The Hollies :: View topic

"Laughter Turns to Tears" most definitely should have been a single release. It has all the ingredients of a true Hollies song...harmonies, melody, and contemporary appeal. I'm certain it would have done well in the UK charts. Anyone know why it was not considered worthy enough to be the single?

I think the record company wanted to push the bland ballad "Too Many Heart Get Broken" because of the previous success with "The Air That I Breathe". But, yes, "Laughter..." is the superior tune of the two, no doubt about it. It would have benefitted greatly by having Terry Sylvester on the harmony vocal. That's the only thing that bothers me about it; the lack of Terry, who blended so well with Allan. I was so sorry (and am to this day) that he left the band on a bad note. It's a real shame.

Nash's voice is also better for lead vocals than Sylvester's on the whole. Terry has, obviously, produced some really good lead vocals such as on Mr Heartbreaker, Pull Down The Blind and No More Riders.

Interesting, this: the two major hits that Graham sang lead on, "Just One Look" and "On A Carousel" feature his lead vocal in only one part of each song; the middle of "Just One Look" and the beginning of "On A Carousel". The rest of each song is sung in harmony with Clarke and Hicks.
And let's give Terry Sylvester his due: "Jesus was a Crossmaker" features an outstanding lead vocal performance by him. And to think it opens the recent film "Elizabethtown".

Hell, I forgot about Jesus Was A Crossmaker - definitely Terry's finest lead vocal for the band.

My favorite lead vocal by Terry has got to be "Lizzy And The Rainman" - one of my favorite Hollies songs.

Graham's voice not being so anonymous and harmonious in the harmony is much of The Hollies charm I think. It sure is a distinctive voice.

I also think Terry might have been a better singer had he not been so much the harmony singer. I guess his voice got locked into not being the lead. I get the impression there was a bit more soul and power in the voice which never really got out. Harlequin hints at that for me.

Again, it shows how great the Hollies were, even the 2nd singer who rarely got to sing lead was WAY above average.

Micheal

I love "Carrie-Anne". but "Carrie", from 1981 is my pick as worst.

I love 99,99 % of Hollies songs but “I’m down” is surely the worst song they ever made…

Don’t know another Band with a 99 % result of songs I would love …

Hans

Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 17 Location: UK

Interesting that some of the songs mentioned here are ones that i quite like eg Maker, Soldiers Song & The Baby amongst others. Don't want to drag in another argument about Staying Power, but my bottom 20 Hollies songs would include the 12 from Staying Power plus a few from What Goes Around AND the dreaded Woman I Love by Nik Kershaw (what were the Hollies thinking of when they picked that one !!), plus ordinary pap like Reunion of the Heart, This Is It & Too Many Hearts Get Broken.

PS If you want to hear Terry Sylvester doing lead vocals then it's worth getting his double solo anthology cd that includes most of his lead vocals on Hollies records plus all his solo stuff ......or you can also still track down copies of Terry singing lead vocals with the Escorts (From The Blue Angel cd) from around 1964, which is also excellent ..... and he can also be heard on one or two of the later Swinging Blue Jeans tracks ....