Rockin' Robin/What Kind of Love/Whatcha Gonna Do 'Bout It/When I'm Not There
When the Hollies one of the best and most commercially successful
pop/rock acts of the British Invasion began recording in 1963, they
relied heavily upon the R&B/early rock & roll covers that
provided the staple diet for countless British bands of the time. They
quickly developed a more distinctive style featuring three-part
harmonies (heavily influenced by the Everly Brothers), ringing guitars,
and hook-happy material, penned by both outside writers (especially
future 10cc member Graham Gouldman) and themselves, eventually composing
most of their repertoire on their own. The best early Hollies records
evoke an infectious, melodic cheer similar to that of the early Beatles,
although the Hollies were neither in their class (not an insult: nobody
else was) nor demonstrated a similar capacity for artistic growth. They
tried, though, easing into somewhat more sophisticated folk-rock and
mildly psychedelic sounds as the decade wore on, especially on their
albums (which contain quite a few overlooked highlights).
Allan Clarke (lead singer) and Graham Nash (vocals, guitar) had been
friends since childhood in Manchester, and they formed the nucleus of
the Hollies in the early '60s with bassist Eric Haydock. In early 1963,
EMI producer Ron Richards signed the group after seeing them at the
famous Cavern Club in Liverpool. Guitarist Vic Steele left before the
first session, to be replaced by 17-year-old Tony Hicks. Drummer Don
Rathbone only lasted for a couple of singles before being replaced by
Bobby Elliott, who had played with Hicks in his pre-Hollies group, the
Dolphins. The lineup changes were most fortuitous: Hicks contributed a
lot to the group with his ringing guitar work and songwriting, and
Elliott was one of the very finest drummers in all of pop/rock. Although
their first singles were R&B covers, the Hollies were no match for
the Rolling Stones (or, for that matter, the Beatles) in this
department, and they sounded much more at home with pop/rock material
that provided a sympathetic complement to their glittering harmonies.
They ran off an awesome series of hits in the U.K. in the '60s, making
the Top 20 almost 20 times. Some of their best mid-'60s singles, like
"Here I Go Again," "We're Through," and the British number one "I'm
Alive," passed virtually unnoticed in the United States, where they
didn't make the Top 40 until early 1966, when Graham Gouldman's "Look
Through Any Window" did the trick. In 1966, Eric Haydock left the group
under cloudy circumstances, replaced by Bernie Calvert.
The Hollies really didn't break in America in a big way until "Bus Stop"
(1966), their first Stateside Top Tenner; "On a Carousel," "Carrie
Ann," and "Stop Stop Stop" were also big hits. Here the Hollies were
providing something of a satisfying option for pop-oriented listeners
that found the increasingly experimental outings of groups like the
Beatles and Kinks too difficult to follow. At the same time, the
production and harmonies were sophisticated enough to maintain a broader
audience than more teen- and bubblegum-oriented British Invasion acts
like Herman's Hermits. Their albums showed a more serious and ambitious
side, particularly on the part of Graham Nash, without ever escaping the
truth that their forte was well-executed pop/rock, not serious
statements. Nash, however, itched to make an impression as a more
serious artist, particularly on the "King Midas in Reverse" single
(1967). Its relatively modest commercial success didn't augur well for
his influence over the band's direction, and their next 45s were solidly
in the more tried-and-true romantic tradition. By 1968, though, Nash
really felt constrained by the band's commercial orientation, and by the
end of the year he was gone, left for the States to help found Crosby,
Stills, & Nash. His departure really marked the end of the group's
peak era.
In 1969, the band tried to have its cake and eat it too by doing a
whole album of Hollie-ized Dylan songs, which was received poorly by
some critics, although it was a decent seller in Britain. Nash was
replaced by Terry Sylvester (formerly of Liverpool bands the Escorts and
Swinging Blue Jeans), and the hit streak continued for a while. "He
Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," in fact, was one of their biggest
international singles. But the group was really reaching a cul de sac;
they'd managed a remarkably long run at the top considering that they
hadn't changed their formula much since the mid-'60s, adding enough
sophistication to the lyrics and arrangements to avoid sounding markedly
dated. It was apparent they really weren't capable of producing
long-playing works striking enough to appeal to the album audience,
though, and their singles, though still hits on occasion, weren't as
memorable as their best '60s work. A modest slide in the early '70s was
arrested by "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," a Creedence Clearwater
Revival-type rocker that made number two in the States in 1972. The
timing wasn't ideal; by the time it became a smash, Clarke, who had sung
lead on the single, had left to go solo, to be replaced by Swedish
vocalist Mikael Rickfors. Clarke rejoined in mid-1973, and the group had
one last international monster, "The Air That I Breathe," which made
number six in the U.S. in 1974. The group went on to record a string of
further albums in the second half of the 1970s.
