The Hollies

[Mr. Wilson]

Is there any love out there for this band.??  Personally Im a sucker for these guys. ! I saw them a couple of times live and was pleasantly surprised how good they were.

[EgoHanger1966]

Funny you should mention them - I've been on a Hollies binge this week. One of my all time favorite bands. Beyond the classic singles (and they had so many of them), there's a lot to love on their albums, too. "In The Hollies Style" has a half-dozen or so shoulda-been-hits. "Don't You Know", "Time For Love", "What Kind of Boy", "Please Don't Feel Too Bad", "You'll Be Mine", "Come On Home"....beat pop of the highest order. When they got more serious, they were great, too. Fantastic B-sides, too.

Their harmonies are/were wicked cool. Love Graham's nasal soaring whine, Allan straight down the middle, with Tony providing the warmth at the bottom of the vocal stack.

Can't say I'm much into them Graham left - although the first single after he did, "Sorry Suzanne", is one of the greatest pop records ever made - and the b-side of the overplayed "He Ain't Heavy", "'Cos You Like To Love Me" is a gem still waiting to be discovered.

The "Look Through Any Window" doc is essential viewing!

[Vegetable Man]

Oh, The Hollies. What a nice little group. Back when iTunes was new, i accidentally downloaded "Bus Stop" while searching for Who stuff (Don't ask how). Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Didn't think much of them again until I went on a trip to Colorado this summer. I had just gotten the first CSN record and was interested in learning of the members prior groups. I knew of Dave and Stephen's bands, but I didn't know a lot about Mr. Nash. All I knew was that he was once a member of The Hollies. I searched the group on YouTube and came upon "Carrie Ann". And despite the fact that Grahm wasn't even a part of the performance (a lip synch on some show after he'd left), I loved it. Couldn't stop listening to it. Afterwards I found "Stop, Stop, Stop", "Long Dark Road" and "On A Carousel": all great.

I do enjoy The Hollies. I haven't gotten into their album stuff yet, but I will soon. An interesting group with great songs, music and voices. Very nice indeed.

[18thofMay]

I absolutely love the Hollies, Graham Nash is very good just love his voice!

[Lonely Summer]

I've got a couple of their hits collections, and do love those songs, especially "Look Through Any Window", "Bus Stop", and "Long Cool Woman". There is just so much great music out there, and not time enough to absorb it all, but I probably do need to give some of their albums a chance.

[RangeRoverA1]

I don't get what's good about Graham's voice. He's average at best as a singer. Allan Clarke has more powerful voice than his, not too square, in fact, very cool. I wonder if there's someone who actually prefers Allan's vocs over Graham's? All I hear is accolades towards Graham, for some strange reason.

[EgoHanger1966]

I don't get what's good about Graham's voice. He's average at best as a singer. Allan Clarke has more powerful voice than his, not too square, in fact, very cool. I wonder if there's someone who actually prefers Allan's vocs over Graham's? All I hear is accolades towards Graham, for some strange reason.

As a lead singer, Allan has it all over Graham! But, there's something about the way those voices blend - it's not really about who's better. Allan Clarke has a pretty high pitched voice - kind of like a Gene Pitney thing going on - and for Graham to have the ability to just soar over him creates this magical thing. I don't get the spiritual Beach Boys feeling, but just a feeling of fullness, complete and utter blast of harmony.

Tony Hicks, while not as audible as the other two, is probably just as important. It's very hard to hear what he's doing vocally as he gets overshadowed by Allan and Graham's vocal acrobatics. But you can tell when he's there....

[PhilCohen]

You may wish to know that, in Japan, Warner Music(present-day owner of the Parlophone catalog) will be releasing 12 expanded Hollies CD's(7 discs in December 2013 & 5 discs in January 2014). These discs will be SHM-CD's. It's a manufacturing enhancement that involves using a premium quality plastic resin("Super High Material") which was originally developed for the manufacture of flat-screen T.V.'s  / Super High Material is claimed to have better optical transparency, and produces more accurate data retrieval.

The Hollies albums being reissued(with bonus tracks) are:
For December release: Stay With The Hollies/ In the Hollies Style/Hollies/Would You Believe/For Certain Because/Evolution/Butterfly
        (each disc has the album in both stereo & mono plus bonus tracks)

For January release: Hollies Sing Dylan/Hollies Sing Hollies/Confessions of The Mind/Distant Light/Romany

There will also be expanded SHM-CD releases by Manfred Mann, The Animals & The Swinging Blue Jeans.

