Tony Hicks,,,,,

[JimN]

The programme that was shown on Sky Arts the other day (credited with a copyright in 2011 and apparently the same film released on DVD) had so many complete, untouched, uncut and non-voice-overed musical archive performances that it was like an Aladdin's Cave of the period.

Witness Echolette amps (already mentioned) and an incredible array of mid-sixties Selmers at one stage (blue/grey front-panel Zodiac, croc-Goliath for bass and even a TV100 metal-clad PA amp on the floor). Plenty of Voxes from all sixties periods of course, and a host of different guitars. I've only watched half-way through and so far I've spotted:

Gibson ES345 Stereo (cherry)
Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty (P90 and Alnico)
Fender Jazzmaster (sunburst)
Framus 12-string jumbo with added pickup
Vox Phantom 12 (white)
Gibson Les Paul Standard (HB x 2)
PRS something or other (how are you supposed to tell them apart?)
Epiphone Texan
Vox New Escort (Telecaster-alike from c. 1966)
Fender Telecaster
Fender Precision Bass
Fender Jazz Bass
Fender Bass VI.

Eric Haydock, as admitted by Graham Nash in the film, was an excellent bass-player, playing the sort of melodic patterns and runs, full of passing notes and chordal references, that Paul McCartney would later be credited as almost inventing. It was a great shame, especially given his musical skills, that Eric never managed to get back into the limelight.

JN

[Martin Page]

The programme that was shown on Sky Arts the other day (credited with a copyright in 2011 and apparently the same film released on DVD) had so many complete, untouched, uncut and non-voice-overed musical archive performances that it was like an Aladdin's Cave of the period.

Witness Echolette amps (already mentioned) and an incredible array of mid-sixties Selmers at one stage (blue/grey front-panel Zodiac, croc-Goliath for bass and even a TV100 metal-clad PA amp on the floor). Plenty of Voxes from all sixties periods of course, and a host of different guitars. I've only watched half-way through and so far I've spotted:

Gibson ES345 Stereo (cherry)
Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty (P90 and Alnico)
Fender Jazzmaster (sunburst)
Framus 12-string jumbo with added pickup
Vox Phantom 12 (white)
Gibson Les Paul Standard (HB x 2)
PRS something or other (how are you supposed to tell them apart?)
Epiphone Texan
Vox New Escort (Telecaster-alike from c. 1966)
Fender Telecaster
Fender Precision Bass
Fender Jazz Bass
Fender Bass VI.

Eric Haydock, as admitted by Graham Nash in the film, was an excellent bass-player, playing the sort of melodic patterns and runs, full of passing notes and chordal references, that Paul McCartney would later be credited as almost inventing. It was a great shame, especially given his musical skills, that Eric never managed to get back into the limelight.

JN

Saw it this afternoon - loved it!

M

[ash]

I'd say all 3 of the main instrumentalists in the Hollies were excellent. Tony was terrific (not the best as alluded to earlier but still ace), Eric Haydock a really imaginative bass player but the very best is Bobby Elliott. I think he could have been in any band and been brilliant - Shads,Fabs,Stones maybe even the Jimi Hendrix Experience. He'd certainly have improved Cream no end. He's very tasteful as well as skilful.
I really like The Hollies but overall i think they suffer from a couple of problems -
1/ They tend to do the same kind of harmony work on nearly everything. Well done but gets samey very quickly and their voices are too shrill to rock out convincingly.
2/ their lyrics seem to be pitched at the younger sisters of beatles fans. case in point Carrie Anne - what a brilliant record ruined by the most dreadful lyrics.
Of course when they tried to remedy this with Evolution and Butterfly their fans deserted them and the groovy hipsters were never gonna admit liking them so they ran back to Jennifer Eccles which is even more rancid than any treacle offering Macca foisted on us.
If forced to choose 1 Hollies track i think i'd go for the original mono 45 mix of I Can't Let Go. What a storming record.

Oh and like Tony Hicks i don't really like strats either. Obviously there are exceptions (Hank and Hendrix and Holly to name three) but i'd never use one. I prefer Gibson Les Pauls or if i had to use Fender i'd go for a Tele.
Guess i'd better start running....

[RayL]

Oh and like Tony Hicks i don't really like strats either.

With Strats (and any other 3-pickup guitar) the middle pickup reduces the space available for picking. Obviously it depends of the size of your hand and where you like to place your hand, but by and large the space between the neck pickup and the bridge pickup is where it is easiest to play lead with a plectrum. If that space is even partly filled with a pickup it increases the chance of the plectrum clouting the top of the pickup. Maybe Tony Hicks' reason is a very practical one?

For a Hollies hit with great opening lead guitar, great harmonies and 'non-soppy' lyrics, look no further than Look Through Any Window !

Ray

[ecca]

Soppy lyrics ?
Blimey early Beatles songs were hardly lyrical masterpieces were they ?
Love me do ? Please Please me ? She Loves you ?
Mind you, Please Please me was a clever title.

[Martin Page]

Watching Hicks recreating the solo from I'm Alive was illuminating. It was made up of just chords and variations. Brilliant playing...

Martin.

[cockroach]

I also read somewhere that Tony didn't like Strats- apparently he borrowed one at one time in an emergency when on tour when his own guitar went missing or somesuch , but with light strings and a loosely set up vibrato unit on that particular guitar, he couldn't keep it in tune, so it put him right off Strats..(perhaps he locked the vibrato unit on his early Jazzmaster?)

I noticed that in the studio footage close-ups, when playing On A Carousel, he has heavy strings on his black early model Les Paul Custom, with a wound third..he always tended to play cleanly and melodically with some well chosen and often unusual tones. I remember him saying in a Beat Instrumental interview that he wasn't a big fan of all the light gauge string stretching 'blooze' playing nor did he like the noisy distorted or feedback stuff like the Who, Kinks etc - he said he liked what he called a genuine electric guitar sound- and he certainly got some distinctive tones on record and on stage- especially from his Gibson stereo with the Varitone (I've no idea why many people hate the Gibson Varitone 6 position switch- I've tried a few Gibsons and even Ibanez copies with such a switch and they give a great extra tone range and variation of tone to the normal humbucking pickups. OK, you lose some sheer power, but the tones are worthwhile)

[ecca]

Watching Hicks recreating the solo from I'm Alive was illuminating. It was made up of just chords and variations. Brilliant playing...

Martin.

Yes, that impressed me too.

[JimN]

I noticed that in the studio footage close-ups, when playing On A Carousel, he has heavy strings on his black early model Les Paul Custom, with a wound third...

Everybody did until about 1967, and even then, a lot of players - even famous players like Roy Wood - only moved to plain thirds gradually. The Move used to endorse Rotosound "Power King" strings (11-50 with a 22 wound third) until at least early 1969.

JN

[Tone]

Going off at a slight tangent, I missed the documentary and I've just checked the Sky Arts listings to see if it's on again today. It's not but what is on at 8pm is a programme with Mark Knoffler talking about "the six very different guitars" that formed his music. It's probably been on before but, if it has, it passed me by.

Should be interesting.

Cheers.

Tony