Curiously, mostly thanks to Clarke, they did pick up on Bruce
Springsteen's work as a songwriter earlier than a lot of other acts, but
not even their beautiful rendition of "Sandy" could avert their slide
from the public's consciousness. Most of their late-'70s releases were
heavily influenced by the prevailing disco and dance-rock sounds of the
era, although they never entirely abandoned their harmony vocal sound.
Under other circumstances they might have pulled off a career conversion
similar to that achieved by the Bee Gees after 1974, but luck wasn't
with them and their output in this period was ignored, passed over by
fans of their old sound and the disco audience alike. This coincided
with a decision by their American label, Epic Records -- apparently
conceding that the Hollies would never sell large numbers of LPs
regardless of how big their hits ever were -- to minimize the marketing
efforts invested in the band's records, essentially running out the
clock on their contract. Ironically, the label ended up passing on the
one LP the group issued in the late '70s that would have reached out to
old and new audiences, the concert album originally titled Hollies Live.
It ended up getting reviewed enthusiastically in numerous American
magazines and newspapers as a Canadian import. The group seemed to reach
a dead end in the early '80s, with Sylvester and Calvert exiting
suddenly during that period.
The Hollies received a boost in press interest in America during 1983,
however, when Graham Nash rejoined for one LP (What Goes Around... on
Atlantic Records), but even this proved a false start. A new generation
of rock music critics, accustomed to looking askance at longtime acts
such as the Hollies attempting to bring their sound into the 1980s,
proved especially hostile to the group's British invasion-style gambit
of re-interpreting a Motown standard like "Stop! In the Name of Love,"
which became the single off the album. In a sad piece of irony, What
Goes Around... received more press attention than any long-player they'd
ever released in America, but most of the reviews were lukewarm or
outright negative; worse still, this was a dozen years past Crosby,
Stills & Nash's heyday, and even Graham Nash's star had faded
considerably by then. Additionally, it turned out that a lot of his
remaining American CSN fans were simply not prepared to accept -- or, at
least, get excited by -- the idea of his returning to the Hollies. They
got lots of print and radio exposure, but the public just didn't care
that much; as an example, an autograph signing at Tower Records in New
York's East Village was ended an hour earlier than its scheduled 90
minutes when hardly anyone showed up to meet the band. And the tour by
this lineup had to be hastily rebooked into smaller halls when ticket
sales didn't meet promoter expectations.
The group continued to play concerts and make beautiful records, but
there was no public demand for new releases, and by the '90s they'd
ceased making new studio recordings. As the 21st century beckoned, Allan
Clarke -- after nearly 40 years as the lead vocalist for the band --
found that his singing didn't come to him as strongly or as well as he
was used to, and he decided to retire, leaving Hicks and Elliott as the
last two core members of the group. Clarke's first successor was Carl
Wayne, the onetime lead singer of the 1960s Birmingham-spawned band the
Move, who fronted the band on-stage for the next couple of years. In
2003, EMI Records recognized the Hollies' musical significance with a
huge (and hugely satisfying) six-CD box set, The Long Road Home:
1963-2003, covering every era and major lineup in the group's history,
and containing a huge number of previously unreleased and unanthologized
tracks.
Wayne's death in 2004 led to another shift in their lineup, but in 2006
the group bounced back with its first new studio album in 23 years,
appropriately entitled Staying Power, which featured Hicks and Elliott
at the core of a lineup that included Peter Howarth on lead vocals, with
Ian Parker on keyboards, Steve Laurie on guitar, and Ray Stiles on
bass. Although not widely distributed outside of England, the record --
ironically, their first CD-original studio album -- proved to be a very
fine updating of the group's sound, retaining enough of their
traditional pop/harmony elements to satisfy longtime listeners. A live
DVD derived from a December 2006 concert in Belgium was issued in 2007, a
year that also saw a big chunk of their vintage catalog get further CD
re-releases, principally through EMI. In 2009, the Hollies returned with
a new album, Then, Now, and Always, and the following year, they
received one of the greatest accolades of their career when the Hollies
were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The group continued
to tour in the U.K. and Europe, and their 2012 road trip resulted in a
live album, 2013's Hollies Live Hits: We Got the Tunes! And in 2014, as
the band celebrated their 50th anniversary as a recording act, they
released a special three-disc collection, 50 at Fifty, a set that
covered the group's history in 50 songs, and included a new track,
"Skylarks."
