The Hollies :: View topic

Rythym Guitar Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 293

Hi Dennis,
I just would like to know why you consider 5317704 to be boring. It's hard to compare this album with the Rickfors era Hollies albums. It has a very different mood. It's a ballad album but with great singing and professional instrumentation and great songs on it. Just think about "When I'm Yours" with the superb singing of Allan and the great guitar solo by Tony and the very emotional "It's In Everyone Of Us". 5317704 is one of my five favourite Hollies albums next to "Hollies 1965", "Butterfly", "Out On The Road" and "Hollies 1974".

Hi Vrinda,
I know it's a bit late to welcome you, I have enjoyed what you have to say. I started being a Hollies fan once I saw a special called "Don't get Sunburnt" in 1971 from what I remember they replayed it once and I don't think it's seen the light of day again.
James I agree with you about Allan and the Hollies, they both needed each other
Bye,
Anthony

Hi, Anthony,

Thanks. It's never too late to welcome someone! Thanks for reading my posts.

Vrinda Very Happy

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

Vrinda raises an interesting point re the Great Frankie Valli...Having begun as "The Four Lovers" in the 50's backing up artists like Bobby Darin etc,they became "The Four Seasons" (after a NY cocktail bar apparently) when Bob Gaudio from The Royal Teens (who did "Short Shorts" covered here by Freddie & The Dreamers) joined the group.,
After first "Bermuda" they came up with the idea of utilising Frankie's amazing 3 and a half octave falsetto for Bob Gaudio and Producer Bob Crewe's song "Sherry"....the rest is history.("Silence is Golden"...a smash in 1967 for The Tremeloes...was just their "B" side to "Rag Doll"...) .they, of course, had the USA hit with "Stay" while The Hollies had the UK hit.

Thanks for the post, Geoff. I think I have a soft spot for the Four Seasons because they're from NJ like me, but those guys were amazing vocalists and performers. One note, they got their name from a restaurant in Newark, New Jersey, not in New York.

Despite the lineup changes and changes in music over the years, they kept right on going, just like the Hollies.

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

Hi Vrinda !
Yes that would make more sense as Frankie Valli is a New Jersey boy (Real name Francis Castellucio or something !)...

If you see it I would recommend "Genuine Imitation Life Gazette" (1969), it was their "Sgt, Pepper"/"Pet Sounds" type album...it "flopped" because although full of superb vocals and great arrangments, the "social message" was rather grim with songs like "American Cruxifiction...and Resurrection",(pre - Watergate !), the very bleak "Genuine Imitation Life",There was a song about an uncaring women's group discussing a pregnant young girl's suicide...! ("Mrs Stateley's Garden") , children of divorce ("Saturday's Father", - you can see their influence on the vocal harmonies of both Carpenters and Bangles on this song),plus the American society piece "Wall Street Village Day"...sung by Bob Gaudio and Joe Long (Valli appearing on just two "vocal bridge" lines !)...plus the reflective "Someone's on her Mind",the poignant "Look up,Look Over", the twist in the tail "Wonder What You'll Be",and the fascinating closing song : " Soul of a Woman"...(which always makes me think of Laura Nyro).

Yet, In among all this heavy stuff, is "Idaho"...which says absolutely nothing at all...except that "Idaho" is great !...but sound exquisite...if you love vocal harmonies...just listen to The Seasons "ultra tight" vocal harmony sound...and Frankie Valli "soaring" above it...!

Written by Bob Gaudio and "cult" folk writer lyricist Jake Holmes, it's subject matter only confused fans and critics expecting songs like "C'mon Marianne" or say "Lets Hang On"...!
A forgotten sixties masterpiece....

Thanks, Geoff! Sounds like something I should give a try. It's strange that so many songs that speak of the ills of society, like those that came out in the sixites, can be all but forgotten by everyone other than those of us who listen to music from that era. If anything, it's music that's as relevant today as it was then, maybe even more so. I wonder if music is as socially conscious or demonstrative today, and judging by what I've seen heard, not in the least. Sad

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

Hi Vrinda !
Yes I Agree,aside from writers like say Pete Seeger,Bob Dylan and so on...(years ago people like Woody Guthrie) most people only seem to want to embrace the more positive aspects in songs..."Gen Imitation Life" is NOT a depressing sounding album...the harmonies are glorious !!, the very unusual arrangments by Bob Gaudio are really most striking with lush vinatge "Hollywood" style strings & orchestration ...yet "phased" drumming, "electronic treatments" on vocals and pianos/guitars etc...a weird "old yet new" sound !....but compared to the ultra positive "Woodstock" dream...then ( and it was a "dream" sadly...), I think that composer Jake Holmes got many things spot on with his lyrics...but it may not have been what people wanted to hear or expected....certainly NOT from The Four Seasons,
either before...or since (look at The Hollies songs like : "Too Many People", "Promised Land", "Soldier's Dilemma", or "You Know The Score"....! )

I Know New Jersey is a big place...but are you anywhere near Lakehurst, New Jersey
where the Airship "Hindenburg" exploded in flames on 6 May 1937 ?
( My father came from near Cardington, where the ill - fated British Airship "R-101"
was based and flew off to destruction in France in October 1930.), years ago we saw the vast hangers that they were stored in,which still survive even now !

All this talk about Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons... I can't stand them! "Sherrrie, Sherrie Baby..." Yuck! They are so unhip. Falsetto singing really annoys me, the main reason why I can't stomach the disco Bee Gees either. Yes, The Walker Bros. hit #1 in the UK and #13 in the US when they covered The Four Seasons' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)". The Walkers made a truly great record, something Valli and crew were incapable of doing. Valli was obviously very bitter about it, too, as he hosted a TV showing of the film "Beach Ball" (a 1965 musical hodgepodge of teen acts of the day) several years back that featured The Walker Bros. (before they had hits). He mentioned every act in the film by name except The Walker Bros. Is it easy to figure out why??

To each his own, Dennis. Maybe in the sixties I would have thought these guys sounded awful, but in this day and age of losers and lowlifes who can't sing to save their lives? It would be too critical and harsh to rant about singers and groups from decades past whom we can't stand, when there are so many more polluting the airwaves we can bash (I think you know who I mean, if you've read some of my other posts!) Very Happy

Have you heard the Four Seasons' version of "Stay"?I think it's a killer cut, alongside the Hollies' version.

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

It is indeed all a matter of taste and to each their own...