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Topic: The Hollies..... |
Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 15 Dec 2009 8:52 pm |
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Beatles yes...but....I have always thought that the Hollies were one of the best English "beat groups" as they used to be called. Watch these kids play live at some German TV show with no monitors or Marshall stacks and such and you get a huge impression of what it was like to hear bands play live back then and how good the songs were. The vocals, the bass lines, the drummer, the 12 string, great...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-XBGnm77bQ |
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Richard Sevigny
From:
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
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Posted 15 Dec 2009 9:46 pm
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But Bill, it's not country 
Serously though, the Hollies have been a long time favorite vocal group.
Ironically, this song was going through my head today.
_________________
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If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
-Albert Einstein |
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Doug Beaumier
From:
Northampton, MA
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Jim Cohen
From:
Philadelphia, PA
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Posted 15 Dec 2009 10:00 pm
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Love 'em. In fact, the lead song on my 60's CD 'Home, James' is the Hollies' "Bus Stop", done up-tempo jazzy. I recently had occasion to meet Graham Nash and gave him a copy. I think he lost it.
_________________
www.JimCohen.com
www.RonstadtRevue.com
www.BeatsWalkin.com |
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Chuck Thompson
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 15 Dec 2009 11:17 pm
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| ohhhh man Bill! You are so right. I have been on a real Hollies kick the last 6 months. They were a little sugary, but their harmonies were so good. they did alot of cover tunes and turned them into their own songs. And i had forgotten how many songs and how many years they were in the charts. Jennifer Eccles is the earliest "rock song" that i know of that had a pedal steel break. |
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 16 Dec 2009 8:06 am
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Another Hollies fan here. They had so many hits and great songs that people may not remember until they hear them again.
One of my favorites is the edgier "Long Cool Woman", a sort of departure from the smoother harmonious stuff. |
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Brett Day
From:
Pickens, SC
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Posted 18 Dec 2009 10:34 am
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"Long Cool Woman" was written by songwriter Roger Cook, whose daughter Katie, is a friend of mine. I love that song!
Brett |
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Joachim Kettner
From:
Germany
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Posted 18 Dec 2009 12:05 pm
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Yes, Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway were great songwriters. They wrote songs for the Fortunes and many more! They also performed as the duo David and Jonathan, and had a hit with Lovers Of The World Unite.
The late Carl Wayne of the Move (Flowers in the rain), replaced Allen Clarke in the Hollies. |
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Richard Sevigny
From:
Salmon Arm, BC, Canada
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Posted 18 Dec 2009 2:42 pm
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| Jerry Overstreet wrote: |
| One of my favorites is the edgier "Long Cool Woman", a sort of departure from the smoother harmonious stuff. |
Ironically also their biggest hit.
_________________
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If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.
-Albert Einstein |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 12:13 am
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"Look Through Any Window" was, and is, one of my favorite British Invasion songs.
I just watched the PBS special about the British Invasion, aired (naturally) during their fund-raising. I was prime audience when that stuff happened--I was born in 1951. Interesting to view the wheat and the chaff from the perspective of all these years. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 7:37 am
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I saw all the major British groups from that era at first-hand. I was playing guitar for singer Eden Kane, whose star was in descent at the time (most 'solo singer' type acts were eclipsed by the four-piece band formulae), and I toured with many of them, as well as seeing them on TV or radio shows where we were appearing.
The Hollies were the best of them all, in my opinion - they simply sounded like their records. For tightness and effective harmony vocals, the Searchers were also very good indeed. Instrumentally I'd have to nominate Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers. The Beatles came about halfway down the list for me.
BUT: The best pop singing I ever heard 'live' was in 1964 at a sound-check for the 'Ready, Steady, Go!' TV show at London's Kingsway Studio, when the Beach Boys showed up with only moments to go before the recording was scheduled to start! An impromptu a cappella 'I Get Around', conducted by Brian Wilson while they still all had their raincoats on will stay with me for ever.
I remember us looking at each other and saying:
"Ahhh - that's how it's done!!!", and realising that the Americans were still the best!
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Jerry Overstreet
From:
Louisville Ky
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 10:14 am
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| Richard Sevigny wrote: |
| Jerry Overstreet wrote: |
| One of my favorites is the edgier "Long Cool Woman", a sort of departure from the smoother harmonious stuff. |
Ironically also their biggest hit. |
That is interesting, but it wasn't until '72. I knew it was a big hit, but I was surprised to learn it was #2, [according to allmusic.com] at one time. Even bigger than Bus Stop, Stop Stop Stop, Carrie Ann, and He Ain't Heavy....all fabulous and very memorable tunes for me too.
Glad to hear they are HOF award recipients. |
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Bill Hatcher
From:
Atlanta Ga. USA
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 12:08 pm
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I wonder if the original bass player will be there?
The drummer is the bomb! |
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Russ Tkac
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 12:36 pm
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I'm with you Bill. Rock solid drums. Just great!
Russ |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 19 Dec 2009 12:41 pm
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Wasn't Bobby Elliot the drummer back then? He was terrific!
