ex-Bread. |
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Post by JamesT on Jan 6, 2020 21:30:05 GMT
Tickets booked for this show, I'll be sure to report back on how it goes.
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Post by JamesT on Feb 16, 2020 15:13:22 GMT
In the interests of research, my good lady and I bought expensive drinks and settled down to a Valentine's evening performance of Hollies hits and stories... I Love Jennifer Eccles â The Hollies Story
The Gaeity Theatre, Ayr, 14 February 2020The theatre and the town
The Gaeity, built in the early 1900s, is Ayrâs only remaining theatre, having survived two fires and a closure of three years. The local council subsequently transferred management of the theatre to a charitable management organisation in 2012. The theatre has a capacity of nearly 600 over three levels. Ayr is a seaside town on the west coast of Scotland, and, this having been my first visit in about five years, I found the town centre to be like many in Britain, rundown and in need of investment. It was once, not so long ago, thriving. Long gone is the Virgin Music store where 26 years ago I bought the âSingles A's And B's 1970-1979â CD which really got me hooked on the band. The famous bootleg recording from 1985 of The Hollies at the Magnum Centre was made a few miles up the coast in Irvine. That venue has been demolished in the past few years. The times they have a-changed. In April 2006, I saw The Hollies at the Citadel Leisure Centre in Ayr, this being the first occasion I saw the current Howarth/Hicks/Lauri/Styles/Elliott lineup. I canât seem to find any records of The Hollies playing in The Gaeity in the past. Looking through the theatreâs upcoming events brochure, it would appear that a mix of theatrical productions and tribute acts fill most of the schedule. The likes of The Searchers, Focus, Ray Davies and Rick Wakeman have played there in the past. The Hollywood Bees, a now-defunct Hollies tribute band which I saw in 2015, also played at the venue. The production
The band were probably in late 20s-early 30s, and consisted of a six piece line-up, much like the current Hollies, and similarly, including a keyboardist. Incidentally, the rhythm and bass guitarist featured in the promo were replaced by other musicians. Vocals were supplied by the lead vocalist, lead and rhythm guitarist. The evening started with an audio recording of Allan Clarke and Graham Nash talking about meeting. A narrator then came on stage and made regular appearances thereafter, ushered in by the sound of a ringing school hand bell, and took the form of Mr Burke, the teacher of a young Harold Allan Clarke and Graham Nash. Generally the narrator appeared after every two songs and engaged the audience, asking questions and chastising those who didnât put their hand up to answer, or if someone got out of their seat. He also reprimanded the âyoung Holliesâ band. This made for a jovial atmosphere and was greatly appreciated by the audience. In terms of the content covered, the widely-available stories of how Allan and Graham met, their initial groups, bunking off school to get tickets for the Everly Brothers, speaking to Don and Phil outside the Midland Hotel, and the poaching of Hicks and Elliott from The Dolphins were covered. These stories were supplemented by stills on the screen at the back of the stage. Some of the images were better than others in all fairness, and there was the odd mistake such as âAlanâ Clarke. Album covers were used in some cases, but also the covers of modern CD compilations. Mention was also made of Michael Cohen and Graham Gouldman, Nash becoming enamoured with the west coast of America/Joni Mitchell and his leaving the group to form CSN. The arrival of Terry Sylvester was also mentioned but after this, the story was greatly abbreviated and skipped forward to the retiral of Allan Clarke in 1999. Mention was made of the current Hollies, together with a photograph of them on stage, audience at their backs. The songs â those youâd expect
From Stay through to I Canât Tell The Bottom From The Top, every UK chart hit was performed except for If I Needed Someone. Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) was also performed, as was The Air That I Breathe. So, a definite audience-pleasing catalogue of songs. The songs werenât performed in chronological order. In terms of how they were performed, they were sung and played well, but did not readily sound like The Hollies. The phrasing and structure of the songs was there, but the vocal chops of any of the individuals whoâd performed them under the banner of The Hollies was not. That is not to say they werenât well sung â they were â but anyone expecting to hear Hollies clones would be disappointed. We were there under no such illusion. There was the occasional slip-up (the three vocalists also had mic-stand mounted iPhones to assist with lyrics), but nothing to detract from the performance overall. In terms of musicianship, the lead guitarist and especially the bass player were on the money. The drummer tried to add some over-the-top moves (imagine a cross between Bobby Elliott and Keith Moon on a bad day) but overall provided good backing, pinning the songs down. At the end of I Canât Tell The Bottom from The Top, the sound from the bell of the ride cymbal was far too loud, as much as to overshadow the rest of the instrumentation. Harmonica (on âHeavy) and banjo (on Stop Stop Stop) were replicated by keyboards. A tasty guitar solo replaced the harmonica at the end of He Ainât Heavy. Overall, the keyboards were not that great at all â they had a tendency to sound clichĂ©d or far too low in the mix. The rhythm guitarist was mostly on electro-acoustic, although for a couple of numbers was on electric guitar. Whilst on electro-acoustic, he was buried in the mix â indeed, initially I though he was doing a true Graham Nash and was not plugged in! The lead vocalist was buried quite low in the mix on many songs. The songs â those you wouldnât expect...
