It's only make believe (The Hollies) (LP 4354 - 4361)

The Hollies Stay With The Hollies (CD, Parlophone Records, 1964) ***  

The Hollies In The Hollies Style (CD, Parlophone Records, 1964) ****  

The Hollies Reflections (Vinyl, EMI/ Regal Starline Records, 1969 originally released as Hollies 1965) ****  

The Hollies For Certain Because (Vinyl, EMI/ World Record Club Records, 1965) **** 

The Hollies Stop! Stop! Stop! (Vinyl, EMI/ Starline Records, 1967) **** 

The Hollies Pay You Back With Interest (Vinyl, Liberty Records, 1967) **** 

The Hollies Evolution (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1967) ***** 

The Hollies Butterfly (CD, Epic Records, 1967) ****

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: HMV, For the Record, Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Pay You Back With Interest (For Certain Because) 

Gear costume: Dear Eloise (Butterfly)

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors:For this edition, I'll concentrate on the Graham Nash years, so 1963 to1968.

 Stay With The Hollies is their debut album. As with The Beatles, the American and Canadian releases went by different names and track listings which adds to the confusion. In America this was called Here I Go Again. There are also multiple versions including either stereo or mono. As I said, in the first post on The Hollies - it's a nightmare.

Again, as per the fashion of the day, the album features covers of well-known R&B songs. Talkin' Bout You was also done by The Rolling Stones (with Jagger's menace a feature - whereas The Hollies version is squeaky clean), and Mr. Moonlight was also covered by The Beatles.

Ron Richards, an assistant to George Martin. was the producer on early Hollies' albums. In the wake of The Beatles' success, he'd visited Liverpool and seen The Hollies (actually from a short drive away in Manchester) at The Cavern. He signed them up to Parlophone - so EMI had two cracking hit makers - the fabs and The Hollies.

The essential point of differences to the fabs (and others) are the vocal sound that Clarke, Hicks, and Nash eventually made together and the original songs were slower to emerge from The Hollies. On the debut they include only one original song and that vocal blend was yet to fully emerge, but the signs were good and it was a commercial success.

In The Hollies Style, also from 1964, included some covers as well, but also had seven of the twelve songs written by the band. The vocal style had now locked in as well, so the growth in the band in ten months was tremendous. Weirdly this second album wasn't released in America at the time.

Reflections was the first album I bought with my own money in 1970. It appeared on the EMI budget label - Starline, and for decades (until just now in fact) I'd always presumed it was a compilation. But no! It was a released version of their album from 1965, then called Hollies (a.k.a. Hollies '65). The reissue was in stereo, whereas the original was in mono. To add to the confusion, it was released in America as Here! Here!

That will explain why it felt dated to me in 1970 (The Beatles Hey Jude album was also a new record - a Christmas present). When I put it on now, I am immediately transported back to my bedroom at 18 Korma Ave., in Auckland.

There were still quite a few covers on Reflections - Lawdy Miss Claudy and Fortune Teller notably, but also a number of Hollies compositions (under their Ransford pretend name). These also dated it but made it cool to me in 1970.

For Certain Because was their second album of 1966 (I don't have the first - Would You Believe?). In America it was called Stop! Stop! Stop! It also appears under the reissued title Pay You Back With Interest on the Liberty label.

 

My copy is from The World Record Club and comes in a different cover as pictured above. I do hope you're keeping up!

All these changes certainly caught me out - I bought all three albums at various times, thinking I was buying different albums!

Whatever it's called and whatever terrible sleeve design is used, the songs show a new level of depth and an interest in diversifying their sound. The folk-rock sound on some songs is welcomed, but I'm less inclined towards the big production numbers with brass and a whiff of cabaret about them. Of note is the fact that, for the first time, there are no covers on the album.

My copy of their sixth album - Evolution, also of 1967, is an American one. By a small miracle, it was also called Evolution, but the tracks were different to the UK version (of course they were).

Although there were no hits on this album (Carrie Anne was only released as a single in America), only original Hollies songs on this one too.  

