We Got the Tunes!

[bruciebaby]

Just curious...

Who has the new live CD and what do you think of it?  Tony's banjo intro to Stop Stop Stop and same with the sitar for The Baby bring back fond memories of seeing the band several times in the UK about a decade ago (in my TransAtlantic Eastbound Jet days, LOL). As does the 'West Coast' version of Look Through Any Window with Tony and Steve's soaring guitars bringing back memories of hearing this version in Wisley in '04. Although I was partial to his immediate successor - ahem - Pete does a fine job.  (Considering this is the Hollies, I had to mention something about the VOCALS .) 

Highly recommended for anybody who wants to get an idea of what the full UK show is like, but never has had the chance to witness it...

Bruciebaby

[downriver]

HELLO EVERYBODYYYYYYYY!!!!

Great to be here!!!!!!

Now then, I do not have this new album but I must admit I saw the debut gig with Howarth and (sadness aside... I am SUCH a die-hard fan of The Move that it is not even true...) all I could focus on was how great Bobby's drumming was and still is. So although I may find Tony's modern guitar cheesey and Howarth's vocal generic, I bet I would enjoy this album for the drumming alone. So I may just hunt it down, cheers Brucie, I would never have known about this release otherwise!

[cameron]

I caught this album through Spotify. The hardcopy of the album is very difficult to track down unless you buy it at a concert. The Hollies' management distribute copies through their website but ask for cheques only from UK customers - and hardly anyone deals with those anymore! It's a shame it's not on Amazon or anything. I've heard they're accepting Paypal too, if anyone's interested.

Anyway, back to the album.
Personally, I don't really like it. To be critical, Bobby appears to be slowing down his drumming and I noticed that he wasn't always putting in the intricate fills that he's so famous for. That said, the drums are mixed well forward in the mix, so they are really clear. But he is still on excellent form here, and I don't think you'll be disappointed. Tony disappoints on this album I'm afraid - though not though any fault of his own. His guitar work is perfect as always, but his vocal is buried in the mix throughout the album. This spoils the harmonies and makes his lead unclear on "Then, Now And Always". I see your point about his modern style though, but he can certainly still play! 

But now I must move on to the real elephant in the room - the vocals. The harmonies are weak at best (especially the higher harmonies). Peter Howarth seems to do a good job being the front man; but his voice is, as you point out, generic. He is just singing the songs, not performing them. Aside from Allan's distinct voice, he always performed the songs in such a way that he conveyed the emotion: whether it was playing about on the likes of "Carrie Anne", singing solemnly and succinctly on the likes of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" or just outrightly having fun on the likes of "Long Cool Woman". And you could see the emotion in his expressions and body language and it just lifts the performance to a whole other level. The point I'm getting at is that I don't get this vibe from Peter Howarth at all. And I really can't help but get the impression that he's singing the songs because he has to, not because he wants to.

All in all, a little disappointing. And I hope I've put forward a good argument other than the usual "they're not the Hollies because Allan's not there" argument. If it's drums your after then go for it, but otherwise, I wouldn't say it's an essential purchase.

PS. Nice to see another Move fan, they seem, like the Hollies, to get forgotten when people look back on the 1960's. Arguably they were the two best live bands of the 1960's too. Carl Wayne did such a marvellous job, sounding totally different to Allan, but doing his own thing with the songs and you could tell that he enjoyed what he was doing. Such a sad loss, but it was nice that they dedicated sorting out the Move's back catalogue to him, which I know was something that he was pushing for in the few years before his untimely death. What a marvellous legacy he left us with.

[downriver]

Cheers Cameron! Here in South London I have a friend called Cameron who is in his 50's comes from Nelson and (so he claims...) knew Tony and Bobby!

Anyway, thanks for your excellent review. I may just give the album a miss or try and listen to someone else's copy or something.

Absolutely BARMY that the official site is asking for those ANCIENT things called "cheques" and that it is UK-only when most of their fans these days are probably Dutch, German and New Zealanders.

True about The Move! I am so pleased at exactly HOW MUCH stuff (BBC recordings, live stuff, footage) is actually circulating and how just about ALL their albums are available in terrific sound quality with booklets and bonus tracks.

I would go and see a band with Bev, Trevor and Ace any day. I've always said if they cannot patch things up then I would happily see a Roy/Jeff/Tandy/Price reunion with Roger Spencer on drums instead.

"Move, move, MOOOOOOOOVE, WOOOOOAAH-OHHH!!!"

[cameron]

You're welcome! Like I said, it's on Spotify if you fancy a listen. You can sign up for the free trial just to listen to it if you like. Not only have the Hollies' website made the CD difficult to obtain, they've not uploaded it to iTunes either - which is crazy when anyone can upload their songs to iTunes. Even though I still buy new stuff on vinyl, even I can see that they're behind the times!

