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

Not a whole lot different from the Rolling Stones' version from around that same period. I would imagine that like many Leiber & Stoller tunes, it was a staple of just about every up and coming British group's live repertoire at the time.

 

I was fortunate to become a JB fan in the late eighties, so I never heard him anywhere except my house.

I only know Tonio K as a Burt Bacharach collaborator. You’re right, dude really hated Jackson Browne.

 

This is okay early sixties beat group stuff. It’s competent, and the vocals make it worthwhile

 

You said this before I could. Absolutely.

I always smile when I think of this line, because my dad, who was much more of a 40s guy as opposed to a rock 'n' roller, once said he really dug this line in the Coasters' original. I've never forgotten that.

 

The Poison Ivy on the At Abbey Road set sounds great to my ears. There are some things I might skip but haven't skipped that one yet as they do it so well. Later on there were some great tracks that never saw release at the time (Wings for example), but I don't really know of any very early Hollies recordings that didn't appear at the time somewhere, just an alternate take here and there and some BBC covers.

 

Bobby Elliott's recording debut with The Hollies on 11 October 1963 produced both 'Stay' and this song which actually exists in two different versions

this one presented above is the officially released version first included on that UK MFP Budget LP 'The Hollies' (MFP 41 5727 1) released in late 1988 being takes 10-12 composite - note Tony Hicks doing the vocal 'aaarrrhhhh' behind the Clarke-Nash lead vocal

however there is also a rarer somewhat less intense sounding alternate version - take 9 - complete with two guitar solos which was earlier released in Australia on 'The Hollies' LP Axis 6361 in stereo together with a wider stereo mix on the CD version Axis CDAX 701247 but has a problem re an error by Eric Haydock towards the conclusion which is probably why they later vetoed it going on that 'Clarke Hicks Nash Years' CD set

 

Besides what Ron Furmanek has recently apparently now found (which very hopefully will come to our attention in the not too distant future !) there were a number of 'known' unreleased Hollies songs from the sixties and thereafter going right back to the beginning

they first cut 'Fortune Teller' with Don Rathbone on drums on 15 May 1963 when they did 'Zip a dee doo dah' etc

they recorded 'Cry Me A River' on 11 December 1963 - possibly the Julie London film song ? - tho' I have heard the tape box in their archive was later found to be empty so as to what happened re this we can only guess unless Ron has located it...

On July 13 1964 they recorded 'Party Line' and on 25 August 1964 'It's Raining Teardrops' during sessions for their second album

they cut 'Cry Now' on 10 November 1964 and on 1 March 1965 a song with an unclear title - maybe 'Going Home' or 'Go Home' etc...

on 1 March 1966 they cut initial versions of 'Like Everytime Before' and 'Have You Ever Loved Somebody' with Eric Haydock on bass guitar during the sessions for the 'Would You Believe' album

- with a second attempt at the latter song also recorded on 25 March 1966 and even a third version later cut on 20 June 1966 with Bernie Calvert on bass (presumably Bernie then helping them out again as he was not officially in the band until a little later in the year)

but to date these remain unreleased and the band returned to both songs later before the respective 1968 and 1967 released versions were finally recorded

interesting that both 'Like Everytime Before' and 'Have You Ever Loved Somebody' (which finally emerged on 'Evolution' in summer 1967) had already been written by the time they were recording 'Would You Believe' (released in June 1966)

this reminds me of Nash saying how 'Whole World Over' was written in 1961 but not recorded until 1963 while Clarke spoke of 'Running Through The Night' also being written back in 1961 tho' that was not recorded and released until 1966

The Hollies even broke off working on the tracks 'Like Everytime Before' and 'Have You Ever Loved Somebody' to assist in the recording of The Everly Brothers versions of both of these songs for 'Two Yanks in England' LP in 1966 - along with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and drummer Dougie Wright

while Tony Hicks gave a demo of 'Have You Ever Loved Somebody' to John McNally for The Searchers UK chart single version of 1966 - tho' Graham Nash also gave a demo to ex-Searchers drummer Chris Curtis as well

it seems Chris wanted to produce The Searchers cover version but was rebuffed...so instead he produced Paul and Barry Ryan's rival cover which also charted in the UK and both effectively split record sales and denied each having a bigger hit as a result !