_________________
Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Susan Alcorn
From:
Baltimore, MD, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2009 6:35 pm
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| Wow, the Hollies . . . it sure brings back memories. Another nice thing was their arrangements. I like the sound of the bass on the chorus of "Carousel". Another great, and often overlooked, band (to change the subject slightly) from that era was the Knickerbockers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n03a7cLf0M |
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Chuck Thompson
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 22 Dec 2009 11:12 pm
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| Wow Susan you are right about the Kickerbockers too. Rocking band and a Rocking Song. When I first heard that song as a kid I thought it was the Beatles. Back to the Hollies: they had some good stuff post "Long Cool Woman" too. "Another Night" "the Air That I Breathe" and "Sandy" (a Springsteen cover). Another slight twist to the thread, the Posies had an awesome cover of Graham Nash/Hollies' "King Midas". |
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Jeff Agnew
From:
Dallas, TX
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Posted 23 Dec 2009 4:29 am
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| Quote: |
| An impromptu a cappella 'I Get Around', conducted by Brian Wilson while they still all had their raincoats on will stay with me for ever. |
Holy cow, Roger. I'd have sold a close relative into slavery for that opportunity. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 23 Dec 2009 5:08 am
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Sure was great, Jeff!
I can see them now with their Pan-Am bags and raincoats. Later, when they did the show, they had their white Fenders and those striped short-sleeve shirts.
They knocked everyone else on the show for six!
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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Chip Fossa
From:
Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 24 Dec 2009 1:25 pm
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Great thread, gang.
I'm sorry, though, which Hollie in the 1st YouTube is Graham Nash? I can't recognize him. My eyeballs are definitely on the outs.
They had great guitar playing (leads); I went on furthur on YT and watched "Bus Stop" - great double lead - you can definitely hear some Bach influence there. Sounded like a 'round', also, in some places.
Thanks all, for draggin' up the past; a good place to be.
_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer. |
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Kevin Hatton
From:
Buffalo, N.Y.
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Posted 24 Dec 2009 3:12 pm
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| Grahm Nash is not in thst iteration of the Hollies. There were many interim Hollies after a while. Simply a great drummer. You can see Grahm in the 1968 Hollies on Youtube singing Jenifer Eccles. There is also a steel guitar in it. |
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Pete Finney
From:
Nashville Tn.
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Posted 24 Dec 2009 8:07 pm
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| Quote: |
| Grahm Nash is not in thst iteration of the Hollies. There were many interim Hollies after a while. |
This is the classic Hollies line-up from 1966, before Graham Nash left (in '68 I think); he's playing a white Tele-style guitar (though it looks like a Vox headstock maybe?) standing next to Bobby Elliot...
Elliot's alway been my favorite drummer of the "British Invasion" and I agree that he sounds great here as he always did... |
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Chip Fossa
From:
Monson, MA, USA (deceased)
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Posted 24 Dec 2009 9:29 pm
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Thanks guys.
Yes, Bobby Eliot is just spot-on, alright.
As mentioned before, what a sound with minimal equipment.
What the heck went wrong?
As far as today's equipment goes, well, when is enough, enough? 
_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer. |
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Chuck Thompson
From:
Illinois, USA
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Posted 25 Dec 2009 10:27 pm
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| It was just a great time for music in those days. Is it just an illusion to me or was there an absolute explosion of innovation during that(60's)time? I sure envy Roger's experience with all the bands he mentions. |
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Roger Rettig
From:
Naples, FL
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Posted 26 Dec 2009 7:38 am
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I don't know any more, Chuck - it's all in our own individual perception, isn't it?
I'm coming up for 67 now so, while my first (and the most powerful) influence was Lonnie Donegan (without whom surely the whole UK musical landscape would be very different today), the "'60s" groups always sounded to me to be just a reaction to the initial onslaught of American rock-and-roll.
I'm convinced that one's earliest musical epiphanies school our ideas of what was the most groundbreaking popular music. I always feel that I , at my age, can clearly remember the first wave of r'n'r and what was, in the main, guitar-driven pop.
The records from America that we'd hear in '56 - '59 were often created by top-class musicians (the Everly Brothers with Chet, Hank Garland, etc), Elvis with a similar cast-of-characters, George Barnes adding superb guitar obligatos to Connie Francis records, or Chuck Berry with his totally fresh and original style, Ricky Nelson's terrififc studio band with a young James Burton, and so-on and so-on.
There was nothing that came close in the UK at that time, and all the names we've discussed here were guys of my age who just soaked all that stuff up like a sponge.
It's hard for me to see the '60s invasion as anything other than a jaded US market looking for something different (not necessarily better-played or sung) as well as the fruits of some very creative media marketing.
It's also hard for me - even today - to see those American pioneers as anything less than demigods, they had such influence on us all. I can remember clearly being in the BBC Radio studios at the Playhouse Theatre at Charing Cross recording an episode of 'Saturday Club' (a two-hour pop programme, half 'live', half needle-time) in 1964. I was there (as usual) with Eden Kane (we had a big single in March-April '64) along with the Beatles and ...... Jerry Lee Lewis!!!
All of us were sitting watching Jerry Lee and hanging on every note - the Beatles, too. He was the Real Deal, an American original and a giant to us. He was also monosyllabic, terse, and a curmudgeon, who had his coat on and had left the studio before his last chord had died away; this lack of any interest in anything the rest of us might be about to do only increased our respect for him, of course. Why would HE want to hear anything British??? 
But: Had I been born five or six years later, maybe I'd be waxing lyrical about that next generation of guitar-driven pop. As I said at the beginning, I don't know any more - I've lost perspective.
The Beach Boys? They were among America's wave of reactive pop-groups, of course - I still love them today, and their vocal blend can transport me. Not very good players, of course, but it was all in the singing....
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Roger Rettig: Emmons D10, B-bender Teles and Martins - and, at last, a Gibson Super 400!
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