If it's live stuff you're after, the Clarke Hicks & Nash years boxset is worth it for the 1968 Lewisham Odeon gig alone! I think that's the best officially available Hollies concert there is. The bootleg of the complete Stockholm concert is a treasure to behold too. It's crazy that there aren't more Hollies live concerts available. For the band that frequently topped the NME poll as the best live act throughout the 1960's, there's so little that was ever even recorded in the first place, let alone released officially.

I was so thrilled to get the complete Marquee gig by the Move when the Anthology boxset came out a few years back. What an incredible live band! I find it interesting how many Hollies fans are also Move fans. The two bands are quite similar when you think about it; great harmonies, the best musicians in the business, great songwriters... It's a shame they both get overlooked. Both way better than the "second only to the Beatles" Rolling Stones, IMO...

[bruciebaby]

Cameron, Downriver...

I'd say you guys(?) - like me - are REALLY enjoying The Move's Live at the Fillmore West CD. Carl, Roy, and Rick all do a fantastic job, and Bev is clearly enjoying breaking in his new, New York-bought drum set!

[Gralto]

I had the latest Live CD in my hands in Melbourne when they recently toured here but didn't think to buy it. In hindsight, for completism, I should have picked it up but I thought copies were going to start appearing everywhere online. My mistake - the set has barely been sighted since.

[gee]

First I think the entire Hollies organisation needs a shake up !
 
- I find it all a bit 'third rate' in many ways...doing the band and their loyal followers no favors

They don't make the product(s) - either new or archive releases - that easily accessable to UK fans (cheques ?)  let alone the overseas fans, the official website is very quiet these days and could do with a complete modernisation &  overhaul, their official fanzine 'Carousel' (remember that anyone ?) appears to have 'died an unannounced death' of apparent dis-interest on the part of it's editors with longtime team members ignored &  left in the dark (!)

... while product wise we've had scant releases by the current line up and there doesn't seem to be much, if any,  interest in their classic back catalogue at the moment either - whatever happened re the Polydor seventies studio albums re-issue programme ?

Are EMI/Universal  'that bothered' anymore...?

I expect yet another same old  'Hits' compilation will undoubtably appear at some point, but I've heard the 'British Invasion' DVD sets (in general) were not big sellers so I don't honestly expect any follow up DVD picking their musical story up from 1969 onwards...a great shame as so much classic material and performances DO exist to justify any such DVD release....

No other current concert DVD sets either - odd as they apparently record all (or most) of the concert shows & I would have thought a DVD version of 'We Got The Tunes' surely ought to have followed the 2CD set ?

The Hollies organisation & EMI/Universal seems at best to be er 'Draggin' their heels' re releases for the fans worldwide and you get the impression that the key Hollies figures are simply 'not that bothered' while the record company seem to find little of interest re sales potential in the group too....
 (please DO prove me wrong Hollies Org & EMI/Universal !)

Re this 2CD set - I think Peter Howarth does a decent job, I agree he'd probably prefer to be singing live versions of HIS 'era' songs off the last two studio albums as opposed to songs so readily associated with The Great Allan Clarke (but then Mike Rickfors had exactly the same 'millstone' around his neck in 1972-73 when Mike no doubt would have much sooner sang say 'Touch' than 'Bus Stop' etc...)
 
- it was a bit different for Carl Wayne in that he joined at a point when The Hollies had become simply a 'nostalgia act' having NO new album for many years or one likely, and Carl unlike Mike or Peter WAS already an 'established' and famous figure that we all knew thus he took no 'getting used to' indeed he was in many ways a 'special guest star' fronting the band and keeping them going indeed restoring them (as a Live act certainly after Clarkey's sad vocal 'decline' in the last few years of the 90's) so Carl could far more easily 'escape' the shadow of 'Allan Clarke in his prime' and sing the songs HIS way alot more readily...

I have to say that, to me, I feel the real problem concerning the vocals isn't Peter Howarth...it's the high harmonies, Steve Lauri is a decent harmony singer & a fine lead singer & strong guitarist, but somehow his high harmonies don't 'soar' enough for me...he has a fine falsetto range of course , but high harmony singing is alot more than that, it's about 'wrapping your voice around the lead singer's vocal like a glove around a hand' remaining distinctive, completeing the top range of the vocal sound and yet never 'over dominating' the lead voice  - witness Clarke-Nash and Clarke-Sylvester (two of the best examples ever !)

...their vocal sound somehow just doesn't seem unified enough in concerts, and maybe Tony Hicks has some responsibility here too (?), Tony seems to be singing less harmonies now than before in shows I think...so perhaps they ought to make it FOUR part harmonies adding Ray Stiles harmony & backing vocals - remember Ray had heroically vocally 'underpinned' Clarke's lead vocals so well in latter concerts of the 90's to scant if any recognition - indeed Clarke's onstage little belittling 'digs' at Ray Stiles (- 'see 'im... he used to be a piece of Mud' etc ) were unforgivable given how much Clarkey was vocally relying on the bass player then. 

