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Post by thejanitor on Jun 14, 2020 19:15:37 GMT
This should be a fun topic. ☺ In your opinions, what are some songs you wish The Hollies had done a version of?
The one that immediately jumps to my mind is Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay". I understand the group themselves most likely would've rejected it along the same lines they rejected Graham's compositions for the lyrics being a bit too on the risqué side for them, plus the Sing Dylan album sessions had finished up a while before it was even released on Nashville Skyline, but I just imagine had they recorded a version around that time, they easily could've done it a beautiful justice, especially Allan and Terry harmony-wise!
But anyways, I'd love to hear some of your suggestions... 😏
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Post by sandy on Jun 14, 2020 19:18:08 GMT
This should be a fun topic. ☺ In your opinions, what are some songs you wish The Hollies had done a version of? The one that immediately jumps to my mind is Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay". I understand the group themselves most likely would've rejected it along the same lines they rejected Graham's compositions for the lyrics being a bit too on the risqué side for them, plus the Sing Dylan album sessions had finished up a while before it was even released on Nashville Skyline, but I just imagine had they done a version around that time, they easily could've done it a beautiful justice, especially Allan and Terry harmony-wise! But anyways, I'd love to hear some of your suggestions... 😏 I always thought they could cover Dance with me, by Orleans,which I loved.......then, in one live concert, they did....and it was stunning.Just wish I had captured it😊
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Post by paul71 on Jun 14, 2020 19:19:40 GMT
California dreamin would have been a great vehicle for their harmonies. Apparently they thought about recording it but did 'I can't let go' instead. Not a bad decision
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2020 19:40:17 GMT
A cover of The Beatles' 'Yes It Is' could've made a good single (far better than 'If I Needed Someone'), and I wish Graham Gouldman had given them 'No Milk Today'!
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Post by cameron on Jun 14, 2020 21:01:54 GMT
They almost had Elton John's 'Your Song' if it hadn't have been a hit for them. I can really hear them singing that, Terry's soaring harmony on the chorus with Allan's softer voice like at the start of 'I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top' in the verse. It's a shame they never recorded it!
They did a fantastic live version of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' both with Allan in 1971 and Mikael Rickfors in 1972. They also covered the CSNY version of 'Woodstock'. The Hollies' harmonies sing CSNY under the table both times, partly because the Hollies had Baritone, Tenor and Alto vocals, whereas CSNY had Tenor/Tenor and Alto + whatever you want to say Neil young's screeching is lol.
'Angel of the Morning' is in the vaults from 1969, which no one has heard. I'm dying to hear that one, I can really imagine Allan's powerful voice coming through strong on the chorus. I imagine the Hollies' version has a similar arrangement to the Tremeloes' version, which was released on 'Live in Cabaret' not long after the Hollies recorded it, so maybe that was one of the reasons they didn't issue it at the time:
Apparently they also sang 'Like A Rolling Stone' in early 1967 concerts, now THAT I would like to hear!
I'd have liked to hear them do something else by the Eagles, I love their version of 'Witchy Woman', it's more confident sounding than the Eagles' version.
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Jun 14, 2020 22:07:43 GMT
I'm really going out on a limb here, considering the country-rock/folkiness/harmony-focus of what the rest of you have suggested, but I'd love my favourite band (especially the somewhat harder edged, Distant Light-era Hollies) to cover one of my all-time favourite songs.
I guess George Kooymans was supposed to sound like an utter wreck here, but I would have to loved to have heard a voice like Allan's at the time singing this.
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Jun 14, 2020 22:15:32 GMT
Alternately, I love this 1994 song by Canadian (almost) alt-country band The Blue Shadows. They'd smash the harmonies here.
By the way, the lead singer is the late Billy Cowsill, yes, from "that" family band!
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Post by anthony on Jun 14, 2020 23:56:47 GMT
funny I thought they could have done a great version of free me by uriah heep
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Jun 15, 2020 1:58:33 GMT
Okay, two more. Actually the same band, but they were the Staccatos during the 60s...and the Five Man Electrical Band in the 70s (you all probably know the song "Signs").
They were all about the harmonies in both incarnations....
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Post by sandy on Jun 15, 2020 10:56:48 GMT
Not on record, but I always imagined them doing Boat on the River, by Styx...it would have been amazing live, with Clarkie....mmmm🎶🎶🎶 That would be soft harmonies cover,then Renegade for harder rockier cover. Both would be fab. And, Run for Home, Lindisfarne?They would all have been great as their "extra" songs, live😉
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Post by Stranger on Jun 15, 2020 13:56:19 GMT
The idea that Elton John's Healing Hands might have been an option they passed up on bothers me...
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Jun 15, 2020 14:20:22 GMT
Not on record, but I always imagined them doing Boat on the River, by Styx...it would have been amazing live, with Clarkie....mmmm🎶🎶🎶 That would be soft harmonies cover,then Renegade for harder rockier cover. Both would be fab. I always thought Dennis DeYoung from Styx was a singer in the same vein as Allan. Always loved his solo hit from the mid-80s, "Desert Moon". (Omg...I just realized I said I liked something from the 80s...!) Kind of miss those music videos that told a story...like little mini-movies... Allan seemed to have a voice that inspired a lot of singers from the 70s and 80s. Kind of the first in a long line of romantic male tenors in pop/rock bands. In Canada especially, when I think of Trooper or Prism.
