This late 1967 album found the Hollies making some modest adjustments to the psychedelic era: occasionally trippy studio effects, a sitar on their most psychedelic track ("Maker"), songs that didn't always deal with boy-girl relationships. In fact, however, the group's focus remained where it usually was: modest but pleasing, similar-sounding catchy tunes with high harmonies and strumming guitars. It's not remarkable or essential, but it's certainly pleasant enough, and a bit better than their earlier 1967 LP, Evolution, with some of their better album-only cuts ("Postcard," "Pegasus," "Butterfly," "Away Away Away"). With some track alterations, the record was issued in the U.S. as Dear Eloise/King Midas in Reverse; the U.K. edition, as collectors should note, has a few songs that were never released in the States ("Pegasus," "Elevated Observations?," "Try It").
The most obscure album in the Hollies' entire catalog, Out on the Road marked the second half of the "Mikael Rickfors Era," that two-year period in which the Swedish-born singer provided the group's lead vocals. The album was originally released only in Germany. This is a slicker, smoother, and harder-rocking version of the Hollies than most casual fans, familiar with their hits of the early '70s ("Long Dark Road," "The Air That I Breathe") might expect. Rickfors is firing on all cylinders as a singer, his vocals every bit as expressive if not as compellingly memorable as those of the man he was (temporarily, as it turned out) replacing, Allan Clarke. But the equally dominant personality on a lot of the material here is guitarist Tony Hicks, whose instrumental prowess is all over this record (and not just on guitar, but banjo, among other stringed devices) along with a lot of solid songwriting on his part (in tandem with Kenny Lynch) and backing vocals.
A good compilation of good early Hollies album and EP cuts. Sound quality on this CD is excellent. Mostly stereo versions of songs are used. The only exceptions are "Honey and Wine" and "Now's the Time" which may never have been on CD before this collection.
This set collects the Hollies' first two U.S. albums, 1964’s Here I Go Again and 1965’s Hear! Here!, on a single disc. Both LPs were originally released in the States by Imperial Records, a label founded in 1947 by Lew Chudd, who had sold his rights in the imprint to Liberty Records in 1963. Liberty began leasing material by popular U.K. artists for U.S. distribution that same year, which led to the Hollies' initial single in the American market, a cover version of Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs' 1960 hit “Stay.” Although several of the cuts found here got extensive radio airplay in the U.S. at the time, “Just One Look” and “Here I Go Again” from 1964 and “I’m Alive” and “Look Through Any Window” from 1965 among them, the Hollies didn’t really break through on the continent until a year later in 1966 with the hits “Bus Stop” and “Stop Stop Stop,” and neither of those songs is found here. Aside from the singles, most of the cuts on these two albums are covers of American R&B tunes that are done capably but without a whole lot of originality. The end result is a portrait of a promising band just beginning to come into its own.
The album sets off in chronological order with the band's first five singles and adds as a bonus their version of Poison Ivy. This was recorded at drummer Bobby Elliott's first session with the band on 11 October 1963, which produced the single Stay, but remained unreleased until 1978 when it turned up on an Australian album, and had never been on CD until this release…
This late 1967 album found the Hollies making some modest adjustments to the psychedelic era: occasionally trippy studio effects, a sitar on their most psychedelic track ("Maker"), songs that didn't always deal with boy-girl relationships.
For many Hollies enthusiasts, Evolution (1967) is considered the band's most accessible blend of pop and psychedelia. The quintet were headed into musical territories beyond simply "moon-June-bloom" and boy-meets-girl lyrics coupled with the tightly constructed vocal harmonies that had become their calling card.
This record would have disappeared long ago were it not for regal centerpiece "The Air That I Breathe," arguably pop's greatest ballad. The rest of the material naturally pales in comparison, but 1974's Hollies delivers likable-enough smiley face rock with the quintet's lilting trademark harmonies throughout…
At the time of its release in early 1976, Epic Records passed on Write On, but subsequently included a handful of its songs, including "Star," "Love Is the Thing," "I Won't Move Over," and the title track on 1977's Clarke, Hicks, Sylvester, Calvert & Elliott. Why they passed on it is anyone's guess, since it's as strong as anything the group had been putting on LP up to that time, made up of pleasant and tuneful, if not always memorable or exciting songs, the authorship of all but one credited to Allan Clarke, Terry Sylvester, and Tony Hicks…