Hollies Greatest Hits Re-masters

Not ever having owned any Hollies CDs, albums, or 45s, aside from what I have on compilation CDs, can anyone tell me which CD gets the closest to the sound of the US 45s? I don't care if they are bad-sounding, i'm just looking for the closest thing I can get to what I heard as a child on top 40 radio.

 

Who knows. Maybe it's a typo on the site Chip is looking. Maybe EMI put it back into print or something at that time. Who knows?!

Same catalog number, though...

 

It depends on what period you're talking about when you say US 45's. The early Epic stuff, as far as the mono 45's go, were a "unique" experience unto their own as far as fidelity goes (the LP's too) with US Epic adding their own brand of "mischief" to the tapes - much as they did for the DC5 stuff. Mega-compression and bizarre EQ'ing for the mono 45's; some of the stereo LP stuff bathed in reverb or echo. Also, mono stereo differences abound to begin with. Graham' s'"King Midas" lead vocal is single-tracked on the virgin mono mix . The US edits are often unique too - the "B" sides of "Try It" and "Elevated Observations" come to mind. Probably your best bet currrently for getting some mono (though they won't sound exactly like the 45's as per above) for the Epic, and earlier "Imperial hits", is the new "Classic Masters" collection which has "Look Through Any Window", "Just One Look", "Pay You Back With Interest" "Bus Stop", and "Carrie Anne" in their mono mixes. Again, they woun't sound exactly like the futzed with Epic stuff...but they're mono (and we KNOW you like that...right!). It's mastered by Ron Mc Master and Andrew Sandoval.

If youre more ambitious and want everything early in mono - you could always pick up the first two (of three) Peter Mew mastered volumes of the import 'Hollies at Abbey Road Series'. All the hits up through 1970 are in mono. Again though, they really won't completely match the "sound" of your US 45's (in this case...for more reasons than the obvious!).

Was this any help?

 

Also, I'll add that the See For Miles " EP Collection" collects everything in mono, save for one song (with a few of the hits your looking for - showing up there too).

 

Uh, I think i'll pick up the new Classic masters and hunt for all of their old Epic singles.

 

Speaking of the Hollies, is anyone familiar with a 2 CD issue from Sony Music Special Products that just says "The Hollies- 2 CD Set"? It has all the major hits & I've enjoyed it for years, but I'm curious after reading this thread, how it stands up (if at all) against the GH collections mentioned...

 

Does anyone have any comments on the Sundazed Hollies releases ?

 

All three releases are mastered by Bob Irwin (by himself) and are based on the US "versions" They are then padded out with bonus cuts to include what was on the the original UK counterparts, as well as some singles and b sides.

Interestingly, for some of the bonus cuts ("Do The Best You Can"), Irwin went with the Furmanek stereo remix. On others ("Open Up Your Eyes"), he went with the mono original.

For the record, the US release titles are listed here, followed by their UK counterparts for reference:

"Evolution" = "Evolution" (but the UK had more/different tracks, the US had "Carrie Anne" single A side , etc.)

"Dear Eloise/King Midas In Reverse"= "Butterfly" - again, the UK lineup had different/ more tracks. To make things even more confusing, "Leave Me" which was released on the US DE/KMIR, was actually on the UK version of "Evolution".

"Moving Finger"="Confessions of the Mind" - roughly the same scenario as above ("Marigold Gloria Swansong" was actually on the UK album "Hollies Sing Hollies").


Also, at one point in time, from what I was told Sundazed planned on releasing the US "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" album (UK counterpart "Hollies Sing Hollies") too. But, that still hasn't come to be.