 

Today’s song is “Memphis”



I like this one a lot, better than Poison Ivy for sure. The vocals, in my opinion, are much better, and the performance is very solid, especially Haydock’s bassline. What a tone he had on this song! So overall I quite like this track, it’s got a nice groovin rhythm.

 

A good cover of a near indestructible song. Not great, but pleasant enough.

 

A good cover, especially musically, but I don't think Memphis suits or needs harmony singing. Especially for the entire song.

 

I agree, though Hicks has a nice solo that comes out of nowhere.

Edit: I broke down and ordered a used copy of this box set.

 

Congrats! It’s not the best quality wise but you can’t beat what it includes and the price. It’s the only Hollies I own at the moment

 

I like the song and Tony's guitar playing is getting better and better. The Hollies could be too busy when it came to overdoing harmony vocals but this one is not the worst offender. I think many songs should of had just more lead vocals and I think in hindsight the band believed that as well. Their lead vocals were definitely good enough to stand on their own.

Here are 2 solo song by Allan that some may not have heard. Its worth a listen.



Allan Clarke - We've Got Time

 

I found an interesting live cover of "Reach Out and I'll Be There" from 1966. I don't think I have this track but will check.

 

I like it better than the Stones versions

 

Did Nash plug-in on any of the Hollies sessions?

 

Allan Clarke often kidded Graham about never being plugged in and Tony did all of the heavy lifting.

Check out this other live Swedish song-not so much for the song but for the great pics.

 

Please write a book about the Hollies. I’m serious.

 

I hate to keep comparing everything to the Beatles, but I find it hard to avoid. However, on “Memphis”, I think the Hollies have the better version. I don’t care for the harmonies on every line of the song, but the performance is great. The Beatles have the better vocal with John Lennon (they never formally recorded it).

I checked out other versions by The Rolling Stones and the Animals, and find that most stuck pretty close to Chuck Berry, as did the Beatles. The Hollies bring something a little different to the song. Hicks doesn’t even try to play Chuck Berry’s solo, which is a plus in this case.

 

The Beatles and The Hollies are both very similar at times...and very different at times

either could be singing say; 'Tell Me Why', 'Yes It Is', 'Baby's in Black' / 'Please Don't Feel Too Bad', 'Don't You Know', 'Come on Home'

but at other times they differ very much - listen to The Hollies songs like; 'Baby That's All' (seems quite 'Beatle-ish' / 'Everly-ish' harmony wise until you get to the instrumental break ' where it moves off into another structure before returning to the melody and catch that opening line re waking up in bed together !) , 'Put Yourself in My Place' (with extended instrumental section allowing piano and guitar solos) 'Set Me Free', 'When I Come Home To You', 'Too Many People', Oriental Sadness (She'll Never Trust in Anybody No More)', 'Hard Hard Year', 'Don't Run and Hide', 'Peculiar Situation', 'Pay You Back With Interest' etc which are quite different structures or musical style performances with perverse non rhyming lyrical couplets, quick key and tempo changes, lyrics about historical events and death, lyrics openly contemplating suicide (!) openly referring to sleeping with a loved one (in 1964 !) with guitar solos sometimes intentionally disrupting the tempo of a number as opposed to flowing with it...or strange unexpected spiraling vocal tangents with some songs having unexpected pauses in them

Bobby Elliott's big band admiration shines through on tracks such as 'Set Me Free', 'What Went Wrong' and his drumming on 'I'm Alive' with a jazz inspired style of improvisation and looking for unexpected sounds and angles to songs became apparent in their music - as Nash referred to 'hitting that strange chord at the end of a song' etc...

