Only Solitaire reviews: Important Artist Series

Only Solitaire: G. Starostin's Record Reviews, Reloaded Important Artist Series The «Two Cents» Page. 1920-1960 1960-1965 ? Hollies, The. ? Kinks, The. ? Pretty Things, The. ? Rolling Stones, The. ? Small Faces. ? Who, The. ? Yardbirds, The. ? Zombies, The. 1965-1970 ? Cream. ? Eric Clapton. ? Gene Clark. 1970-1976 1976-1989 1989-1998 1998-2016
Part 2. The Early Rock'n'Roll Bands Era (1960-1965) THE HOLLIES
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STAY WITH THE HOLLIES (1964) 1) Talkin' 'Bout You; 2) Mr. Moonlight; 3) You Better Move On; 4) Lucille;
5) Baby Don't Cry; 6) Memphis; 7) Stay; 8) Rockin' Robin; 9) Watcha Gonna
Do 'Bout It; 10) Do You Love Me; 11) It's Only Make Believe; 12) What Kind
Of Girl Are You; 13) Little Lover; 14) Candy Man; 15*) Ain't That Just Like
Me; 16*) Hey What's Wrong With Me; 17*) Searchin'; 18*) Whole World Over;
19*) Now's The Time; 20*) Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah; 21*) I Understand; 22*) Stay;
23*) Poison Ivy. Most of the early British Invasion acts had a role model or two from across
the Atlantic before they'd start to carve out their own identities - it was
only a matter of how early that carving-out process would start, especially
relative to that defining moment when the band in question would first set
foot in a proper recording studio and land its first record contract. From
that point of view, The Hollies landed theirs a bit too early in the game
(imagine, for a second, The Beatles getting theirs in late 1960 rather than
late 1962), and although, in retrospect, this does not sound like that much
of a problem, Stay With The Hollies set them off on the wrong foot in the
LP business department - an inauspicious move whose consequences, it might
be argued, would reverberate through the band's entire career. The role model in question was, of course, The Everly Brothers - in fact,
The Hollies pretty much started out intentionally as the UK's answer to
Phil and Don, with Allan Clarke and Graham Nash modeling themselves as a
folk-rockish singing duo; and even if the band's debut album does not
include any of the Everlys' songs as such, most of its material is
delivered very much in the Everlys' style. Sound-wise, The Hollies played a
very polite, anger-less, family-friendly version of rock'n'roll that went
light on electric guitars and heavy on two-part vocal harmonies: like Phil
and Don, they were not at all averse to taking lessons from Chuck Berry and
Little Richard, but they always emphasized the melodic, rather than
punkish, sides of these guys, and the Hollies followed suit - their cover
of Little Richard's ?Lucille? here is almost 100% identical to the way the
Everlys did it, and that's the way it would always be. That said, even without any original ideas and without any significant
attempts to write their own songs, already at that earliest stage The
Hollies had a major advantage of their own - a lead singer blessed with a
voice every bit as distinctive as that of John Lennon, Mick Jagger, or Eric
Burdon. As the record opens with a standard guitar introduction to Chuck
Berry's ?Talkin' 'Bout You?, the very first line, "let me tell you 'bout a
girl I know...", even though it is sung in harmony by Allan Clarke and
Graham Nash (and maybe Tony Hicks as well?), totally belongs to Allan, as
does almost everything else on this album. It is not a deep, rumbling tone
of the Eric Burdon variety, or a sharp, guttural, devilish tone of the Mick
Jagger one - it is a high, ringing, and ever so slightly raspy tone that
suggests inoffensiveness and friendliness, yet ones that go along with
punchiness if necessary. It is a tone that stands out loud and proud in a
sea of millions, and one that can't help drawing your attention, just
because you instinctively feel how extreme it is. And it is pretty damn
hard to be extreme in the middle of a soft-melodic vibe, yet somehow
Clarke's singing is that one element which makes words like «wimpy» or
«sissy» inapplicable to The Hollies, and words like «kick-ass» fairly
reasonable. And there's not much to say other than that, really, about the fourteen
songs on this record - but then, nothing else is needed, because The
Hollies' taste in covers was good, and with Allan giving it his all, they
succeed in producing sharp, deeply enjoyable, and far-from-superfluous
versions of many of them. Not many people, for instance, could have
competed with the exuberance of The Contours, permeating every second of
?Do You Love Me? - Mike Smith of The Dave Clark 5 sang the song as close to
the «black-voiced» original as possible, which was indeed superfluous, but
Clarke, adding a funny bit of gurgle to his razor-sharp voice, delivers it
exactly as it should be delivered by a sneery, snotty, cocky, yet
ultimately good-natured British teenager, coming up with the single best
cover of the song until the maniacal cover of The Sonics a year later. Another highlight is Roy Orbison's ?Candy Man?: this is a particularly
happy choice, because Roy wrote a good handful of excellent rock'n'roll
songs without, however, being much of a rock'n'roll singer - and this
provides Clarke with a great chance to squeeze all of the tune's implied
sexuality onto the surface. Is «cock pop» even a term? If it is not, it
should be invented specifically for this hilarious performance: musically
cuddly, no match for even the Beatles, let alone the Stones, but vocally...