Remember also that Carl Wayne had 'Nash soundalike' Alan Coates (a VERY underrated and sadly seemingly largely 'forgotten' figure  in Hollies history who sang powering tight high harmonies for The band for about 18 years...) to complement Carl's lead voice combining so well on the high harmonies duly keeping it a 'very Hollies-ish' vocal sound, and the vocal team of 'Wayne-Hicks-Coates' did combine in a powerful unity.
 
I think it was notable earlier in the Clarke days when 'Coatsey' had a period off (when his first wife passed away) and Jamie Moses deputised on a tour of New Zealand that even with Allan Clarke & Tony Hicks present the live harmonies were noticeably not quite as 'together'  as the sound  with Alan Coates, and his return was most welcome restoring a tight vocal unity to the 'Hollies sound' in concerts & was very evident on their (sadly too few) records of that period  - listen to; 'Shine Silently', 'Stand By Me', 'Find Me A Family'....

Alan Coates was not on 'How Do I Survive' (not a great song in truth) so we only have scant 'Live' memories of Wayne-Hicks-Coates as a 'Hollies vocal sound' and I often do wonder how they might have been vocally if Alan Coates had REMAINED in the band when Peter Howarth took over following Carl's shock tragic passing....

I don't want to knock Steve Lauri who does a fine job for them & I think he's worth his place in the band, but for me the high harmonies simply don't 'soar' as they did with Alan Coates
 - let alone the classic halcyon days of messers Nash/Sylvester !!

The instrumental mix on this live album might be better too I agree and maybe a 'remix' might benefit the set IF it were to get an 'official' release (which so far seems unlikely)


While the classic 1965 hit version of 'Look Through Any Window' remains a much loved fav version, I must say I really enjoyed it the way "Lynyrd Skynyrd would have played it'' and modernising a couple of hits while keeping others faithful is fine by me, nice to see a few unexpected tracks too ('Stewball', 'Very Last Day')

- maybe one or two more of the  current group's album tracks ('She'd Kill For Me', 'One Touch', 'If You See Her' etc) and perhaps a few early seventies album tracks ('Long Dark Road', 'Slow Down', 'Blue in The Morning', Nearer To You', 'The Last Wind', 'Give Me Time',  'Crocodile Woman', '48 Hour Parole' etc) and the odd later sixties song like; 'Have You ever Loved Somebody' etc might be an idea...keeping the live show a bit more 'modern' overall

Indeed they could get away with 'resting' a few of the sixties very 'poppish' hits such as; 'Yes I Will', 'Jennifer Eccles', 'Sorry Suzanne' etc (which the Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester Hollies of the mid seventies had by then long dropped from the show on the first 'Hollies Live Hits' period), this might help wisely steer them away from being 'too overtly sixties nostalgic' a Pop group act....yes ?   

rumours abound re Bobby Elliott & Peter Howarth writing a new song together - surely Mr. Hicks ought to put pen to paper again for them too ?, while with Ray Stiles (a known songwriter) plus Steve Lauri & Ian Parker both I believe capable of composing surely they now could come up with an 'original' album's worth of songs..?
('She'd Kill For Me' was, in my view, easily the strongest and most creative/imaginative track the current Hollies band have recorded)

distancing themselves from Rob Davis type 'contemporary tunesmiths' might be wise & saying their 'own thing' on any possible future studio album would be their best move I feel

Meantime we can only wait & see, but re ANY 'Live' set the shadow of Clarke...plus Nash/Sylvester will always loom large as ANY version of 'The Hollies' are always obliged to sing the gist of '20 Golden Greats' hit songs...

[Stranger]

Aug 1, 2013 12:03:40 GMT gee said:

The Hollies organisation & EMI/Universal seems at best to be er 'Draggin' their heels' re releases for the fans worldwide and you get the impression that the key Hollies figures are simply 'not that bothered' while the record company seem to find little of interest re sales potential in the group too....
 (please DO prove me wrong Hollies Org & EMI/Universal !)

Gee, I was thinking about this the other day and I think as Hollies fans we have done very well lately.

Since I've been a Hollies fan we've had, off the top of my head:

The 2003 Boxset - Not mind blowing perhaps but with several rarities.
Circa 2004 Issues of the first four albums on two-fers. Not great ok, but in print at least.
Circas 2007/2008:
Romany
Hollies '74
Another Night
Buddy Holly
All with bonus tracks if nothing really new except maybe Papa Rain and a high quality Witchy Woman.
Dutch Collection w Hollies first offical DVD
2011: Clarke, Hicks, Nash Years with previously unreleased tracks and the Lewisham live stuff we thought would never come out.
Reeling In The Years DVD
2012: BBC Sessions CD

In other words I think we've done pretty well, nothing brilliant, maybe not consistent and stuff popping out in different Hollies but way more than, for example, Beach Boys fans have got (despite their vas untapped archive). We complained about no BBC CD for years as the absence of one made no sense but eventually we got it. Judging on the last ten years, we will almost certainly get more archival releases if we sit tight.