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Post by knut on Jun 15, 2020 21:56:35 GMT
I suggested to the band to record this Norwegian song also covered by Randy Crawford
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Post by anthony on Jun 15, 2020 23:44:36 GMT
this may seem an odd choice but I think this would have been a brilliant song for the Hollies with Allan, it would showcase Bobby on drums and Tony on guitar
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Post by madprofessorblyth on Jun 16, 2020 4:02:03 GMT
Perhaps it has been suggested previously, or just a result of timing on my own part - but as the group I've been listening to the most over the last two months or so, I have noticed there's quite a few songs done in the early LPs by the Searchers that I feel the Hollies also would have done really well, and fit into their sound and repertoire easily with their own distinctive ways. Even despite all of the differences between the two groups, they certainly have much in common...! I've spent a lot of time comparing tracks they both did, which are always very different versions but both good and do justice to the songs (best example is probably their shared lyric-altering version of "It's In Her Kiss")...!
For space and time I'll stick to the one song that sticks out at me the most of being Hollies reminiscent (and one I think they would have done a great job of!) is "Ain't Gonna Kiss Ya" - it also would have been an interesting departure in the Hollies sound with those particularly minor chords (not unsimilar to 'We're Through' in that sense), but that chorus is just pure Clarke/Hicks/Nash vocal blend waiting to happen, that even in the "at all" portion of the Searchers' version, I could almost swear they became the Hollies for a second - which is ironic considering the Searchers had quite a different (but equally impressive and pleasant on the ear) harmony sound, especially with Tony Jackson's unique timbre. Maybe it's just me but perhaps someone else here might notice the same thing I've gotten from this fab track!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2020 11:45:19 GMT
This Keith Richards/Andrew Oldham song(!) would've suited them (this version even sounds like The Hollies):
... and another good one (am I the only person who thinks 'Clown' must've been influenced by this song?):
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Jun 16, 2020 14:03:17 GMT
This Keith Richards/Andrew Oldham song(!) would've suited them (this version even sounds like The Hollies): ... and another good one (am I the only person who thinks 'Clown' must've been influenced by this song?): I love both of these, Peter. And weirdly, until you pointed it out, I never noticed the similarities between The Ferris Wheel and Clown. But I sure hear it now!
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Post by gee on Jun 16, 2020 14:11:59 GMT
Apparently The Hollies passed on 'A Must To Avoid' which gave Herman the 1965 hit
The Searchers passed up 'Black is Black', 'The Air That I Breathe' and Paul's kind offer of 'Things We Said Today' in 1964 !!
ironic that briefly Tony Jackson was considered as a possible replacement for Eric Haydock in The Hollies in 1966....while Eric as a possible replacement for an injured Pete Quaife in The Kinks
I would have liked to hear a Hollies version - with Clarke-Hicks-Nash - of The Dave Clark Five's song 'Because' (later covered by Julian Lennon), the song is sung in full harmony by The D5 in their 1964 version much like The Hollies were doing then on a number of singles and album tracks
and maybe for Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester on an album this Mike Hugg song Manfred Mann cut as 'Each and Every Day' and Simon Dupree & The Big Sound covered for a single as 'Daytime Nightime'
re-arragned vocally with sections sung in turn by Clarke, Clarke/Sylvester, and by the full Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester harmony team together with the backing vocal parts as sung here
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Post by gee on Jun 16, 2020 14:33:38 GMT
and maybe The Rickfors Hollies doing this one - either 'Sandman' or 'Ventura Highway'
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Jun 16, 2020 15:07:55 GMT
I would have liked to hear a Hollies version - with Clarke-Hicks-Nash - of The Dave Clark Five's song 'Because' (later covered by Julian Lennon), the song is sung in full harmony by The D5 in their 1964 version much like The Hollies were doing then on a number of singles and album tracks "Because" was a huge North American hit. I loved it as a kid, but the harmonies are nothing to write home about. The Hollies could have definitely improved upon it. Personally I prefer as a DC5 ballad, "I'll Be Yours (My Love)" the b-side to "Over And Over." But I think it's because Mike Smith's ragged vocals raise it up a notch. The lyrics are somewhat pedestrian. The Hollies were beyond that by then.
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Post by thejanitor on Aug 11, 2020 22:39:01 GMT
I know they sung it live, but listening to that again has made me realise how bad I wish they'd done a studio version of Teach Your Children. Just harmony, acoustic guitar and the WGA synths kept far away as possible! 😏
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Post by Mevrouw Bee on Aug 12, 2020 1:07:06 GMT
I know they sung it live, but listening to that again has made me realise how bad I wish they'd done a studio version of Teach Your Children. Just harmony, acoustic guitar and the WGA synths kept far away as possible! 😏 Oh ever since I heard their live version of "Wasted On The Way" it's become one of my favourite songs...
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Post by cameron on Aug 12, 2020 10:47:54 GMT
Oh their version of 'Wasted On The Way' absolutely wipes the floor with the CSN version. I always thought the CSN version cringy and mock-country, the Hollies' version took it somewhere else with a full spectrum of harmonies to boot. Absolutely sublime.
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Post by The Dude on Aug 12, 2020 17:11:05 GMT
A cover of The Beatles' 'Yes It Is' could've made a good single (far better than 'If I Needed Someone'), and I wish Graham Gouldman had given them 'No Milk Today'! Now that you mention The Beatles,..."This Boy", would have been a good candidate too...
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Post by The Dude on Aug 12, 2020 17:14:29 GMT
Oh their version of 'Wasted On The Way' absolutely wipes the floor with the CSN version. I always thought the CSN version cringy and mock-country, the Hollies' version took it somewhere else with a full spectrum of harmonies to boot. Absolutely sublime. I would have loved hearing them do "Just A Song Before I Go"...
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