hoo boy, just lock up your daughters when Allan mouths "let me be... mmm,
your own cande-e-e-e... candy ma-a-a-an", even if, to the best of my
knowledge, the UK press never saw much of a threat in the Hollies (probably
because they never had themselves an Andrew Loog Oldham to market their
threat-ability). Sure, some of these covers work worse than others: just as in the case of
the Beatles, for instance, it is hard to understand the love they all had
for ?Mr. Moonlight? (here spoiled even further by the unlucky choice of
Nash as the lead vocalist - doesn't seem to be the right kind of material
for him at all), and Bobby Day's novelty-nursery hit ?Rockin' Robin? is one
of these proto-bubblegum numbers that is very hard to take seriously with
its tweedle-dees. The only original composition on the album is ?Little
Lover?, delivered with plenty of fire but songwriting-wise, largely just a
minor variation on the Chuck Berry formula (although the resolution of the
chorus, with the unexpected twist of "come on and discover... my lo-o-o-o-
ve for you!" is quite indicative of future pop songwriting ideas to come).
But on the whole, there are very few open embarrassments / misfires
compared to the number of good songs done in classy Hollies style. Admittedly, that style has not yet been fully worked out: somewhat parallel
to the earliest recordings by The Beach Boys, it took the band some time to
become experts in studio multi-part harmonizing, so most of the
entertainment here is simply provided either by Allan solo or by Allan
propped up and thickened by the two other singing guys. Likewise, guitarist
Tony Hicks is not at the top of his game, either, although his brief, well
thought-out leads compete rather well with contemporary George Harrison.
Yet even so, the album still sounds remarkably fresh and enjoyable, rather
than boring and generic, after all these years - a decent career start,
well worth a modest thumbs up, in the face of the typically cool critical
reaction. The expanded CD reissue is essential for completists, throwing on the
band's first three singles from 1963, but I am not a major fan of The
Hollies covering The Coasters - they did not really have that band's innate
sense of humor, so ?Ain't That Just Like Me? and ?Searchin'? come off
somewhat stiffer than necessary - so in this particular case, you won't be
uncovering any hidden gems, as opposed to subsequent albums where the bonus
tracks are essential, since many of them represent the band's finest,
single-oriented songwriting efforts. IN THE HOLLIES STYLE (1964) 1) Nitty Gritty / Something's Got A Hold On Me; 2) Don't You Know; 3) To
You My Love; 4) It's In Her Kiss; 5) Time For Love; 6) What Kind Of Boy; 7)
Too Much Monkey Business; 8) I Thought Of You Last Night; 9) Please Don't
Feel Too Bad; 10) Come On Home; 11) You'll Be Mine; 12) Set Me Free; 13*)
Just One Look; 14*) Keep Off That Friend Of Mine; 15*) Here I Go Again;
16*) Baby That's All; 17*) We're Through; 18*) Come On Back; 19*) What Kind
Of Love; 20*) When I'm Not There; 21*) Yes I Will; 22*) Nobody. If you are listening to the expanded CD version of the Hollies' second
album, be sure to program it (at least once) so that most of the bonus
tracks come first - this will give you an even better perspective on the
band's creative growth through 1964. More than ten months separate In The
Hollies Style from Stay With The Hollies, which is actually quite a bit of
time by Sixties' standards; however, this is perfectly understandable for a
band that measured its progress in singles, rather than LP tracks. And even
if for their singles they largely kept relying on cover versions, this did
not prevent them from maturing as completely autonomous artists, if not
necessarily expert songwriters. The story begins with Doris Troy's ?Just One Look?, where the band's three-
part harmonies finally fall into place: Clarke, Hicks, and Nash together,
then the former two supporting Nash on the bridge section. Where Troy's
original was a tad slower and her vocals were soulful rather than playful,
The Hollies sensed the song's immense pure-pop potential, tightened it u