[gee]

Yes I had an involvment in a few of those releases !

The seventies albums re-issues series WAS meant to include Write On, Russian Roulette, A Crazy Steal etc ....with hopefully 'Out On The Road' IF everything could be 'cleared' for issue, but the re-issue programme then stalled half way without any explanation, which is frustrating for the fans

I know some people were annoyed that the BBC sessions set chopped off track intros too....this was not the case for Beatles, Manfred Mann, Small Faces, Moody Blues, Marmalade, Tremeloes, Family or Dr.Feelgood BBC tracks - be interesting to see if the forthcoming Badfinger BBC set is presented in full...?

Yes we've had a good few releases over that ten year period (despite alot of 'song duplication' on compilations, and the same albums getting repeated in different sets etc, which I and a good few other Hollies fans have found irritating) - tho' The Hollies of course had earlier gone from 1983 to 2006 without any new studio albums at all and just a  few re-issues ...besides the double album of 'All The Hits & More' and the 'Rarities' set of 1988 tho'  that album could have been stronger many Hollies people felt.

However there IS  scope for a decent 'Rarities 2' compilation, besides the umpteen 'hits' collections,  & a few vintage concerts from Lewisham Odeon 1968 IN FULL to some of the well recorded later Clarke 'still in good voice' shows with Alan Coates on high harmonies from the 80's and earlier 90's which WERE recorded by The Hollies Limited.

Comparing them & the releases schedule with, say, The Beach Boys in latter years is a bit uneven tho' - The Beach Boys as a united group effectively 'ceased' after the 1985 album (with Dennis Wilson already by then deceased), most significantly Brian Wilson was thereafter no longer a part of the band and following Carl Wilson's sad demise & Alan Jardine's exclusion no albums (or any current records) were likely to surface as the surviving BB members (besides Mike Love & Bruce Johnston) seemed to be in deep artistic & legal conflict - Brian & Mike in a battle over royalties etc...

...indeed their recent 50th reunion studio album, and concerts (with Brian back in the band) came as quite a surprised to many, with Brian's poignant closing song; 'Summer's Gone' apparently HIS 'drawing a line' under the concern even if Mike & Bruce haven't...

- at least The Hollies continued as an ongoing band releasing the odd singles with Allan Clarke up to 1993, then after 1999 first with Carl Wayne, then Peter Howarth & Steve Lauri joining the existing band which never officially broke up, thus The Hollies were in a far more 'unified' position to record a studio album than the fragmented & gradually diminished (by two deaths) six member Beach Boys group

Archive releases by The Beach Boys were thus the only likely thing to appear - the 'Live at Knebworth' CD/DVD being a prime example - tho' solo albums by Brian Wilson & latterly Alan Jardine plus the final album Carl Wilson did with America's Gerry Beckley & Chicago's Robert Lamm; 'Like A Brother' did provide at least a constant run of "Beach Boys related" releases of newer studio material in more recent years.

Plus there has been at least two  complete re-issue programmes of their sixties albums remastered on CD....both in  'mono & stereo' versions with bonus tracks, and as '2 on 1' CD, with 'Smile' finally released (both a later Brian Wilson solo version & the original BB sixties recordings version), and a true stereo mix of 'Pet Sounds' (both in a 'mono & stereo' CD version and the complete 'Pet Sounds Sessions' CD box set) , and even freshly remastered versions of the less well remembered (wrongly !) latter period albums such as; '20/20', 'Sunflower','Surfs Up','Carl & The Passions: So Tough', & 'Holland'...and even a 'Lost Concert' performance from 1963 on a TV show has been issued on DVD too, together with umpteen 'Very Best of..' 'Summer Dream', etc compilations of the hits, and the 'Endless Harmony' Docu which has been shown on UK (SKY Arts)  TV in two parts several times,  - most recently there has been a '50 Golden Greats' CD set, also the recent 'Live' album culled from 50th anniversary reunion concerts,  & even freebie Beach Boys CDs given away in UK papers (I have about four of those !), while a new box set 'Made in Claifornia' is due out in September per Amazon.

so maybe Beach Boys fans have actually had it pretty good  in terms of regular releases on CD & DVD...?

[cameron]

Gee, I think you've absolutely hit the nail on the head with everything that you've said! I agree completely about the weak vocal spread of the current line up. For me those, along with Peter's lead, make any "Hollies sound" nothing like their sound in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. It's almost as if they're a totally different band. At least Terry Sylvester was a competent replacement for Graham Nash and he could match Graham's soaring harmonies and the same goes for Alan Coates. The new line up sounds absolutely nothing like the Hollies. And people try to argue that it doesn't matter that they don't but it does matter. The Hollies tried so hard for 30 years despite various line up changes to retain their trademark sound and they did a very good job of it!