You can obtain these CD's from www.cdjapan.co.jp

It should be explained that Parlophone owns the Hollies first 4 UK albums, and the singles from that period of the group's career. Effective with the song "Stop Stop Stop", and the group's 5th album "For Certain Because", that the group started owning their masters via "The Hollies Ltd.".....but Parlophone has a long-term license.

As for Graham Nash, there's no question that he's an outstanding harmony singer. Also, despite the shared Clarke/Hicks/Nash songwriting credits, Nash was writing two-thirds of the material, sometimes writing entirely on his own. He was frustrated in getting only one-third of the credit and money, and this was a factor in his exit from the group. Another trivia fact, the ex-Buffalo Springfield members with whom Nash would soon unite had their own song publishing-related problems which doomed their group. A song publishing company owned by Atlantic Records owned one-third of Buffalo Springfield's song publishing(and received all the royalties from that portion). a song publishing company owned by the group's managers owned one-third of the group's song publishing(and got all of the royalties from that portion). And the five group members(including Dewey Martin & Bruce Palmer who didn't write songs) owned the remaining one-third. Neil Young, Stephen Stills & Richie Furay each had only one-fifteenth ownership of their song, and it was knocked down to one-twentyfifth after administrative costs. Neil Young stated that in one $25,000 payout from his songs on Buffalo Springfield records that he received only $1000. This is why Young desperately wanted out of the group. A shortage of cash forced him to return, after he ran out of money to continue recording sessions with producer Jack Nitzshe and the "Wrecking Crew" musicians. The disbandment of Buffalo Springfield immediately freed Stills & Furay from these bad contracts, because both were agreeable to staying on the Atlantic label.(though ultimately Atlantic & Epic did a swap, with Graham Nash going to Atlantic, and Richie Furay going to Epic).

But Neil Young wanted to leave Atlantic, and go to Reprise(remember, that, at the time, Atlantic and Reprise were not yet part of the same record conglomerate). The deal to permit Young to go to Reprise gave Atlantic Records' song publishing company one-third ownership of the songs that Young would write through the end of 1973.

in short, Graham Nash's exit from The Hollies and the demise of Buffalo Springfield were not entirely for musical reasons. Monetary grievances were a significant factor.

[EgoHanger1966]

Also, despite the shared Clarke/Hicks/Nash songwriting credits, Nash was writing two-thirds of the material, sometimes writing entirely on his own. He was frustrated in getting only one-third of the credit and money, and this was a factor in his exit from the group.

I do not believe this to be true. Do you have sources? Yes, the guys did write on their own, but Nash wasn't writing two-thirds of it by himself. That's got to be a highly inflated "statistic". There are countless stories of Clarke/Hicks/Nash contributing pieces of songs together. Stop! Stop! Stop! and Carrie Anne are two famous examples.  The latter had Graham and Tony writing it in a dressing room, and Allan coming up with the middle-eight so he could get in on it! There are home movies of the guys with guitars, working on writing songs. Graham was always the leader of the group (in the same role Lennon had with the Beatles), but he wasn't the runaway songwriter. The Hollies had no Brian Wilson. There was a group dynamic up until the Butterfly period - where yes, Graham was much more independent.

The split was almost ENTIRELY musical/personal. Graham had new friends in LA. He didn't want to be dressing up in a tux and doing Jennifer Eccles and Dylan covers. That wasn't where his head was at.

[Dead Parrot]

in short, Graham Nash's exit from The Hollies and the demise of Buffalo Springfield were not entirely for musical reasons. Monetary grievances were a significant factor.

I think in many ways, one of the prime reasons for Graham Nash's split from The Hollies was his, shall we say, recreational habits. The rest of the band had no interest in drugs, whilst Graham was an enthusiastic user of marijuana and LSD by 1968.

That said it's nice to see that Graham spends quite a lot of time discussing The Hollies (the first 7 chapters) in his autobiography. And it was actually a surprise to me that he admits that he handled his departure from the band badly. He also seems genuinely proud of his work in the band, and his friendship with Allan Clarke still clearly means a great deal to him.

