'The Hollies' from the beginning

[cockroach]

I watched the DVD yet again the other evening, with my old mate the bass player, who hadn't seen it, and he enjoyed it too.

Not only were/are Tony and Bobby brilliant, but I think Eric Haydock was a tremendous bass player too...and he was a Fender Bass VI user too folks- a Shadows/Jet connection, except that he used it as a bass! And what great lines he played, and such a driving style perfectly interlocked with Bobby's great playing.

As Tony once said in an interview, there were really only the three of them doing the music- the rhythm guitar was never prominent, as Tony did both parts.

Incidentally, Tony must be one of the most controlled lead players ever- on nearly all the records and live, the vocals, drums and even the bass predominated- Tony never ego tripped over the songs- but when he did play a solo- you listened! and his sounds and rhythm playing style were all his own too.

The documentary as a whole is damned near perfect compared to other ones I've seen- it concentrates on their music, not personal lives, and all the other crass stuff, like how many drugs they took, how many hotel rooms they wrecked and all that sort of sensationalised rubbish.

[Monty]

While it's often said by Hollies members (notably Hicks & Elliott) that Tony Hicks did ALL the guitar parts on Hollies recordings ... it's not strictly accurate

For a start there were more than just two guitar parts after 1964 - there is the lead guitar (from 1965 onwards Hicks would often add the solo on later) , a backup electric - which might well be all Hicks - plus an amplified acoustic rhythm guitar which can be heard on quite alot of the recordings....while later more acoustic guitars are featured too.

The film of them recording 'On A Carousel' at Abbey Road shows Graham Nash strumming his acoustic guitar and producer Ron Richards studio lists show an acoustic rhythm guitar was used (you can hear it on about 60% of Hollies sixties tracks, especially on the remastered CDs)

The 'Live in Stockholm' 12 December 1966 & Lewisham Odeon May 1968 & Yugoslavian concert (1968) recordings plus 'Beat Beat Beat' footage all feature Nash playing 'live' both electric backup guitar (notably on 'Bus Stop' in the 'Beat Beat Beat' show) and even harmony banjo on 'Do The Best You Can' in the Yugoslavia concert.

while on 'Beat Club' in 1966 you can see - and hear - Nash's electric guitar is 'plugged in' to an amp...despite later claims Nash 'never plugged in' (Nash himself has even said that...another 'Hollie tale'.... but he did 'plug in' at least when using a backup electric guitar - when I saw them in concert back in the sixties he WAS right in front of me - 'plugged in'....!)


Nash strummed the intro on his song 'King Midas in Reverse' quite proficiently at Lewisham Odeon before Hicks then enters on 12 string guitar too.

Nash alone features on his solo affort 'Fifi The Flea' (1966) & plays alongside Hicks on 'Clown' (1966) too (as The Walker Brother's drummer Gary Leeds mentions in his linear notes to 'For Certain Because...' album in 1966)

Nash very probably strummed guitar on his 1967 'Butterfly' album solo songs; 'Postcard' (with Hicks) and the Eastern flavoured 'Maker' (which I'm not sure if Hicks was even on as it was cut with the same Indian musicians The Beatles were using then - Hicks has admitted it certainly was not him playing the Indian sitar on that track...)

Tony Hicks did most of the guitarwork of course both backup & played almost all the solos but Nash DID nevertheless play some guitar parts despite what they later tend to say (a bit of 'history re-writing' goes on)

Eric Haydock's fine six string bass contribution from 1963-Spring 1966 has sadly been almost 'airbrushed out' of their story completely at points in the group's history (he's a bit more 'onside' again with them these days, Eric being present at the rather controversial American Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction show with Clarke, Nash, Calvert, & Sylvester)

Allan Clarke also contributed some guitar parts too - notably on his songs 'Soldier's Dilemma' & 'Marigold' (1969), and 'Hold On' (1971) plus the hits 'Long Cool Woman (in A Black Dress)' (1971) - Clarke & Hicks play that intro then Clarke is lead guitar & Hicks is on rhythm guitar, &, 'Curly Billy' (1973) which has Clarke on lead guitar & Hicks on electric guitar/sitar

Terry Sylvester contributed both rhythm guitar & some acoustic & electric backup guitar from 1970 to 1981.(Alan Parker of Blue Mink/C.C.S. fame played guitar alongside Hicks on one of the Bob Dylan songs in 1969, while Rod King had played the pedal steel guitar on 'Jennifer Eccles' in 1968)

Mike Rickfors contributed both Acoustic & Electric guitarwork - and Bass guitar/keyboards/Harmonica too during his brief stint with The Hollies over 1972-73.