I'd like to see the Hollies get treated with some respect instead of being viewed as a "singles band" by EMI. A complete overhaul of their back catalogue is what's needed - in a similar vein to the recent Small Faces and Kinks remasters: remastered and expanded versions of their entire back catalogue. Sadly, the Hollies have an interesting contract whereby when a member leaves the band, they dissolve all involvement with "Hollies Ltd.". So Graham, Allan, Bernie, Terry etc... have NO say whatsoever in new releases or reissues. It is purely up to Hollies Ltd. to involve them and more often than not they choose not to. Bobby and Tony are only people who have any say in reissues and remasters and they both have very humble opinions of the band and don't push for new releases at all. Unlike, say, Graham Nash who is forever involved with new releases for CSN(&Y). Graham and Allan hinted, around the time of the LTAW DVD that they had meetings with Sony Music about the Hollies' back catalogue, with Allan stating: "It would be nice to get everything in one place". Sadly, I don't think that anything came of it.

I find it upsetting that no one at EMI seems to want to try hard with the Hollies. Even the lavish "Long Road Home" boxset had dodgy rushed mastering in places with some tracks not even being remastered- that's without getting started on the 2011 remasters for the "Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years" boxset in 2011! Look at all the Beatles' material we have? All their studio albums, three Anthologies with rarities and session takes (I'd love to produce something like that for the Hollies - tied together with studio chatter), a BBC boxset (without any clipping!), a 'mashup' CD ("Love") and the 1999 "Yellow Submarine" CD with new mixes produced from the session tapes which sound stunning! I get the Beatles' significance, but back in the 1960's, the Hollies were second best! You can't even buy half of their back catalogue as most of it is out of print (and extraordinarily expensive) or wasn't even issued in the first place!

Someone needs to take over. Like you say, the website is poor, the fanclub has effectively abandoned the fans and EMI doesn't take the Hollies seriously. They deserve so much better! I just hope that someone who has the power to make a change makes it soon!

[gee]

you make some valid points there Cameron

A)  The 'Current Hollies':
 
- I'm not 'over critical' of them as they ARE a decent live band and there are good songs on both their studio albums ('Staying Power' songs like 'Weakness' sounding far stronger done 'Live' with Bobby's drums not drum programming etc) while acoustic 'unplugged' versions of the songs  'Emotions' and 'So Damn Beautiful' as were performed on UK Radio show 'Drive Time' sounded alot fresher and less 'eighties pop-ish' too...

At least they keep the group's 'flag flying' & entertain the public, so I don't knock them, Peter Howarth has a strong voice but of course it's NOTHING like The Great Allan Clarke's voice 'was'  (sadly that classic voice was a reduced to a mere shadow of it's former glory by 1999)

But then Mike Rickfors (vocally closer to Scott Walker ) & Carl Wayne superb singer tho' both they are/were sounded NOTHING like Clarkey (or did they ever try to  to be) either 

Allan Clarke was a 'one off' Lead singer and his harmonies with messers Nash, Sylvester...and Coates were superb and comprised the undoubted  'Classic Hollies' (Peter Howarth has openly said that) - The 'Rickfors Hollies' were a great band (& very underrated ) but were really a totally 'different animal' to the famous  'Clarke led Hollies' (as were say 'Marvin, Welch, & Farrar' compared to 'parent group'  The Shadows) while we sadly never really got to properly hear the 'Carl Wayne fronted Hollies' on record but they too were 'another animal' as are the current Hollies band & each other version of The Hollies have their merits.

So the 'Classic Hollies' are Clarke with Nash/Sylvester/Coates who between them had 99% of the chart singles hits from 'Just Like Me' to 'The Woman I Love' but were probably somewhat 'eclipsed' by their own consistant and so easily memorable singles hits to the point, as you say, that EMI (& maybe Bobby & Tony too) came to see them as essentially a 'classic pop group' who specialised in hit singles - thus after 1974 when the UK singles 'dried up' they were (most unfairly) seen as 'has beens' despite always having made superior albums in each line up between 1964 and 1974 (and later too).

Their lack of 'public persona' (besides Nash) - or interest in it (Clarke, Hicks, Elliott all notably 'quieter guys' much preferring anonymity it appears) - duly counted further against them thus making it easy for them to slip from wider public view (I recall Clarke moaning about 'being recognised again' when 'He Ain't Heavy' was no.1 in 1988 - while The Searchers said they'd be 'over the moon' for a number one single again !! - which says alot)

So I'm of the view the current band are worthwhile & do some good material but of course they are not 'Classic Hollies' (& they know it) - while  in the concerts I guess they are largely a 'tribute band' re the Clarke (& Rickfors) songs, and I think over time they need to include maybe three more of their songs & drop a few very 'poppy' sixties songs (as the Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester Hollies already had by 1976). I do  hope they do some more studio albums as we need decent bands these days, plus anything they do does increase interest in all things 'Hollies' that must boost chances re archive releases of the 'Classic Hollies' (as say a 'new' James Bond film keeps up interest in the Bond film series overall...)

