The Hollies: The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years track by track discussion thread

No, not at all. The point of my earlier post is that the opportunities for UK listeners to hear rock 'n' roll (including R&B) on the radio were rather severely limited until the Pirate stations had their relatively brief run. By contrast, in the US, you had literally thousands of different radio stations playing this music full-time by the dawn of the 1960s.

I know that The Drifters had a few more hits in the UK after their run had dried up here in the States, but I believe they're the exception.

Well this was also true in the States. A typical rock radio station's playlist in the 1960s would also include more pop-oriented, adult artists (e.g., Petula Clark, Dean Martin…even Frank Sinatra had a resurgence on the Reprise label in the 1960s). These acts would co-exist, but rock was still the most dominant style heard.

 

Zip a Dee Doo Dah (Song of the South)

Despite sounding good on this, this just does not work at all turning it into a Beat song.

1.5/5

 

Hey thanks for joining in on yet another of my track by track threads! Also, just to let you know, it’s not necessary to give these tracks a number rating, although of course you’re very welcome to. I wanted to give this thread a more laid back discussion and not have to worry about thinking of and counting ratings.

 

Which, curiously, were the first two singles by the Paramounts (later to form the basis of Procol Harum).

 

“Zip a Dee Doo Dah” is a typical early era misstep. It’s performed impeccably, of course.

 

Just spotted this thread! I'm in.

I think the Hollies hit their stride with "In The Hollies Style" and its no coincidence the better songs were written by the group. But even the the covers are very good.

I actually became a fan of the Hollies after seeing them perform songs from Russian Roulette on the Twiggy show. I could not believe how hard they rocked. That LP and Write On should have been released in the states instead of combined. It just ruined 2 of my favorite albums.
So I actually got those 2 as GEM imports and worked my way backwards. I must have at least 30 LP's and almost as many CD's. They will always be my favorite band.

 

The Hollies: Look Through Any Window documentary is currently available on Amazon Prime Video

 

no surprise re The Paramounts first two singles as their producer was....
Ron Richards !

a Hollies / Procol Harum link was apparent later as Gary Brooker apparently played some uncredited keyboards on 'Distant Light' in 1971 - I've heard it's Brooker playing the heavily echoed piano on 'Look What We've Got' - then on Allan Clarke's first solo album 'Arold' in 1972 while later Brooker sang the original (to date unissued) Hollies version of his song 'Harlequin' and almost joined the band in 1978, later they re-used 'Harlequin' sung by Terry Sylvester in 1979 on the album '5317704' but retained Brooker's keyboard work and a snippet of his original lead vocal over the fade out

Procol's drummer the late great B.J. Wilson played drums on The Hollies version of 'Harlequin' - produced by Ron Richards as the band reunited with Richards one final time for the 1979 album of ballads

in the 80's The Hollies sang a nice cover of 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' in live concerts with Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Alan Coates (who vocally was very close to Graham Nash) which can be found on a iffy French CD but sadly that live version included must have come from a bootleg and was recorded in dreadful sound quality

here is a live version from 1990

 

Welcome! I’m glad this thread is getting lots of attention.

As for early Hollies work, I like a lot of the cuts on In The Hollies Style, but my favorite early Hollies album is definitely Hollies from 1965, because of songs like So Lonely, Put Yourself In My Place, Fortune Teller, etc...

 

The debut UK album 'Stay With The Hollies' (no.2 in January 1964) is very 'rough and ready' being essentially songs from their live set, it has quite a raw feel to it and the vocals while strong are rather unsophisticated

Tony said early on in the recording studio he was unsure what bits to sing on joining in sometimes with Allan sometimes with Graham and while Ron Richards had got the vocal parts properly sorted out by the debut album they had yet to really refine their 'Hollies sound' plus both Clarke and Nash northern UK accents were quite pronounced then

the contrast on the second UK album 'In The Hollies Style' of November 1964 re vocal sophistication plus seven original songs and some very tight covers was quite amazing showing how far the group came in a matter of months

In retrospect they should have included a hit like 'Just One Look' on the second album as incredibly it failed to chart on the BBC album chart however it made top ten on the NME album chart...which seems very strange !

here is a rare TV performance minus Allan Clarke

Gary Brooker's song Harlequin - sung by Terry Sylvester

 

I’m very fond of Nitty Gritty from the second album.

