Hollies: Evolution revisited.

We are back but given current affairs the first choice for an entry is too fast moving we'll go with a short  update to a series of entries from 2011 where the contents have been very stable over some thirteen odd years.

The Hollies are passion, less for the longevity, genre expanding nature of label mates The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the Who but more for their vocal harmonizing and the way their past tells a cautionary tale around the dangers of getting stereotyped and the the dangers in trying to change that.

Not withstanding some fine albums, in the main the Hollies ouvre was the two and a half minute pop 45 even though 1966's For Certain Because and Would You Believe showed maturity, sophistication and social commentary.

1967 was a massive year in popular music and indeed Youth Culture with The Summer of Love, Hippies, lsd taking and psychedelia generally and having seen close hand at Abbey Road studios the beatles experimenting, they too wanted to raise the "Oh Wow" feel feeling left out.

That also can be understood as until the continued sales of the Beatles first two UK albums (and A Hard Day's Night)  in 1964 the albums market was for adults and by 1967 that had changed with albums such as Dylan's Blonde On Blonde introducing the double pop album and lyrics, Pet Sounds exploring the studio as an instrument itself and of couse Sgt Pepper was only just around the corner. and recording had commenced in late December 1966.

Not wishing to look out of place Graham Nash with the other Hollies upped their game, while keeping a beat sound introduced warbling vocals on Lullaby To Tim, Stop Right There expanded the commentary previously unleashed on songs like Fifi The Flea.

Nostalgia for the past was shown on The Olde Toffee Shoppe and You Need Love really pushed that generation belief love was all. 

The Cover borrowed much with the colour stylized Evolution and Hollies to The Fool, who gave us the original Sgt Pepper inner sleeve producing the rear  design.

It was a album very much of and for the Summer of Love.

My original copy was a 2011 Spanish reissue from digital files that had some issues with over use of noise reduction and I was able to get this the August 1978 stereo reissue in minute condition that other than having the two box Parlophone lable rather than the originals Yellow & Black and a change in catalogue number from PCS 7022 to PCS 7175 is the same right down to using the same stampers cut for the 1967 stereo release.

The mono has a dedicated mono mix.

This was a brave move given Hollies albums generally didn't sell well but this did get to No. 22 in the UK chart and in a modified form higher in  the U.S. and Canada.

The strategy didn't ultimately work out and split Graham Nash from the group by late 1968 as it appeared they couldn't move with the times and yet by 1969 and He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother they had got past that pop single barrier.

Copying edition

Apart from more rumblings from the elections which I might write something about  next week as the other elections are on the week has seen me work on a couple of things such as making some minidiscs from my lp collection.

This UK edition of the 1966 It Ain't Me Babe  album of 1964/5 pop hits by the Surfaris, a California  surf garage group is pretty rare and I had this in my early teens which even then was a bit the worse for wear, probably being played at teen parties.
Produced by Gary Usher who worked with the Beach Boys and the Byrds, it - and it was a revelation to me to discover this actually taken from the US album stampers done for US Decca, it's a fantastically produced album that cuts through much of the use my copy had received before I had it.
Thus I decided to copy this to MiniDisc having changed the cartridge to one that works better with vintage mono pressings and ensure the output was in pure mono to the recorder so any pops remained central.

I also did Hollies' Greatest, the first UK Greatest Hits album by the Hollies that as my copy is a 1968 mono original is the only place some of the original mono mixes on the 45's can be found and as there was space for  it on the MiniDisc, I added the US only Beat Group lp of 1966 which I have the Sundazed mono re-issue lp of a few years back that used british mono master recordings of as that title has never been issued on cd.
It contains my theme tune, I'll Take What I Want!

 This album Snakes and Arrows by Canadian heavy rockers Rush is hard  to find in its limited US only 2007 double lp release - I had to find a seller in the States who was prepared to ship it to me as it was virtually unobtainable over here
When I originally copied this that year I has having hum problems with my turntable which if you read this blog you'll know was changed in 2016 in part for those reasons so I re did that one.
It's a album that runs for just over 61 minutes so each side is about 15 minutes long, too long to do properly on a single lp and the reason I bought it was the cd version suffered from having the difference between the loudest and softest sounds squashed, a trend that began in earnest in 1993/4 and sadly very common place but the record escaped it.
Putting it on MiniDisc make sense as it's convenient and portable too.

