Interesting to see that you are warming up to this era of the Hollies a lot more than you did when you first reviewed them. I’d honestly agree with this new view: the Hollies, I think, functioned best in this era where they could be lightweight but the competition in 1965-1966 could still exert pressure on the band to keep their melodic consistency. A lot of this material is tight and meaningful in the youthful way a lot of British Invasion stuff.
And I especially prefer this view because I have honestly never been that crazy about either Evolution or Butterfly: the former maybe has 1-2 classics and just a bunch of decent material, and I think the latter tried to be serious but ended up sort of overshooting itself, which now makes Butterfly very dated in a way Days of Future Passed never is. I still think Butterfly has some incredible songs though.
I have to agree about "Very Last Day" - Hollies bring the song to a level of greatness. I guess it still lacks a tiny bit of aggression to my ears to be truly apocalyptic - you can still hear it's fine British lads in a studio who are singing it, not a firebrand preacher and chorus at a tent revival in the middle of a great storm, but it's still great.
"Down The Line", on the other, hand, I find more significant - its dry, echo-ey sound for me sounds like a prediction of "Long Cool Woman" and "The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam Mcgee" - both my favourite Hollies tunes.
P.S. I know it's VERY far away in the future, but I wonder if you'll review Hollies' "Russian Roulette" album from 1976. It's probably my second-favourite effort by the group (after 1974's confusingly named "Hollies"), but it seems to have fallen from the face of the Earth - it doesn't exist in any streaming services in its full form, as far as I know, probably due to some copyright conflict.
Sorry for all the threads. Havent figured out quotes in comments. Mickeys Monkey is indeed a bad cover for a few reasons. 1) It's dumb even by dance track standards, and the Miracles choreo is cringe and borderline offensive https://youtu.be/uy3ZOP1NE44?si=1F7i2szNme97y3PM
2) The Hollies (and the Rascals a year later) make a dumb song ridiculous because it's beneath and behind their artistic development. The Rascals in partucular were developing their songwriting talents rapidly and going back to their club reportoire waz a backwards step. But at least they had the soul chops to pull it off. Which leads me to
3) I have never liked the Hollies attempts to cover R&B. Allan CAN sing soul, the question is SHOULD he? I get it, theyre a beat group, and evry beat group especially Merseyside cut their teeth on American soul music. But it was never a great fit with these guys. Songwriters they may not be (yet), but neither are they soul brothers. Gospel, on the other hand, much more their wheelhouse.
Those 65 singles were amazing, and they string goes all the way thru 67. Bus Stop was my Real Intro to the Hollies (theyre a staple of Oldies Radio here) so can't wait til you turn the page!
"only occasionally rising to the surface to catch some air" Well, that gives a whole new layer to The Air That I Breathe, which incidentally was the first Hollies song I heard at age 3, although I didnt know it was them at time. Their 70s output is better than the wacky jumpsuits (Allan) and wigs (Bobby) would imply.
Interesting to see that you are warming up to this era of the Hollies a lot more than you did when you first reviewed them. I’d honestly agree with this new view: the Hollies, I think, functioned best in this era where they could be lightweight but the competition in 1965-1966 could still exert pressure on the band to keep their melodic consistency. A lot of this material is tight and meaningful in the youthful way a lot of British Invasion stuff.
And I especially prefer this view because I have honestly never been that crazy about either Evolution or Butterfly: the former maybe has 1-2 classics and just a bunch of decent material, and I think the latter tried to be serious but ended up sort of overshooting itself, which now makes Butterfly very dated in a way Days of Future Passed never is. I still think Butterfly has some incredible songs though.
I have to agree about "Very Last Day" - Hollies bring the song to a level of greatness. I guess it still lacks a tiny bit of aggression to my ears to be truly apocalyptic - you can still hear it's fine British lads in a studio who are singing it, not a firebrand preacher and chorus at a tent revival in the middle of a great storm, but it's still great.
"Down The Line", on the other, hand, I find more significant - its dry, echo-ey sound for me sounds like a prediction of "Long Cool Woman" and "The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam Mcgee" - both my favourite Hollies tunes.
P.S. I know it's VERY far away in the future, but I wonder if you'll review Hollies' "Russian Roulette" album from 1976. It's probably my second-favourite effort by the group (after 1974's confusingly named "Hollies"), but it seems to have fallen from the face of the Earth - it doesn't exist in any streaming services in its full form, as far as I know, probably due to some copyright conflict.
Sorry for all the threads. Havent figured out quotes in comments. Mickeys Monkey is indeed a bad cover for a few reasons. 1) It's dumb even by dance track standards, and the Miracles choreo is cringe and borderline offensive https://youtu.be/uy3ZOP1NE44?si=1F7i2szNme97y3PM
2) The Hollies (and the Rascals a year later) make a dumb song ridiculous because it's beneath and behind their artistic development. The Rascals in partucular were developing their songwriting talents rapidly and going back to their club reportoire waz a backwards step. But at least they had the soul chops to pull it off. Which leads me to
3) I have never liked the Hollies attempts to cover R&B. Allan CAN sing soul, the question is SHOULD he? I get it, theyre a beat group, and evry beat group especially Merseyside cut their teeth on American soul music. But it was never a great fit with these guys. Songwriters they may not be (yet), but neither are they soul brothers. Gospel, on the other hand, much more their wheelhouse.
Those 65 singles were amazing, and they string goes all the way thru 67. Bus Stop was my Real Intro to the Hollies (theyre a staple of Oldies Radio here) so can't wait til you turn the page!
"only occasionally rising to the surface to catch some air" Well, that gives a whole new layer to The Air That I Breathe, which incidentally was the first Hollies song I heard at age 3, although I didnt know it was them at time. Their 70s output is better than the wacky jumpsuits (Allan) and wigs (Bobby) would imply.