I noticed sometimes Graham would do very, very high falsettos for his harmonies on the first two albums, like the one on Nitty Gritty. He seemed to quit that by the third album. Any idea why?

 

-
I only got into the Hollies around 1980-give or take-but was lucky enough to see their last reunion concert in 1983 in Charlotte NC(last one in the states anyway). The first song they played was Nitty Gritty, which I had not heard yet. I loved it and at that point really started digging back in their catalog.

 

It was a shame the way Terry was treated in the RRHOF induction. He was treated as an outsider and given a VERY cold shoulder. I think Graham had a lot to do with the treatment, but I am just speculating.

 

They started looking very critically at the band - Don Rathbone was really only drummer as his Dad or brother owned a van they travelled about in and once they had seen chart action they began looking to better the band - hence getting in Tony's ex-Dolphins friend Bobby Elliott from Shane Fenton (later k/a 'Alvin Stardust' ) backing band The Fentones as Bobby stood out as a really great drummer with expert touch who powered up the band considerably plus could play it fast like Hicks and Haydock so instrumentally The Hollies were quite a powerful force

vocally both Clarke and Nash tended to get a bit too boisterous at times and the first album showed this - both yell 'Shake' quite a bit while Nash would soar way above the harmonies at times

Clarke too could sing very high and had a falsetto range - Allan did a lot more harmony vocal work than many might realise

Ron Richards honed the Clarke-Hicks-Nash vocal sound to tight compact precision with Nash taking high harmony, Clarke lead voice and Hicks the lower baritone harmony - they power out both 'Just One Look' and 'Here I Go Again' in full harmony unison but on 'Just One Look' Nash and Clarke briefly swap their normal vocal roles

Nash takes the featured lead vocal lines ('I thought I was dreamin but I was wrong...') while it's Clarke's soaring falsetto on the line; 'Make you make you my own'

Clarke's voice minus his early accent became more 'American' sounding and more confident, Nash calms down his high harmony into a soaring yet compelling, and at times haunting skilled high harmony sound while Hicks becomes the vocal 'glue' between them making the full harmony sound (as Maurice Gibb likewise did for The Bee Gees a bit later)


note Bobby Elliott 's drums power out the intro to both those songs and a fair number of Hollies hits like 'I'm Alive', 'Yes I Will', 'If I Needed Someone'...even 'Listen To Me' in 1968

 

Check out where Allan takes the microphone away from Terry in Long Cool Woman and gives it back to the Paul Shaffer Band singer. Terry is like roaming around trying to do something.

 

I think that the real problem was that Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliott never attended the show - they were playing the London Palladium with the current Hollies band that night

had Tony and Bobby been there a PROPER Hollies band performance would have been made with Tony taking musical charge as The Hollies group manager

it was left up to Graham Nash and the network - I suspect Graham really wanted it to be a 'night for Allan Clarke' in the USA as Nash probably felt his oldest friend from school days was long overdue better recognition in the USA maybe feeling a bit that his friend had missed out on the wider fame stateside that Nash himself had got through CSNY after The Hollies

minus Hicks and Elliott it wasn't a full Hollies reunion and thus later Hollies members Terry Sylvester (1969-81), Bernie Calvert (1966-81) and longtime departed from the band original bass player Eric Haydock (1962-66) were unfortunate victims of being wrongly rather overlooked to an extent after the speeches - Terry, Bernie and Eric didn't even get on the same main table that Graham and Allan were on !

I don't think Nash set out to intentionally 'snub' those three but rather his wanting to feature Allan gave rise to an unfortunate situation

Eric and Bernie were just very happy to be there and inducted but Terry (who after a growing period of artistic frustration left The Hollies after an argument in June 1981) clearly was upset at the apparent 'snub' and must have been angry at seeing others singing along with Graham and Allan when he had been in The Hollies for around twelve years and sung on 'He Ain't Heavy' and 'The Air That I Breathe' (plus promoted 'Long Cool Woman' to American audiences / viewers during Allan's brief absence from the band over 1972-73)

Terry Sylvester from Liverpool (he had worked for George Harrison's brother aged 14) formerly of The Escorts and Swinging Blue Jeans was a good friend of The Hollies from Cavern Club days, Terry was a very important group figurehead in The Hollies over 1969-1981 and I suspect sadly his standing after his acrimonious exit from The Hollies had in Allan's eyes faded over the intervening years, while Graham had left before Terry came in to replace him - so both probably failed to grasp Terry's importance to The Hollies story overall which was wrong of course

As I said Terry was determined not to be overlooked - tho' the Paul Shaffer band singer had been rehershed to perform LCW on the TV induction show hence Clarke took the mike back and handed it over !

it all looked shambolic and Terry must have felt really 'snubbed' !