High Harmony vocalist Alan Coates played backup electric guitar over 1981-99 period plus some co-lead guitarwork (notably with Hicks on 'Purple Rain' 'Live Version' released in 1993)

now Peter Howarth plays some acoustic guitar (notably during his solo spot in concerts) while Steve Lauri contributes both Lead,& backup guitar parts too - Lauri is featured lead guitar on the tracks 'Weakness' & 'Break Me' (both 2006) on the album; 'Staying Power'

Tony Hicks has of course provided alot of magnificent guitarwork & banjo too for The Hollies - from early Rock & Roll guitar to echoed guitarwork on 'I'm Alive' to the famous 'coffin shaped' Vox Flying phantom (on 'Yes I Will', 'Look through Any Window' etc) to the totally unexpected 'heavy metal' styled electric solo burst set over acoustic 'folky' strumming on 'Hard Hard Year' to the greek style guitarwork on 'Tell Me To My Face' and the shimmering cascade of echoed electric guitar on Nash's 'Clown', plus mesmerising banjo work on songs such as 'Stop Stop Stop' & 'Heading For A Fall' to fuzz guitar featured on 'Have You ever Loved Somebody' to Byrds style Rickenbacker on 'You Need Love', to 12 string guitar on 'King Midas...' to the superbly delicate acoustic with a wonderful solo on 'Too Young To Be Married', his 'pinprick' style flowing guitar solo on 'To Do With Love', plus his guitar/sitar used on; 'I Shall Be Released', 'The Baby', 'Magic Woman Touch' 'Curly Billy', the gorgeous 'layered' guitar intro to 'There's Always Goodbye', the 'phased' guitarwork on 'You Gave Me Life', the blistering rock guitars on '48 Hour Parole', to the surging rock guitarwork on 'Satelite Three' & later 'Purple Rain' and latterly his 'underwater' style electric guitar on 'Live it Up' (2006) etc

....and of course the unforgettable intro and solo he played on 'The Air That I Breathe' - guitarwork Eric Clapton said to Tony that he wished he had played...!

[RUSSET]

Great band, The Hollies ! They don't get as much acknowedgement for their contribution to the '60s music scene as they deserve. Though, like many early '60s recordings, the sound quality on many tracks was not what we would expect today.
My favourite was 'Bus Stop', written I believe by Graham Gouldman, another great Manchester musician & songwriter, who later became famous as part of that excellent four-piece, '10CC'. Great harmonies all round.

[Moderne]

Thank you Monty, for your comprehensive and very readable overview of The Hollies' career. The saddest aspect of their story for me - apart from Carl Wayne's tragic death - is Allan Clarke's retirement due, basically, to losing his amazing singing voice. I know he had left the group a couple of times before to pursue his solo projects but he is still very much the 'sound' of The Hollies for many people and it seems so sad that someone with such an amazing and distinctive voice should lose that ability. I saw the group a few times in the 1990s and it was clear that he was having problems towards the end. I've never heard or read any detailed account of his vocal problems. I'd love to know what he's been doing for the past 15 or so years and whether he has recovered his singing ability at all. I heard him being interviewed by Steve Wright a couple of years ago but don't recall his voice being mentioned.

[Fenderman]

I thought Clarke left due to his wife just having surgery for cancer and wanted to spend more time with her, maybe i'm wrong but thats what i read a while back.
It's a shame he's not with the band anymore as i love his singing.

[cockroach]

Did anyone else notice that Tony was using what looked like a hefty set of strings with a wound third in the studio footage recording Carousel?

Not what the average lead player would have put on a Gibson Les Paul back then?

[Monty]

yeah VERY sad re Allan Clarke's vocal chords giving up....Hank or Tony Hicks can always get fresh guitar strings...but the fact is you ONLY get the one set of vocal chords !!

trouble was those famous Hollies hits were 'belted out' by Allan Clarke for about four decades, and in truth he was in a way his own worst enemy as he insisted on doing pretty much ALL the lead vocals in concerts from the seventies onwards after Graham Nash left the group in December 1968

Nash had become a balladeer for the band and he took more & more lead vocals or co-leads - On A Carousel, Carrie Anne - even Tony Hicks took a verse lead vocal on that hit - King Midas, & Nash did all the harmonies on 'Carrie Anne', sang THREE vocals on 'Listen To Me' and was very much a featured Lead singer on the albums from 1966 onwards...

Ex-Escorts/Swinging Blue Jeans guitarist/vocalist Terry Sylvester was a superb replacement for Nash - his emotive high harmony voice characterised the latter hits; 'Sorry Suzanne', 'He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother', 'I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top', 'Gasoline Alley Bred','Hey Willy','The Baby', 'Curly Billy' and of course 'The Air That I Breathe'

Terry was a fine lead singer too ('Jesus Was A Crossmaker') and became, like Nash, another balladeer for the band (his song & vocal; 'Cable Car' was a highpoint of their 1971 album 'Distant Light')

But after Clarke's two year exit from the band over 1971-73 Terry Sylvester later seemed to be featured just as high harmony vocalist on most of the seventies albums, and I feel it's possible they held him back somewhat fearing another 'Nash situation' (which only led to one eventually as a frustrated Sylvester quit in 1981- Terry's last recording with them being the apt; 'I Don't Understand You Anymore' produced by Bruce Welch & cut at Brian Bennett's home studio)

Clarke took almost ALL the concert Lead vocals from 1973 onwards.....and it took it's toll on his vocal chords

Later Tony Hicks sang the odd song in concert (including a nice version of the old McGuinness Flint hit; 'When I'm Dead and Gone') but by 1997 Clarke's voice was visibly suffering the strain of so many years singing at full blast....and they began having to drop some fav songs from their live show (- such as Mike Batt's epic 'Soldier's Song' which had charted for them in the UK as late as 1980) as sadly Allan Clarke could no longer sing them

In retrospect Allan Clarke really OUGHT to have called it a day around 1996 when his voice was still in decent condition....his soldiering on cost them as a few venues dropped them (I've heard that Germany - blunt as ever - apparently told them: 'DON'T come back...with Allan Clarke ! but note: not don't come back tho....')