B) The 'Classic Hollies':

- well it's true EMI only seemed to ever see them as a 'singles band' - even in the sixties their fine album catalogue was always under promoted & EMI never spotted The Everlys did effectively a 'Hollies tribute' album as early as 1966 ('Two Yanks'), while notably only the singles collection 'Hollies' Greatest' in 1968 was properly 'plugged' (reaching no.1)

'20 Golden Greats' (no.2) in 1978 probably enshrined that 'singles band' attitude in the minds of EMI and I think (as with other bands like Beach Boys, Shadows, Kinks etc) turned them into a 'nostalgia act' (latterly acts like Paul McCartney, The Moody Blues, etc too) but for The Hollies it meant they were never seen by EMI as much beyond that (Polydor had also taken that attitude too in the seventies never properly plugging any albums besides 'Live Hits' which made no.4)

EMI have re-issued Hollies albums of course, and we have had various collections like the box sets etc, BUT none were promoted that much, and, as you said Cameron, the tracks were either not remastered or it wasn't done that well (or expensively) while a few tracks ('I Can't Tell The Bottom..', 'King Midas') have even been needlessly  'fiddled about with' upsetting alot of fans...

So what is required ?

A suggestion:

1) A complete overhaul of the entire back catalogue (stereo and mono versions) with decent remastering, and maybe the 'centralising' of the vocals on the stereo mixes of; 'In The Hollies Style','Hollies (1965),'Would You Believe ?' & 'Evolution' plus other tracks (even 'Sorry Suzanne' from 1969) with 'cleaning up' where required & a decent new mix of 'Evolution' (which always sounded somewhat 'fuzzy').

2) A completed 're-issue' programme of their albums, including the (now rare) mono version of 'Hollies Sing Dylan' PMC 7078, plus 'Out on The Road' finally getting a CD release (plus the relevant studio & any 'Live' period tracks added as 'bonus' tracks) including notable varations such as the Japanese 'Butterfly' and the USA 'Romany' mixes etc, complete with relevant period 'bonus' tracks.

3) A decent 'Rarities' compilation of studio recordings, possibly in a series of releases covering the sixties, seventies, & latter years put in chronological order, consisting of rare studio tracks, rarer alternate versions (from say; 'Just One Look' to 'Try it' to 'Curly Billy' & later, including rarer 'single edits' like USA 'Survival of the Fittest' in mono etc) , useable unissued tracks, rare stereo mixes of 'B' sides previously only issued in mono, and even those rarer mono versions of certain songs ('Mad Professor Blyth' etc), including the handful of released studio tracks STILL never issued in the UK such as; 'Your Eyes' (7 inch & extended 12 inch versions) , 'Nothing Else But love', 'For What it's Worth ('I'm Sorry)' etc...plus the rare (to overseas fans) studio version of; 'Purple Rain' and songs such as 'Naomi', 'Two Shadows' etc.

4) A good 'Hollies Live' CD box set in chronological order including concerts & TV specials soundtracks - the December 1966 Stockholm Sweden concert (all surviving tracks put in correct sequence), the May 1968 Lewisham Odeon concert (in full), soundtrack of the BBC televised February 1969 Hippodrome concert (with Terry Sylvester), the ITV 'Concert Special circa 1976 (with Pete Wingfield on keyboards), plus later concerts recorded by The Hollies Limited such as; Mainz, Germany 1982 in full, at The Magnum Centre Irvine, Scotland ( with Alan Coates) plus the New Zealand & Australia TV show & concert recordings, also a FULL concert decent remix of 'Hollies Live Hits' (including 'Boulder To Birmingham' & 'Amazing Grace') and the Full concert of 'Reunion' /'Archive Alive' Kings Head Park 1984 concert with Graham Nash plus any other vintage and later decent 'Live' recordings such as 'On A Carousel', 'Blowin' in The Wind' (1969 with Terry Sylvester), the 1991 'live' version of 'Another Night' with Alan Coates (issued by EMI Germany)  and any later live tracks with Carl Wayne, etc...

5) A 'Hollies on the Radio' remastered box set including ALL useable BBC recordings (a properly restored 'Reelin' & Rockin' etc) including 'missing' tracks such as 'King Midas', 'Pegasus', 'Bus Stop' etc not included on 'Radio Fun'- with all intros & relevant 'chatter' left on (!), including latter era songs on a final disc with other commercial radio tracks (such as those Peter, Tony & Ray did for 'Drive Time' including an acoutic version of 'Emotions' etc)

6) A Hollies DVD set covering any 'Nash era' songs not on LTAW (1964 NME Poll Winners Concert; 'Too Much Monkey Business', French TV;  'Have You Ever Loved Somebody', 1967 USA TV 'Smothers Brothers Show' colour 'Carrie Anne',  1968 BBC TV  'Bobbie Gentry show' colour 'Blowin' in the Wind' etc) , plus 1969 onwards surviving songs footage 'Sylvester era' onwards, rarer Overseas TV shows ('Midnight Special' etc)

while their official website could do with a modernisation (losing that ghastly lurid pink look !), and PROPER PR for the band....plus some REAL interest both in the current group recordings wise, and of course for the 'Classic Hollies' re archive releases by EMI/Universal...

