The Hollies Hollies Sing Hollies (CD, Parlophone Records, 1969) ***
The Hollies Confessions of the Mind (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1970) ****
The Hollies Distant Light (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1971) ***
The Hollies Romany (Vinyl, Epic Records, 1972) ***
The Hollies Another Night (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1975) *****
The Hollies Write On (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1975) ****
The Hollies A Crazy Steal (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1978) ***
The Hollies Five Three One - Double Seven O Four (Vinyl, Parlophone Records, 1979) **
The Hollies What Goes Around... (Vinyl, Atlantic Records, 1983) **
The Hollies Then, Now, Always (CD, EMI Records, 2010) **
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: If you thought the album name variations would cease post 1968, think again. The American/ Canadian versions again had different names and/or different track listings throughout the seventies.
The record itself is something of a regression back to cover songs. The style of the covers is at times weird too - a jaunty When the Ship Comes In anyone? A cabaret style Blowin' In the Wind? That said, it's not a bad album at all - just a bit of a strange one. Nash had left, so this was Terry Sylvester's first album as one of The Hollies.
The American version was again in a different format. This one was titled He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, to cash in the successful single, and with a different cover photo.
Confessions of the Mind (released bizarrely in America as Moving Finger with a different track sequence) was their tenth album. It's a return to the simpler style used at times on Butterfly/ Evolution with Tony Hicks' guitars to the fore on many tracks. The trademark harmony vocals are terrific throughout as well. Isn't it Nice is a great example of this more relaxed sound.
Allan Clarke left the band briefly to launch a solo career. The album he recorded (My Real Name is 'Arold) was okay but not great so he returned to The Hollies in time for their album after Romany.
Another Night was the second album of the new Allan Clarke era. It features all original songs apart from a superb Springsteen cover. Those original songs finally present another coherent picture of the band in the seventies. There are some top songs like the title track, I'm Down, Give Me Time and Lonely Hobo Lullabye.
The follow up was the nearly as strong Write On. All of The Hollies distinctive tropes are on display - Tony Hicks' guitar prowess (always serves the song), tuneful songs/ melodies, Allan Clarke's distinctive lead vocal, and those Hollies harmonies. Highlights: Star; Write On; Sweet Country Calling.
Boulder to Birmingham, a cover of the Emmylou Harris song, was a standout but the whole album had strong material by the Clarke/ Hicks/ Sylvester writing team.
It's a downbeat kind of a record, aside from the poppy opening track - Say It Ain't So Jo. It sounds a little perfunctory - as if the band is going through the motions a bit. Uninspired in a word. Allan Clarke had briefly left again after A Crazy Steal, but was back again - so that may explain the mood on the album.
By 1983 the three remaining Hollies invited Graham Nash back for some sessions and What Goes Around... was the result. It turned into a meh album as there are no original songs by band members and the heavy synth sound lodges the album firmly into 1983. The one bright spot is their terrific cover of Stop In The Name Of Love.
Genre: Pop
Places I remember: Vinyl Countdown, HMV, Real Groovy Records, Amoeba Music.
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Too Young To Be Married (Confessions of the Mind)
Gear costume: Lonely Hobo Lullabye (Another Night)
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Too Young To Be Married (Confessions of the Mind)
Gear costume: Lonely Hobo Lullabye (Another Night)
Active compensatory factors: If you thought the album name variations would cease post 1968, think again. The American/ Canadian versions again had different names and/or different track listings throughout the seventies.
Hollies Sing Dylan was renamed Words and Music by Bob Dylan in America. Bizarre. What? - did they think Americans didn't know who Dylan was?
Hollies Sing Hollies was a clever, re-centering title for this second album of 1969. The cover image bizarrely returns the band to a pre-psychedelic look with the matchy matchy outfits and Allan's hand is in a really awkward place. What were they thinking? Compare the cover to Crosby Stills Nash - also of 1969!
It's not an altogether convincing reboot for The Hollies post Nash. It still feels like they are looking for a direction to go in.
My favourite track is Marigold/ Gloria Swansong which is a folk-rock opus that works for me. They don't try too hard and the more relaxed pace suits them and Allan Clarke's distinctive voice. The lighter pop rock songs like You Love 'Cos You Like It are pleasant but this wasn't a sustainable sound as the sixties ended.
Distant Light saw the band in something of a holding pattern. Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress was a palpable hit but the rest of the album is good without being great. It is going for a rockier approach but doesn't fully commit. For once - a great cover though.
Romany instead has a new vocalist - Swedish singer Mikael Rickfors. He does an okay job, but The Hollies without Allan Clarke? Not the same distinctive Hollies sound. That said, the beefed up guitar sound is welcome, Magic Woman Touch is a good pop single, and the songs are good attempts at modern rock. It's a solid album - certainly not an embarrassment without Clarke on board.
Actually, it's a pretty awesome collection. AllMusic summed up the songs well as 'the group's best body of rock songs ever, almost all solidly memorable, beautifully hook-laden numbers, harmony-driven but mostly not as soft as past releases often were. And while the harmonies were impeccable, the songs they were part of usually kept a great beat or solid rocking guitar (mostly courtesy of Tony Hicks')'.
A Crazy Steal was another solid seventies album by the band - membership intact at this stage. Again, it was an album that was well received in New Zealand - we never lost our love affair with The Hollies.
The weirdly titled Five Three One - Double Seven O Four was their 19th studio album (UK's versions that is). The awkward title is the band's name upside down in digital number view (it would appear like this: hOLLIES or 5317704). Mostly terrible covers were a feature of the band throughout their career.
Another covers album came out next, in 1980. This time focusing on Buddy Holly. I've never seen it for sale anywhere and I'm not that enthusiastically inclined to find it. The band drifted apart in 1981, with Sylvester and Calvert leaving the band.
The final studio album on my list is one from 2009 - 2010. By this time Allan Clarke was replaced by Peter Howarth. Bobby and Tony Hicks were still on board. Then, Now, Always is an okay pop/rock album, but, like Romany, it doesn't really sound like The Hollies.
Where do they all belong? Missing albums from the post Nash era: Out on the Road (1973) - a second album with Rickfors; Hollies (1974) - first album of Clarke's return; Russian Roulette (1976).
Next up - Live albums.
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