The return of The Hollies on vinyl

This week we're going back to a series of posts from 2011/2 while I'm recovering from this darn heat.
That series of post explored the sixties and early 70's output of The Hollies from a compact disc angle but one problem is a number of Hollies compact discs remain in grey sounding highly compressed issues from the late 1990's and to which using records is presently the only sure fire way to get past that fork in the road. 
 In 1967 as I remarked in an earlier post the group and specifically Graham Nash were moving in a more experimental direction that resulted in two albums and a Graham leaving the band.
They issued at the same time as Sgt Pepper, their own pop psychedelia album, Evolution with trippy original sleeve but this album hard to find in original stereo form was re-issued in 1972  as "The Hollies" which was kinda silly "Stop Right There!" would of worked better  with a new sleeve and liner notes.

Interestingly, it used the very same stampers to make it as the first issue of Evolution and so it was for a mere £2.99 and a clean I replaced a so-so mono re-issue with something that sounds better.

 By years end the "Oh wow" factor was raised considerably after the "King Midas in Reverse" 45 showing on this album that includes the U.S. single Dear Eloise but as much as some of this love this album it bombed saleswise at the time making it hard to find in its original mono and stereo forms.
Thankfully Parlophone released in September 2016 a twin mono and stereo remastered lp that sounds better than the EMI cd or critically the 2011 Spanish Guersson mono lp re-issue that used it as a source.
This apart from not having Dear Eloise with a chopped off intro sounds noticeably clearer with fine high frequency detail although it is not clear if used a digital source or not.
It is in any event much better sounding.

Stay with the Hollies!

In what will probably be the last blog entry around the topic of the Hollies on cd I'll be commenting on three cds, two studio albums and a new compilation.

Kicking off I'll start with the first album ever issued by the Hollies 'Stay with the Hollies' that was a mixture of R&B covers such as 'Stay', Chuck Berry's Memphis and 'Talkin' 'Bout You' and a powerhouse rocker Nash& Clarke original called 'Little Lover' which was featured on an English EP record.

I picked up the old 1991 BGO cd cheaply which is in mono unlike the lp re-issue they did earlier and I'd have to say I feel the sound while being a breathing more than the late 90's EMI remasters , it lacks definition compared to the BGO cds that have Here I Go Again and Bus Stop albums on them. Actually Imperial records in the states did issue all these tracks but Mr Moonlight in somewhat pedestrian arrangement and You Better Move On were on the Beat Group album not available on cd.

I don't feel this disc is really necessary for anyone but the most completist Hollies fan as the majority of these tracks are available in better sound elsewhere.

Later in 1964 Parlophone issued a second album called 'In The Hollies Style' which was a more accomplished set though having no singles on it which was the British norm back then with a rousing version of 'Nitty Gritty', 'Baby That's All', 'Candy Man' and the Everly Bros song I Thought 'Of You Last Night'

I bought the 1991 BGO mono cd issue of this too but while there is room for improvement it is better than the current EMI version but this album was never issued by Imperial in the States although Three songs did come out scattered across the Beat Group and Bus Stop albums.

Interestingly the BGO lp was like the first album also stereo. What was that all about?

Compilations:

Buying Hollies compilations is a messy exercise as you're seldom told exactly what versions mono or stereo you're gonna get and some dedicated mono mixes seem missing in action such as that of Bus Stop although someone at Capitol in LA found a copy tape of it in 2002 for the Capitol cd "Classic Masters" one compilation I do like outside the earlier 20 Golden Greats and the now out of print All The Hits and More 2cd set that are mainly in superb sounding stereo.

Recently a compilation came out on Music Club that does have some interesting mono material scattered across two discs in pretty decent sound for once.

Entitled "The Very Best Of" it commits the cardinal sin of not putting the tracks in any logical order across two cds, sketchy notes that don't refer to Terry Sylvester era which brought about a number of big hits like "The Air That I Breathe" but for the modest price (Under GBP £5.00) is worth picking up.

Most Hollies compilations have tended to feature after the event stereo remixes rather than the dedicated mono originals issued on the 45's until 1970 where available that sometimes sound very different and some of album tracks here are also the less often heard mono ones which were the priority mixes of the day.

I'll list every known mono track on this disc:

(Ain't That) Just Like Me

Searchin'

Here I Go Again

Yes I Will

Look Thru Any Window

If I Needed Someone

The Very Last Day (From Hear Here (US)/ "Hollies" (UK 1965) )

Pay You Back With Interest

After The Fox (with Peter Sellars)

Stop Stop Stop

On A Carousel

Carry Anne

Dear Eloise

Clown (From Butterfly album)

Honey and Wine

Butterfly (From album of same name)

Listen To Me

Sorry Suzanne

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

Unlike most compilations it has three songs form the Hollies sing Dylan album of 1969 an album I feel was so out of date for the band as they had song writing talents with in it and access to top British songwriters more than prepared to write them fresh material.