These would at least give The Hollies the proper recognition the band deserves....in a perfect world !

but of course all this COSTS....


so I assume that we can realistically expect....another 'hits compilation' !

[cameron]

I always describe the current line up as a "tribute band" but often get shouted down for it! I suppose they're not that bad, at least they try and keep the Hollies' name going. I didn't much care for "Staying Power" but I do quite like "Then, Now, Always". It's just, like you originally said, the harmonies are nothing like they used to be, which for me, makes me lose interest in them.

I agree with all six points you raise about what to do with the Hollies' legacy:

1) I think they should be issued as 'deluxe editions' with two or three discs each for stereo and mono mixes + the appropriate singles and rare tracks recorded in the sessions for any given album. I think "Evolution" could certainly do with a sonic overhaul. It's one of my favourite albums of all time and can you imagine how good it would sound with some decent mastering and a new stereo mix?!

2) It would be great to finally be able to get everything in one place. Currently you have to find their albums from all kinds of sources. For someone like me who wasn't around at the time, this can be a very laborious and expensive process! I actually find it easier to buy the original vinyl! I doubt that "Out On The Road" will get released. There's all kinds of rumours, but the main reason is that there are a few legal wrangles regarding songwriting credits and royalties. I doubt that Hollies Ltd. could be bothered to sort these out. Shame really as I believe if that album was released tomorrow by any other band, it would still chart even today!

3) This would be great too. Perhaps a rarities boxset like the infamous Small Faces one that's been due for about three years, which by the way, will be released this September everywhere in the world EXCEPT the UK!!

4) I always got the impression that the Lewisham Odeon concert was a condensed version. There's only eight tracks and albums averaged 12-14 at the time and also there's very little 'banter' between songs. Perhaps they had been told to cut their chatter down so that all the tracks would fit on the record? But do you know what tracks are still to come? I know they did "Blowin In The Wind", "Stewball" and "Puff The Magic Dragon" around that period and I can see that EMI wouldn't have wanted to afford or pursue the songwriting credits back in 2011 for a 'budget' compilation. There are actually quite a few professionally recorded and unreleased concerts that could be used - namely the 1970 "Don't Get Sunburnt!" tour and also another concert from 1971 - both of which were filmed and survive in the Reelin In The Years archives. I also can't imagine that they went from 1963-1974 without recording some of their own concerts too. Bobby mentioned in an interview to promote Radio Fun" that he recorded some of the very early Hollies live shows on his mum's reel to reel tape recorder, albeit in bad quality. But to say that the Hollies were all recording enthusiasts (especially Nash who always carried a portable reel to reel on tour) it seems likely that they would have surely recorded some live shows?

5) This would be most welcome too. All of these survive on transcription discs and a few more besides on amateur home recordings done at the time. Proper remastering is needed though unlike the haphazard job done on "Radio Fun". I know that some collectors even know at which BBC studios all of the Hollies' BBC tracks were recorded at! So there's chance surely for a detailed booklet to accompany it.

6) EMI could make a DVD like this purely from Reel In The Years' archives - they have some tremendous stuff!

And that website - it looks so amateur compared to the websites for the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who, Kinks, Small Faces etc... It SERIOUSLY needs an overhaul.

But you're right, why would EMI spend so much money on a band that they think aren't that popular? I guess they don't work on the theory that the Hollies aren't popular because you can hardly officially buy their music anywhere!

[gee]

Sadly it seems EMI NEVER had that much faith or interest in The Hollies, even back in their 'heyday' EMI considered them LESS than The Beatles or Cliff & The Shadows - even Dave Clark got a 'free hand' to produce his group over at Lansdowne studios (under the nominal overview of EMI Staff Engineer Adrian Kerridge)

The Hollies were allocated staff producer Ron Richards who on the one hand 'taught them a hell of a lot' (per Allan Clarke) but was very "regimented" & 'set in his ways' (unlike either George Martin or even the older but receptive Norrie Paramor) - the fact The Hollies worked so quickly was both in their favour...but may also have counted against them in the long run as EMI must have considered them 'workmanlike' & a reliable band who could 'bash out a hit record fast'...then 'off to the pub !' (hence George Harrison wrongly, but possibly understandably, thinking they were 'souless sessionmen')


so no one ever seemed to give them much deeper artistic credit, they were 'taken for granted' both by the public and within the music industry itself, acknowledged as being 'masters of their craft' but NOT really anything deeper beyond it (hence Micke Most's 'dartboard' remark to Graham Nash later...)