It's a terrific album from start to finish with a unity or purpose that had alluded them to this point.

Staying in 1967, the follow up, Butterfly, was the last to have Graham Nash on it, and he left on a high (pardon the pun). In the US and Canada, Epic Records released an alternate version of the album as Dear Eloise / King Midas in Reverse , featuring a different track selection/order and alternate artwork. So - no change there, then.

Where do they all belong? I'm not really a completist for The Hollies - I don't want to collect all the variations out there, but I am missing one key record from this period: Would You Believe? (1966) a.k.a. Bus Stop as it was called overseas. Next up - the Terry Sylvester years.

Here I go again (The Hollies) (LP 4348 - 4353)

The Hollies  The Hollies at Abbey Road 1963 to 1966 (CD, EMI Records, 1997) *****  

The Hollies  The Hollies at Abbey Road 1966 to 1970 (CD, EMI Records, 1998) *****  

The Hollies  The Hollies at Abbey Road 1973 to 1989 (CD, EMI Records, 1998) *****  

The Hollies  He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (CD, EMI Records, 1992) ****

The Hollies  The Air That I Breathe: The Very Best of The Hollies (CD, EMI Records, 1993) ****

The Hollies  The Hollies (Vinyl, EMI/ Regal Records, 1992) ****

Genre: Pop 

Places I remember: Remainder store in Onehunga Mall, Real Groovy Records.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Look Through Any Window

Gear costume: Hey Willy 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7

Active compensatory factors: The Hollies discography is a nightmare. 

There are so many compilations, so many various versions of the albums for various markets. So many repackaged budget albums. It's a nightmare.

It's such a mess, I'll need to split my Hollies collection into various sections and in a break with tradition I'm actually going to start with compilations so that we have some sort of chronological overview to kick us off.

The three albums released in the late nineties do a great job doing that by journeying from 1963 to 1989. 

The big songs are all there, but so are the lesser-known songs from B sides and deep album cuts. There are even songs that have been previously unissued. 

All of that, plus terrific liner notes about each song makes these three albums must haves to get a clear picture of the band's studio work.

The judicious inclusion of studio banter and false starts only add to the archeological thrill of following their progress from Everly Brothers/Beatles wannabes to that signature Hollies sound.

The first volume shows the Graham Nash/ Allan Clarke harmonies developing in leaps and bounds - what a combination of great voices! Apart from Nash and Clarke, the band in these early sixties up to 1966 was Tony Hicks (lead guitar), Bobby Elliott (drums) and Eric Haydock (bass).   

Highlights from 1963 to 1966: Just One Look; I'm Alive; Look Through Any Window; Bus Stop; Stop, Stop, Stop.

Volume 2 sees the departure of Haydock and the introduction of Bernie Calvert. He'd remain one of the Hollies until the eighties. Graham Nash remained until 1968 and then left to join Crosby and Stills in America. Terry Sylvester would replace him.

The hits kept on coming during this period of 1966 to 1970. Highlights: Pay You Back With Interest; On A Carousel; Carrie Anne; He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother; Gasoline Alley Bred.

Volume 3 is from 1973 to 1989. Allan had left the band and rejoined in 1973 (The Hollies kept going with a replacement -Mikael Rikfors, during the interlude). So, this album continues with the stable line-up of Clarke, Hicks, Elliott, Calvert, and Sylvester. That is until the eighties when the band becomes a trio of Clarke, Hicks, and Elliott.

Highlights: The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee; The Air That I Breathe; 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).

I've mentioned before how I love budget compilations. I have two of those for The Hollies. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother is a 20 track compilation which ranges all over their catalogue in a non-chronological way. It's wonderfully chaotic.

The Air That I Breathe: The Very Best of The Hollies (love the random tree on the cover) is a 26 track compilation. This one has Hey Willy on it - my first single purchase ever. The album has pretty much all you need of the hits and near misses.

The Hollies compiles songs from 1964 to 1966.

Where do they all belong? The Air That I Breathe: The Very Best of The Hollies has 26 great songs - value for money and a great place to start if you wanting an overview.