Five songs were performed which I didnât expect to hear. Marrakesh Express â well, OK, you might expect that one as a link between The Hollies and Nashâs post-Hollies career. Then there was Another Night â unexpected for sure, and a fine version of the track and sung with conviction. Possibly the highlight of the entire evening for me was Daddy Donât Mind â a true unexpected gem. This was sung and performed forcefully and came across exceptionally well as a slice of Hollies rock, thankfully sans trombone solo! The Woman I Love was another track I never saw coming! The irritating âspringyâ keyboard riff of the original was toned down substantially and was performed superbly. Despite the lead guitarist breaking his low E string about two thirds of the way through the song, it was a pleasure to hear this track. The narrator made reference to the string break later, although I suspect some of the audience didnât even see this â even my good lady didnât and we were seated in the fourth row of the stalls, left of centre! Thereafter, the lead guitarist used the rhythm guitaristâs electric guitar which meant that LCW was played with the rhythm guitarist on electro-acoustic â I suspect this wouldnât have been the case had all went to plan. The final surprise of the evening was Weakness â again, very unexpected and fine performance of perhaps one of the best tracks from the current band. I suspect 95% of the audience didnât have a clue about these tracks (apart from Marrakesh Express). I wonder if Stop! In The Name Of Love might have been a better choice than Weakness, for example? Some thoughts on âI Love Jennifer Eccles â The Hollies StoryâAll-in-all, well worth going to see. If I was awarding marks out of 10, Iâd probably say 6 or 7. The company which produced the show state: âTreble Clef Productions have a simple yet fairly unique view of the tribute show business. There are some great tribute shows available for a discerning audience...and very many of the same theme. The world, we feel, does not need another Abba, Beatles, Pink Floyd etc however good they may be.â Iâd say that with this production (which seems to date back less than a year), theyâve certainly broke new ground and produced a fine show. Itâs perhaps a little rough-around-the edges in some respects to a long-term knowledgeable Hollies fan, but it was a fine eveningâs entertainment and was fully appreciated by the audience. Not a bad word was heard uttered by anyone. I feared for the worst â a kind of watered down One Direction covering Hollies classics was my initial thought. This, thankfully, was definitely not the case! The one thing I did think a little odd is that the band or narrator were not named (a couple of first names did get mentioned during the evening) and I was expecting that a programme might have been available. The band did come out to the foyer after the show and appeared to be warmly greeted by many. Given the chance, Iâd take in the show again. The performance we saw was sandwiched between a performance in South Shields on Tyneside and Greenock further north on the west coast of Scotland. As far as I can see, the only other performance listed is at Clacton-On-Sea on 27 June: www.westcliffclacton.co.uk/livemusic/the-hollies-story/ And yes, some of the audience did know the story behind the naming of the song Jennifer Eccles, and were awarded house points accordingly! trebleclefproductions.com/the-hollies-story-i-love-jennifer-eccles/www.facebook.com/pg/The-Hollies-Story-397157131019288/posts/?ref=page_internal |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2020 16:50:11 GMT
Will certainly check it out if the show ever comes to North-East Kent! Thanks for the review James.
Me and my better half saw 'The Simon and Garfunkel' story locally a couple of years back (well worth seeing), something probably similar.