these unusual Hollies numbers applied a very commercial vocal sound to a non commercial song structure - on their original 'B' sides and album tracks chiefly (tho' later say 'Carrie Anne' suddenly has a caribbean steel drum solo in it so it could apply to single hits occasionally) and this deliberate stance The Hollies took on many of their own songs on albums rather confused some music critics at the time who decidedly liked the 'safer' hit singles approach The Hollies successfully did with their eyes shut..so you read things like; 'their albums wern't as good as the single hits' and they were tagged a 'singles band' over the sixties as the hits rather eclipsed the albums (tho' most albums actually charted well in the UK - 'Stay With...' made no.2, 'Hollies Style' reached the NME album chart top ten if not strangely the BBC chart, 'Hollies' 1965 made no.8, 'Would You Believe' made no.16, 'For Certain Because...' made no.23 and Evolution' made no.13 - later minus Graham Nash 'Hollies Sing Dylan' even made no.3 in Britain and Jimi Hendrix had a copy in his London flat)

so those original 'B' side and album tracks they did were quite adventurous and experimental and quite unique to The Hollies but were often overlooked as a famous more commercial hit single they specialised in doing normally took the public's attention - most groups would have got a ban on a song like 'Stop Stop Stop' not so the 'safe' Hollies as it was never envisaged they might be singing about grabbing a scantily clad girl dancer...! ('happens every week...' !)

'Memphis' again saw Clarke and Nash duet while Hicks features strongly on lead guitar as stated not copying Chuck Berry but putting Hicks own angle on the famous song

 

It always seemed weird to me that JPJ or Jack Bruce would have just played on 1 track each. First, it seems strange that the band would only record one song over the course of an entire session (which usually lasted 3 hours). And second....once you recognize the talent level of the person playing with you, wouldn't you want to extend the relationship? "Hey, this sounds really good. Let's do some more!"???

 

both were helping The Hollies out at the time as Eric Haydock had left the band and they were in the process of recruiting a full time bass player

JPJ was a session player like Jimmy Page - John had auditioned for The Shadows in 1963 when Brian Locking departed but John Rostill got that job

John plays on early Cat Stevens songs in the 'Matthew and Son' era plus tracks on the posthumous Alma Cogan LP released after her death in 1967 so at the time JPJ was a session player of note and both he and Jimmy Page worked with The Hollies on The Everly Brothers LP 'Two Yanks in England' later in 1966

Jack Bruce had moved from The Graham Bond Organisation to Manfred Mann - he played bass guitar on 'Pretty Flamingo' (UK no.1) and on the EPs 'Machines' and 'Instrumental Asylum' in 1966...before joining Eric and Ginger to form Cream later in the year (with Klaus Voormann replacing him in Manfred Mann)

Jack also played bass for Paul Jones on 'Sonny Boy Williamson' a Paul Jones 'B' side to 'I've Been A Bad Bad Boy' the following year

so Jack in early 1966 was purely helping The Hollies and Burt Bacharach out on 'After The Fox' - Burt on keyboards for his film theme song with Peter Sellers on guest vocal

 

while they often speak of only ever being a guitar/bass/drums line up instrumentally... closer listening, especially on CD versions, reveals an acoustic rhythm guitar is being strummed on most recordings early on

later a back up guitar is present on around 70% of Hollies tracks - it may be Hicks doing most guitarwork, he often added his solo on later - hence the stereo 'Like Everytime Before' is minus the lead guitar that can be found on the 'completed for release' mono version

Nash did do some playing in the studio as linear notes by Gary Leeds for 'For Certain Because...' refer to it on 'Clown' like as on 'Fifi The Flea'

Allan Clarke played some acoustic guitar as well - one pic on the 'At Abbey Road' series shows Clarke and Nash with acoustic guitars in the studio but most of the 'featured' playing was likely done by Tony Hicks but unlike some artists The Hollies up to 1966 probably had a limited time in the recording studio, hence arrangements were pre-planned out and while they became very fast studio workers both Allan and Graham very likely would have done some supporting guitarwork

interesting in that Croatia concert in 1968 to see Nash also on banjo playing along quite capably with Hicks on 'Do The Best You Can' - so I think more has been made on the point of Nash never plugging in than was really the case as I think they see it more 'acceptable' now to be seen as a powerhouse trio...but most tracks do feature either an acoustic rhythm guitar or backup acoustics and electric guitars

 

Today’s song is “Talkin’ Bout You”



This is a great little rocker. Very high energy, I like Graham’s falsetto harmony a lot on this one and Tony’s brief but straightforward solo. All round good song

 

I like this one a lot. The vocals are excellent. 4.0 star