If Hicks and Elliott had only been there to organise it with Graham Nash then hopefully they might have had Terry onstage with the band

the chance to mend some 'broken bridges' with Terry Sylvester and The Hollies at that induction show was sadly missed

they might also at least have made a mention of Swedish friend Mike Rickfors who in 1972-73 fronted the band as lead vocalist and musician for two years, two albums and two chart hits in UK /Europe

 

Essential viewing for all taking an interest in this thread. It's wonderful!

 

My favorite clip from the document was when Graham Nash played a tape for Bobby with early vocals from C,S,N. Nash was all excited about the sound but when Bobby heard it he said "it sounds like the Hollies". I just loved that! It kind of put everything in perspective.

 

Today’s song is “I Understand”



This is a nice little ditty. It’s got a nice rag time feel because of the piano. Nothing amazing really.

For me, all the material up to this point has been a bit ho hum, they start getting really good around the second album, just as @AKA-Chuck G said.

From these earliest songs and up to the ones that appear on their first LP, I’d say “Stay” is my favorite.

 

recorded on 15 July 1963 and still featuring Don Rathbone on drums the piano player is uncredited but might well be Tommy Sanderson (who is credited as pianist on the fourth and finally released version of 'Searchin' recorded ten days later)

Left unissued at the time it first appeared mixed by Ron Furmanek in 1991 on the USA '30th Anniversary Collection; 1963-1993'

it seems unclear just who composed this song but it is possibly another early Nash-Clarke effort (?) and again is another number reflecting their Everlys influenced 'Ricky and Dane' era with a country tinge to it

the addition of piano sees them making an instrumental advance in their sound tho' the number is very basic

Tony Hicks once said of 'I Understand' that; 'it's pretty embarressing'

but good to see it released as another part of their early evolving style

 

Today’s song is “Searchin’”



This one is just ok. Of course Alan’s vocals are nice and powerful and he does some interesting stuff in this song, but it’s a little ho hum especially with the rag time piano. I like Nash’s very high falsetto on the “Bulldog” part. Overall the vocals and vocal stylings are what make this song good.

 

This is the stereo version of the original mono single version featuring Don Rathbone on drums and Tommy Sanderson on piano

this was their fourth version of the song with the three earlier cuts still unissued to date (unless one of those versions is the LP cut released in the UK in 1972 on 'Hollies Greatest vol 2' detailed below) the hit single take being recorded on 25 July 1963 it marks Don Rathbone's final recording with The Hollies

two versions actually exist - the UK hit single (which made a creditable no.12 placing ) where Nash after making a vocal error and hesitating then refers to '....and old Blackie' and says; '....they got nuthin' child on me'

and a stereo version first released on the UK compilation LP; 'Hollies Greatest vol 2' in early 1972 where Nash refers to '....and old Boston Blackie' and says; '...they ain't got nuthin' on me' to which Tony Hicks calls; 'you ain't kidding man !'

the repeated calls of; 'I've been Searchin' feature more prominently on the hit single version but are missing early on from the stereo second version released in 1972

here is the second stereo version which also has a slightly different Allan Clarke vocal




it's a routine cover of The Coasters hit but again we can see they are getting more confident (even if Nash's error on the hit single version was inexplicably left in)

Bobby Elliott joined the band in time to promote this single on UK TV where the group once appeared minus any instruments and it was just sung - they all put their hands over their eyes as if each member were 'searchin'...

 

Today’s song is “Stay”



I love this one, my favorite so far.

The instrumental performance is steady and rockin, particularly Tony’s brief solo and Bobby’s power drumming. I love the vocals on this one, especially Graham’s very high falsetto harmony and the “bop-bop-shu-waddy-wap” background vocals.

This is a great song! Very energetic, fun, and catchy.

 

Bobby just shines on this one.

 

He reminds me of Ringo man, both just powerful and exceptional drummers.