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Post by Gralto on Mar 21, 2020 15:23:32 GMT
In the interests of research, my good lady and I bought expensive drinks and settled down to a Valentine's evening performance of Hollies hits and stories... I Love Jennifer Eccles â The Hollies Story
The Gaeity Theatre, Ayr, 14 February 2020The theatre and the town
The Gaeity, built in the early 1900s, is Ayrâs only remaining theatre, having survived two fires and a closure of three years. The local council subsequently transferred management of the theatre to a charitable management organisation in 2012. The theatre has a capacity of nearly 600 over three levels. Ayr is a seaside town on the west coast of Scotland, and, this having been my first visit in about five years, I found the town centre to be like many in Britain, rundown and in need of investment. It was once, not so long ago, thriving. Long gone is the Virgin Music store where 26 years ago I bought the âSingles A's And B's 1970-1979â CD which really got me hooked on the band. The famous bootleg recording from 1985 of The Hollies at the Magnum Centre was made a few miles up the coast in Irvine. That venue has been demolished in the past few years. The times they have a-changed. In April 2006, I saw The Hollies at the Citadel Leisure Centre in Ayr, this being the first occasion I saw the current Howarth/Hicks/Lauri/Styles/Elliott lineup. I canât seem to find any records of The Hollies playing in The Gaeity in the past. Looking through the theatreâs upcoming events brochure, it would appear that a mix of theatrical productions and tribute acts fill most of the schedule. The likes of The Searchers, Focus, Ray Davies and Rick Wakeman have played there in the past. The Hollywood Bees, a now-defunct Hollies tribute band which I saw in 2015, also played at the venue. The production
The band were probably in late 20s-early 30s, and consisted of a six piece line-up, much like the current Hollies, and similarly, including a keyboardist. Incidentally, the rhythm and bass guitarist featured in the promo were replaced by other musicians. Vocals were supplied by the lead vocalist, lead and rhythm guitarist. The evening started with an audio recording of Allan Clarke and Graham Nash talking about meeting. A narrator then came on stage and made regular appearances thereafter, ushered in by the sound of a ringing school hand bell, and took the form of Mr Burke, the teacher of a young Harold Allan Clarke and Graham Nash. Generally the narrator appeared after every two songs and engaged the audience, asking questions and chastising those who didnât put their hand up to answer, or if someone got out of their seat. He also reprimanded the âyoung Holliesâ band. This made for a jovial atmosphere and was greatly appreciated by the audience. In terms of the content covered, the widely-available stories of how Allan and Graham met, their initial groups, bunking off school to get tickets for the Everly Brothers, speaking to Don and Phil outside the Midland Hotel, and the poaching of Hicks and Elliott from The Dolphins were covered. These stories were supplemented by stills on the screen at the back of the stage. Some of the images were better than others in all fairness, and there was the odd mistake such as âAlanâ Clarke. Album covers were used in some cases, but also the covers of modern CD compilations. Mention was also made of Michael Cohen and Graham Gouldman, Nash becoming enamoured with the west coast of America/Joni Mitchell and his leaving the group to form CSN. The arrival of Terry Sylvester was also mentioned but after this, the story was greatly abbreviated and skipped forward to the retiral of Allan Clarke in 1999. Mention was made of the current Hollies, together with a photograph of them on stage, audience at their backs. The songs â those youâd expect
From Stay through to I Canât Tell The Bottom From The Top, every UK chart hit was performed except for If I Needed Someone. Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) was also performed, as was The Air That I Breathe. So, a definite audience-pleasing catalogue of songs. The songs werenât performed in chronological order. In terms of how they were performed, they were sung and played well, but did not readily sound like The Hollies. The phrasing and structure of the songs was there, but the vocal chops of any of the individuals whoâd performed them under the banner of The Hollies was not. That is not to say they werenât well sung â they were â but anyone expecting to hear Hollies clones would be disappointed. We were there under no such illusion. There was the occasional slip-up (the three vocalists also had mic-stand mounted iPhones to assist with lyrics), but nothing to detract from the performance overall. In terms of musicianship, the lead guitarist and especially the bass player were on the money. The drummer tried to add some over-the-top moves (imagine a cross between Bobby Elliott and Keith Moon on a bad day) but overall provided good backing, pinning the songs down. At the end of I Canât Tell The Bottom from The Top, the sound from the bell of the ride cymbal was far too loud, as much as to overshadow the rest of the instrumentation. Harmonica (on âHeavy) and banjo (on Stop Stop Stop) were replicated by keyboards. A tasty guitar solo replaced the harmonica at the end of He Ainât Heavy. Overall, the keyboards were not that great at all â they had a tendency to sound clichĂ©d or far too low in the mix. The rhythm guitarist was mostly on electro-acoustic, although for a couple of numbers was on electric guitar. Whilst on electro-acoustic, he was buried in the mix â indeed, initially I though he was doing a true Graham Nash and was not plugged in! The lead vocalist was buried quite low in the mix on many songs. The songs â those you wouldnât expect...