Allan's wife Jeni (the 'Jenny' from 'Jennifer Eccles') was indeed unwell by 1999 and Allan knew she had to come first (fortunately she has recovered fine) and also he knew that re his voice it really now was time to 'call it a day' and hence he 'retired' at the end of 1999

Ex-Move frontman Carl Wayne effectively saved them as a live band, he took over in 2000, and refreshed their live show, UK & European touring was successfully re-established, they even played a music festival at Cape Cod USA along with the reformed classic American sixties band The Lovin Spoonful - both bands getting rave reviews from the American press

all seemed fine until sadly Carl developed a throat problem by 2004 ...initially an operation seemed to have put it right, but it tragically proved not to be the case, it was throat cancer....came back with a vengeance and the Great Carl Wayne was suddenly lost to us

before his demise Carl was visited by Tony Hicks whom he told to KEEP The Hollies band going with a new lead singer

- Carl Wayne was only with them for for about four and a half years but he played a vitally important role in 're-establishing' The Hollies after Allan Clarke's retirement & ensured they were able to both carry on touring...and with his successor recommence recording later too, a fitting tribute to the famous sixties Move frontman

some Hollies fans were upset at the speed Peter Howarth was drafted in...but shows had been pre-booked & 'the show must go on' (we KNOW that Carl Wayne had insisted they continue on)

Peter who was one of Cliff's backing vocalists & came from a music theatre background was a fine next lead singer for them, with a very powerful voice plus was a top harmony singer & skilled acoustic guitarist, he has fronted the band since late summer 2004 contributing to two fine studio albums and the recent live double album.

Allan Clarke spends most of his time in the USA now, he can sing a bit and he took part with Nash (& Terry Sylvester !) in their USA Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction 'Hollies singalong'....a couple of years back he even joined Graham Nash & David Crosby onstage at the Royal Albert Hall during a 'Crosby & Nash' concert for a singalong of The Hollies hit 'Bus Stop' ! (it's up - or was up - on youtube so I believe)

[Monty]

In that Hollies Documentary (well in the Radio one; 'They Ain't Heavy...Their The Hollies' & I think in the DVD one 'Look Through Any Window' shown on Sky Arts channel again the other day ) Graham Nash tells a charming story re a 'next door neighbour' - a 14 year old kid who gave them 'Bus Stop' named Graham Gouldman....except the way he tells it....is simply not true !!

Future 10 c.c. member Graham Gouldman was older than 14 in 1966....and he was leading a Manchester band called The Mockingbirds (who cut a few singles for Parlophone, notably Gouldman's 'You Stole My Love' featuring a young Judi Driscoll on high harmony vocals)

The Mockingbirds were an occasional support band to The Hollies (as were Liverpool's The Escorts with a young Terry Sylvester) and in 1965 Gouldman's terrific 'Look Through Any Window' was a no.4 hit for The Hollies

Gouldman then gave Graham Nash his song 'Bus Stop' - apparently playing it to him backstage at somewhere like Stoke-on-Trent during a package tour show concert bill featuring the two groups - initially some in The Hollies felt it a 'bit square' or 'too cute' a tale (they had already rejected; 'A Must To Avoid' which Herman's Hermits then made into a hit in 1965)

but working out a good arrangement The Hollies made it a big worldwide hit - charting in 14 countries & notably their first major American chart hit reaching no.5 in both the USA and the UK.

The Hollies also cut Gouldman's song; 'Schoolgirl' in 1967 which was left unissued at the time and finally saw a belated release on 'Hollies at Abbey Road: 1966 to 1970' CD set (with added stereo guitarwork by Tony Hicks many years later & mixed by Tony's award winning recording engineer son Paul Hicks)

Both Hermans Hermits & Gene Pitney also cut versions of 'Bus Stop' as album tracks in the mid sixties too.

The Shads of course recorded Gouldman's instrumental 'Naughty Nippon Nights' on their album; 'From Hank Bruce Brian & John' in 1967, while The Yardbirds had big hits with his songs; 'For Your Love', 'Evil Hearted You' ,& 'Heart Full of Soul' (all 1965)

Herman's Hermits also of course had a big no. 2 hit with Gouldman's memorable 'No Milk Today' and another chart hit with his 'East West' (both 1966) plus cut his charming 'It's Nice To Be Out in The Morning' (1967) which namechecked various places in the Manchester area...and 'Bobby Charlton, Best and Law...' of Sir Matt Busby's Manchester United too !'