I was a fan of The Hollies back in the Sixites and early Seventies. Allan Clarke and Graham Nash formed The Hollies in late 1962 as a Merseybeat-type music group in Manchester, England. Graham Nash left The Hollies in 1968 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash. The Hollies continued to record and tour after Nash left. In fact, The Hollies still tour (mostly in Europe) today. The Hollies: 50 at Fifty includes all their hits (many remastered for the first time) and plenty of material that’s newly released in the USA. If you’re a fan of The Hollies, you’ll love this box set. There are hours of great music here! What’s your favorite song by The Hollies? GRADE: A
TRACK LIST:
Disc: 1
1. (Ain’t That) Just Like Me (1997 Remastered Version)
2. Searchin’ (1997 Remastered Version)
3. Stay (1997 Remastered Version)
4. Just One Look (1997 Remastered Version)
5. Here I Go Again (1997 Remastered Version)
6. We’re Through (1997 Remastered Version)
7. Yes I Will (2003 Remastered Version)
8. I’m Alive (2003 Remastered Version)
9. Look Through Any Window (2003 Remastered Version)
10. If I Needed Someone (2003 Remastered Version)
11. I Can’t Let Go (2003 Remastered Version)
12. Bus Stop (2003 Remastered Version)
13. Pay You Back With Interest (2003 Remastered Version)
14. Stop Stop Stop (2003 Remastered Version)
15. On A Carousel (2003 Remastered Version)
16. Carrie Anne (2003 Remastered Version)
17. King Midas In Reverse (2003 Remastered Version)
18. Jennifer Eccles (2003 Remastered Version)
19. Listen To Me (2003 Remastered Version)
20. Sorry Suzanne (2003 Remastered Version)
Disc: 2
1. He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother (2003 Remastered Version)
2. I Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top (2003 Remastered Version)
3. Gasoline Alley Bred (2003 Remastered Version)
4. Hey Willy (2003 Remastered Version)
5. The Baby (2003 Remastered Version)
6. Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) (2003 Remastered Version)
7. Magic Woman Touch (2003 Remastered Version)
8. The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee (2003 Remastered Version)
9. The Air That I Breathe (2003 Remastered Version)
10. Lonely Hobo Lullaby (2003 Remastered Version)
11. I’m Down (2003 Remastered Version)
12. 4th July, Asbury Park (Sandy) [2003 Remastered Version]
13. There’s Always Goodbye
14. Boulder To Birmingham (2003 Remastered Version)
15. Too Young To Be Married (Live; 2003 Remastered Version)
16. Daddy Don’t Mind (2003 Remastered Version)
Disc: 3
1. Hello To Romance (1996 Remastered Version)
2. Amnesty (1996 Remastered Version)
3. Soldier’s Song (2003 Remastered Version)
4. Heartbeat (1995 Remastered Version)
5. If The Lights Go Out (First Version; 2003 Remastered Version)
6. Take My Love And Run (2003 Remastered Version)
7. Stop In The Name Of Love
8. Let Her Go Down (2003 Remastered Version)
9. Too Many Hearts Get Broken (2003 Remastered Version)
10. Laughter Turns To Tears (2003 Remastered Version)
11. So Damn Beautiful
12. On A Carousel (Live)
13. Then, Now, Always (Dolphin Days) [Live]
14. Skylarks
This is more like it. Not that I’ll buy it, but it’s a good choice.
Bob, it’s not often that a band manages to last 50 years.
A toss-up: Look Through Any Window or Long Cool Woman.
I’d also recommend Graham Nash’s autobiography, WILD TALES: A ROCK & ROLL LIFE, which covers in detail the formation of the Hollies and Nash’s almost 60-year long friendship with Alan Clarke. A more introspective book than most sex-drugs-and-rock-n-roll bios tend to be.
Deb, thanks for the heads-up on Graham Nash’s WILD TALES! I’ll pick up a copy today.
I like a lot of these songs. Can’t pick a favorite.
Bill, I’m fond of BUS STOP and MERRY-GO-ROUND.
I never liked “Long Cool Woman”; not sure why. I do like “Hey Ain’t Heavy (He’s My Brother)” and “The Air That I Breathe” and most of the 1966-67 stuff.
As I understood it, Graham Nash left because they wanted him to keep singing the leads but wouldn’t record any of his songs.
As Nash explains in his autobiography, the Hollies were stuck in a rut musically while meanwhile Nash was coming to L.A. and sitting in on sessions with Crosby and Stills and the whole Laurel Canyon scene and he just couldn’t see going back and singing songs like Bus Stop and Jennifer Ecckles again.
Deb, the musical landscape was changing and Nash was smart to join Stephen Stills and Crosby in California at that point in time.
Jeff, I’d say Graham Nash made a great career move by leaving The Hollies and joining the super-group CROSBY, STILLS & NASH.
It’s BUS STOP without a doubt. Most of the other material seems either to be covers or songs that were made popular by other bands. My recollection is that the term Super Group started with CSN but may have also been applied to Cream even earlier.
Rick, you might be right about the origins of the term “super-group.” CSN (and later, Young) was huge back then. Now, not so much. Cream’s life-span was fairly short.
Always fond of Carrie Anne and Pay You Back With Interest.
Steve, I actually was dating a girl named Carrie Anne about the time The Hollies’ song was playing on heavy rotation on the radio.
Who said it was bad? Not I. I said I wouldn’t buy it because I rarely buy CD’s. I have scores of them and they spend most of their lives in drawers and on racks. Now that I have a CD player in my truck I hear them a little more often.
Bob, I play CDs on driving trips and the commute to work.
Interesting that “Too Young to be Married” is included, which is my default choice for their worst.
Todd, I think THE HOLLIES: 50 AT FIFTY is a “kitchen-sink” collection. Everything–good, bad, or indifferent–is included.
And I think it was a very minor hit for them somewhere. I’d have to mull on which of the top dozen might be my favorite, but I did post “I Can’t Let Go” (in contrast to Linda Ronstadt’s cover) on my blog recently.
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