Five songs were performed which I didnât expect to hear. Marrakesh Express â well, OK, you might expect that one as a link between The Hollies and Nashâs post-Hollies career. Then there was Another Night â unexpected for sure, and a fine version of the track and sung with conviction. Possibly the highlight of the entire evening for me was Daddy Donât Mind â a true unexpected gem. This was sung and performed forcefully and came across exceptionally well as a slice of Hollies rock, thankfully sans trombone solo! The Woman I Love was another track I never saw coming! The irritating âspringyâ keyboard riff of the original was toned down substantially and was performed superbly. Despite the lead guitarist breaking his low E string about two thirds of the way through the song, it was a pleasure to hear this track. The narrator made reference to the string break later, although I suspect some of the audience didnât even see this â even my good lady didnât and we were seated in the fourth row of the stalls, left of centre! Thereafter, the lead guitarist used the rhythm guitaristâs electric guitar which meant that LCW was played with the rhythm guitarist on electro-acoustic â I suspect this wouldnât have been the case had all went to plan. The final surprise of the evening was Weakness â again, very unexpected and fine performance of perhaps one of the best tracks from the current band. I suspect 95% of the audience didnât have a clue about these tracks (apart from Marrakesh Express). I wonder if Stop! In The Name Of Love might have been a better choice than Weakness, for example? Some thoughts on âI Love Jennifer Eccles â The Hollies StoryâAll-in-all, well worth going to see. If I was awarding marks out of 10, Iâd probably say 6 or 7. The company which produced the show state: âTreble Clef Productions have a simple yet fairly unique view of the tribute show business. There are some great tribute shows available for a discerning audience...and very many of the same theme. The world, we feel, does not need another Abba, Beatles, Pink Floyd etc however good they may be.â Iâd say that with this production (which seems to date back less than a year), theyâve certainly broke new ground and produced a fine show. Itâs perhaps a little rough-around-the edges in some respects to a long-term knowledgeable Hollies fan, but it was a fine eveningâs entertainment and was fully appreciated by the audience. Not a bad word was heard uttered by anyone. I feared for the worst â a kind of watered down One Direction covering Hollies classics was my initial thought. This, thankfully, was definitely not the case! The one thing I did think a little odd is that the band or narrator were not named (a couple of first names did get mentioned during the evening) and I was expecting that a programme might have been available. The band did come out to the foyer after the show and appeared to be warmly greeted by many. Given the chance, Iâd take in the show again. The performance we saw was sandwiched between a performance in South Shields on Tyneside and Greenock further north on the west coast of Scotland. As far as I can see, the only other performance listed is at Clacton-On-Sea on 27 June: www.westcliffclacton.co.uk/livemusic/the-hollies-story/ And yes, some of the audience did know the story behind the naming of the song Jennifer Eccles, and were awarded house points accordingly! trebleclefproductions.com/the-hollies-story-i-love-jennifer-eccles/www.facebook.com/pg/The-Hollies-Story-397157131019288/posts/?ref=page_internalLoved the review James - thanks so much for taking the time to share your Valentine's Day night out! A great read - I hope those involved with the show have been forwarded your words. cheers Simon |
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Post by JamesT on Jul 14, 2023 12:28:17 GMT
Wellingborough and Maidstone performances in September just announced.
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After all, the sole music purchase she'd made of a particular artist was a tape of 'PJ and Duncan' when she was a teenager!
