Amazing harmonies, brilliant string of hits. Often overlooked and remembered solely for He Ain't Heavy

Here's my fave:

Bus Stop is one of the most perfect songs ever written and The Hollies absolutely nailed it. 2' 58" of shimmering gorgeousness. Graham Gouldman has said that what you hear on the single is exactly what he was hearing in his 19 year old head when he wrote it. If Lennon & Macca had penned it, it would be lauded to high heaven. One of the most underrated groups of the 60's. I also love this TOTP version.

A walking advertisement for the benefits of a rock n roll lifestyle decanted to Cali...

Their golden years for me were when they started writing their own material and the Graham Gouldman songs but were they ever allowed to develop musically as a band? I often wonder if things might have been a shade different if George Martin had produced them. Fans see Ron Richards as being as much of a part of The Hollies as GM was to the Beatles. The departure of Graham Nash and Allan Clarke doesn't seem to have had much of an impact but if they'd been allowed to evolve would they still be around?

I much prefer pop to rock and The Hollies are popmasters. Some notes;

Really inventive guitar parts from Terry Hicks
Terry Sylvester was a superb replacement for Nash (as a vocalist at least)
Possibly the best Springsteen cover in 'Sandy'
Has anyone caught them live since Clarke chucked it? Any good?

I remember them as a nipper. "Carrie Ann" was amazing with the Afro drums. First world music influences in pop? The guitar on "Stop stop stop" is stonking. And "He ain't heavy"', with the associated back story, always has me welling up. Great singles.

They're ace.

As pointed out above, "Bus Stop" is great. The other Gouldman cover, "Look Through Any Window", is maybe even better. Two of the best pop singles of the Sixties.

They should have moved left field in 1968 rather than cabaret-wards; Nash's departure essentially came from their decision to do an album of Dylan covers, after two decent psych albums bombed commercially. Shame. If Nash had stayed, and if they'd developed their songwriting, they might well be remembered as highly as the Beatles. As it is, that Dylan album contains one of the worst covers known to man, their execrable take on "Blowing in the Wind", in the style of Sinatra (it's even worse than you think).

If anyone with Youtube access (unlike me at work) could post "Dear Eloise", I'd be a happy man (can't tell at work if anyone already has, as I can't view YT videos).

(Great song, of course...)

humble as it is, and if you can ignore the awful steel drums in the middle of the song, Carrie Ann has one of the greatest choruses ever heard in popular music.

have a look at these 3 classics - and check out Frankie Avalon introducing them on Hullabaloo in the States before Look Through....as stated above, the second jewel in the crown fashioned by Graham Gouldman.

all the kids in the audience going 'where the heck is Blackpool?'

Never took any interest in them until I heard King Midas in Reverse on an UNCUT British psychedlia comp and have been intending to buy whatever album it is on ever since. Not got around to it yet. Epic slice of psychedlic pop with a fantastic fanfare ending.

Always had a soft spot for the Hollies when I was a teenage lanky streak of..., superb harmonies and the `Butterfly` album deserved greater recognition, pop psychedelia at it`s finest.

I always remember St. George saying some very uncomplimentary and undeseved things about `If I Needed Someone`, which I thought were rather bitchy at the time.

Here's another slice of sheer brilliance

That's all. Love 'em.

Wonderful album.

...you can own all of their Graham Nash era material. I bought this, it's total VFM.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clarke-Hicks-Nash-Hollies/dp/B004QJL4D8/ref=sr_1...

You would get loads of pointless zeros for asking most anyone about this one. AFAIK, the only Hollies hit without Allan Clarke. The singer here is some dude called Mikael Rickfors (there is a Youtube vid with him singing this).

It just doesn't sound like The Hollies.

I've loved them since He ain't heavy was re-released back in 88 and subsequently played their All the Hits and More (on double cassette)to death. Vastly underated particularly Tony Hicks. I saw them several times in the early nineties when Allan Clarke was still singer and they were always fantastic, not a whiff of 'chicken in the basket'. They always had time to chuck in a few cover tracks too including Purple Rain! When Allan Clarke retired i saw them once with Carl Wayne before he sadly died and they were still really good. Not seen them with the new guy who joined along with another guitar player after long serving member Alan Coates left but clips on Youtube seem a bit worryingly cabaret. It's the bands 50th Anniversary this year and whilst they are touring there doesn't seem to be any special event planned to reunite with former members who rarely for a 60's band are all still alive. Most did turn up for the induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame last year in USA apart from Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliot chose to perform with the current band in London that night.

I grew up on the Hollies - they were part of the soundtrack to my life in the 60's

As mentioned somewhere above you could do a lot worse than spend £11 or so on the multi disc set that includes all the 'Clarke, Nash, Hicks' stuff That was really their Golden Period - hit after hit from 63 through to (I think) 68.

An interesting but possibly boring fact - the Hollies are now one of the very very few 'beat boom' groups who could reform with ALL the original members as Clarke, Nash, Hicks, Haydock and Rathbone are still alive!

Saw them late 90s (I think) with Carl Wayne on lead vocals and yer man from Mud on bass. So we got all The Hollie hits plus most of the Move ones and Tiger Feet as the encore. Pretty fantastic stuff. Would love to have heard Clarke sing - severely underrated vocalist. Hicks seems to have that youthful look that Johnny Marr and John Squire have inherited from him, as well as the magic jangle.
My favourite song - I Can't Let Go - so much energy.

..and amazing Balearic Disco, too.

Can't Let Go is probably their best performance, but there's so much more. How about I'm Alive:

Not the original but quite good

... son Paul - is doing extremely well for himself as a sound engineer - worked at Abbey Road - involved in the Beatles' remasters and also has worked with Pink Floyd and Macca, amongst many others.

Brinsley Schwarz covered this one

by the Everly Brothers heavily features the Hollies and 12 of the songs are credited to L. Ransford, the Hollies' writing pseudonym.

In another tenuous Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds/Hollies/Everlys link, Dave Edmunds produced New Favourites of Brinsley Schwarz, which featured Now's The Time and went on to record the Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds Sing the Everly Brothers EP which was released with the Seconds of Pleasure LP.

Here's the Brinsley Schwarz version of Now's the Time.

Admiitedly on quaint old-fashioned CD - but you do get six of them for £10.99 - and the whole thing gets good reviews...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Clarke-Hicks-Nash-Hollies/dp/B004QJL4D8/ref=sr_1...

I ever saw. They were second on the bill to The Dave Clark Five on one of those pop package tours in the 60's which also featured "one hit wonders" Goldie & The Gingerbreads (Can't You Feel My Heartbeat) and Mark Wynter (Venus In Blue Jeans). Unknown opening act was The Kinks who ended their short set with their new single You Really Got Me.

I've always loved this early "B Side".