EMI never really 'plugged' any of  the sixties studio albums properly, despite 'Stay With...' making number TWO in 1964 (even tho' in 1967 Radio Caroline made 'Evolution' their 'album of the week' - something Radio One D.J. Noel Edmonds later did in 1976 with 'Write On' !)

Ironic but probably them NOT including a hit single on 'In The Hollies Style' later that year might have worked against them at a key point ('Just One Look' perhaps ought to have closed the set with perhaps 'Come on Back' added to side one ?) - for a mere twelve shortish tracks (unlike say The Beatles FOURTEEN  on their second album) & no hit single included might have been a key factor in the album then not charting (??)

...and 'Ransford' pen name was another unwise (& silly ) move duly hiding from the wider public their 'in house' songwriting team...!

so even at their heyday they were making bad errors & EMI were NOT properly pushing them - you rarely saw any Hollies albums on the EMI innersleeves of the sixties (just 'For Certain Because...' in 1966 & finally 'Hollies' Greatest' in late 1968 as Nash's exit was announced)

- 'Butterfly' was on a singles sleeve but NEITHER 'Evolution' or 'Butterfly' were on the important 1967 album  innersleeve...unlike the two 'new' EMI acts; The Pink Floyd ('Piper..') & Simon Dupree & The Big Sound ('Without Reservations') who at that time even had NO hit single (as 'Kites' came just after)

...these new acts were both featured plus favs such as:  Jimmy Shand & his accordion ('Step We Galey' !),'Songs of The Greek Islands', & 'The Ivor Novello Dancing Years'...plus The Black & White Minstrels' etc....but NO Hollies albums...!

which tells us how much EMI really rated The Hollies circa 1967 (I suspect their ground breaking 'leasing back..' deal of 1966 - hence 'A Hollies recording' - might have annoyed EMI somewhat..?)

whatever, they had less backing from EMI during their heyday as a hit making & album producing band ...so we can't be surprised that later on the desire from EMI isn't what we might hope for...

 
maybe The Hollies Limited ought to take action to HALT the releases by Magic records too - they put out some very 'substandard' quality CDs and now really the DAFTEST compilations

- 'Little Names' is a recent one consisting of Hollies songs with...you guessed it 'names' in the titles ('Dear Eloise', 'Jennifer Eccles, 'Charlie And Fred' etc) - not very inspiring for the group's reputation....

[dirtyfaz]

How does all this fit now that Warners own Parlophone?
I guess when Hollies Ltd was formed the Hollies owned their own material but is that actually the case?
The cost of reissuing just the Hollies catalogue properly would be enormous and I guess as record companies are in the business of making money, they would feel they can't justify that kind of expense for the return they would get.
Gee, you mention the Japanese Butterfly and the US mix of Romany. Maybe you could start a new thread and set out what you know are the differences in those 2 LPs. I would be interested to know. I don't hear any real differences in Romany.
Both Gee and Cameron have many good points in this thread. Reality tells me that even though there is much that can be release it won't happen so all we can do is dream and if we have the tracks then maybe share.

[gee]

Yes the question of 'feasibility' cost wise is the big problem...


 I'm not sure where The Hollies stand re EMI/Warners now, I think they are still signed up but we know EMI gave zilch promotion to the last two studio albums, and scant attention to TLRH box set or even 'Clarke, Hicks, Nash Years', so whether Warners will be bothered re finishing off the stalled seventies albums re-issue programme or then doing anything further beyond, I assume, releasing yet another 'Hits' compilation only time will tell...

(there's no sign  of 'We Got The Tues' ever getting an official release by EMI/Warners so far...)

A guy on another forum (a general music one) told me he understood 'LTAW' DVD (and the entire 'British Invasion' series of DVD sets) had actually sold poorly thus no further releases (Manfred Mann, The Pretty Things, etc) were planned in the forseeable future (shame !)

- how accurate his comments were I can't be sure...

My old LPs of Butterfly & Romany are stored away at the mo & I can't readily access them for the time being but from memory the Japanese version of 'Butterfly' is devoid of the sound effects on several tracks & seems to have an alternate 'mix'

The USA version of 'Romany' opens with 'Magic Woman Touch' & this song has 'swapped places' with 'Won't You (we) Feel Good...' plus the American LP version does not feature 'Lizzy and the Rainman' and generally sounds somewhat crisper & 'punchier' on the electric tracks...

one seldom mentioned rarer version was of 'Dear Eloise' on the German Polydor 'Pop Heroes' complation - the only 'Nash era' song (EMI recording surely ?) on that seventies 'Clarke-Sylvester' era set - it opens as per the stereo UK version but at the end where on the UK stereo version Nash comes in on the outro 'during the fadeout' (and at the end of the fadeout in mono) on this German version we get the full fadeout...then the FULL harmonium intro again prior to Nash's vocal - as per the start - as if they have edited the stereo intro in full onto the ending....

a small point but I think I've only heard that stereo version of 'Dear Eloise' on that German Polydor album....