[Dead Parrot]

"King Midas In Reverse" was written by Nash on his own. So were a few of the songs on the Butterfly album. Nash had a few other songs at the time most of which he saved for CSN and other projects ("Lady Of The Island", "Sleep Song", "Marrakech Express", "Right Between The Eyes")

[Dead Parrot]

double post

[Mr. Wilson]

JUST LOVE The Hollies.. Im a sucker for bands that sing well.. That harmony thing like the BB..I used to go to this store in Glendale Ca called; "Rare Records" Owned by Ray Avery..Nice man and a jazz freak. Later on I actually worked for him.. I used to buy all the Hollies + Who singles there because they had them. I had some of The Hollies Lp"s also.. I didn't like the R+B stuff so much but I was a fan.. That 1st Greatest hits Lp I wore out + must have bought a couple of copies of.. The jangly guitars great songs + those harmonies used to give me a chill..{ STILL DO }.. GREAT BAND..And the DVD that came out a couple of tears ago im wearing out.. GREAT STUFF..  Very underrated band..  All those hit singles in the 60"s were GREAT.. Graham Gouldman wrote a couple of those who later was in 10cc..Another great harmony group, I was lucky enough to see HOLLIES 1975 at the roxy in Hollywood sitting right up fron..!! They gave me chills on the back of my neck.. During that show they did Sandy by springsteen and Another Night from the lp at the time..

[18thofMay]

Those that doubt Graham's vocal ability should perhaps see the Abbey Road On a Carousel footage.

[Lonely Summer]

I was watching their HOF induction a couple nights ago, didn't even recognize Allan, and sadly his voice is gone now, but it was nice to see them get their due recognition - one of the few times in recent years the HOF got it right.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

I got into the Hollies in the Distant Light/Romany period. Romany had great harmonies even though Alan Clarke was out of the band at the time. "Long, Dark Road" is a fav from Distant Light."Jesus was a Crossmaker" from Romany I love.

Went forward and back from there on their albums. Aside from the hits, didn't like the Graham Nash albums as much as the Terry Sylvester ones.

[Rocky Raccoon]

One song I've been obsessed with lately is "King Midas in Reverse" (though I prefer Graham's acoustic version).

[Summertime Blooz]

They made so many great singles. If you've never heard their song I Can't Let Go here is a link. Truly a forgotten masterpiece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGyJjisrAqo

I also love the title song they recorded for the movie After The Fox written by Burt Bacharach.

[Jurrasic Mark]

Love The Hollies, Graham Nash is fantastic and love his solo work plus CSN too.

The bass player in a band i'm in is Eric Haydock and had a call a few weeks back that Graham was doing a book signing and we could go meet him. I was overly excited but then Eric had to go Canada so I couldnt go . Hopefully an opportunity like that will come up again.. I suspect Graham is a nice chap, always seems it in interviews.

[Malc]

Check out their rarity "Wings" - a link and video can be found on YouTube. Amazing song ... 

[Aum Bop Diddit]

Guys could play their instruments too.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Love The Hollies, Graham Nash is fantastic and love his solo work plus CSN too.

The bass player in a band i'm in is Eric Haydock and had a call a few weeks back that Graham was doing a book signing and we could go meet him. I was overly excited but then Eric had to go Canada so I couldnt go . Hopefully an opportunity like that will come up again.. I suspect Graham is a nice chap, always seems it in interviews.

Wayyyyyy cool you play with Eric! What do you play?

[kwan_dk]

As someone who hasn't investigated their catalogue yet but would like to; which of their 60s albums should I check out first as a diehard BB fan & fan of 60s sunshine / harmony pop? Butterfly?

[EgoHanger1966]

As someone who hasn't investigated their catalogue yet but would like to; which of their 60s albums should I check out first as a diehard BB fan & fan of 60s sunshine / harmony pop? Butterfly?

Actually, it'd be cheaper (and so, so much easier) to get the 6CD box "The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years". Here's the deal - it has everything they recorded from '63-'68 (besides some things that are STILL unreleased). YOU CAN GET THIS THING FOR UNDER $20!!!!!

For someone who already had most of the material, the box wasn't too thrilling when it came out, because they mostly used previous masterings, and the fact that there are unreleased demos and tracks that languish in the vaults unmixed....but for someone who doesn't have their catalog, this box is a godsend!!!! Go for it - I promise you'll find enough to fall in love with for the price. There's something really special about this band.

[Dead Parrot]

As someone who hasn't investigated their catalogue yet but would like to; which of their 60s albums should I check out first as a diehard BB fan & fan of 60s sunshine / harmony pop? Butterfly?

Butterfly is their best 60's album IMHO, albiet one that's dominated by Graham Nash. The 2 albums before it, For Certain Because, and Evolution are great albums too.