The Hollies :: View topic - The Hollies- Never a Rock Band!

Hi i'm a newbie on the forum so apologies if i do any thing wrong.At the moment i'm listening to the Out On The Road Album-absolutely brilliant-sounds better every time i hear it.My favorite Hollies period is the seventies with the likes of Confessions Of The Mind,Distant Light,Romany and the above album showing the band as a musically,acomplished rock and roll outfit.Mikael Rickfors had the ultimate rock vocals so unique and powerful they just blew you away adding to this a wonderfully,underated guitar wizard AKA Tony Hicks and the rest of the A Team you had the perfect rock combo.It always amazes me that Rickfors was only with them for 18 months or so and just two albums but thats record companies for you.So when i heard an interview with Tony Hicks on a norweigan radio station saying that The Hollies had never been a rock and roll band and would never profess to be i had to dissagree with him.Ok he probably feels like this now years later but when i have seen footage of this period he seems to be having the time of his life and living the rock dream.Sorry for going off on one with it being my first post and all-Bye for Now-Carrie Anne-Also apologies for using the word ROCK five times.

The great thing about this forum is the varied opinions from the varied fans. The Hollies could certainly rock it as many of their songs show (Russian Roulette, 48 Hour Parole, Trans-Atlantic Westbound Jet, Out On the Road, Crocodile Woman and more). But they were more than that and that adds to their attraction for me. Their verstility meant they could sing soft love songs and great ballads too. Almost every album shows it and I think that is one of the reasons The Hollies appeal to 50 somethings like me and a younger audience too. Welcome to the forum.

I totally agree with you that The Hollies are very versatile in a musical sense with their love songs and power balads which i love.It was just those comments that Tony made was like those times had never existed and i think if Rickfors had been allowed to stay with them the band would have moved in a more rock orientated direction.Thanks for the welcome.

Funny one of the Hollies biggest world wide hits was a rock and Roll number "Long Cool Woman" I have always loved the Hollies rock numbers like Daddy Don't mind, Curly Billy, LCW. I only wished they recorded more rock and roll songs.

Rythym Guitar Joined: 08 Jun 2006 Posts: 293

The Hollies were professional in many musical areas and great musicians, singers and composers with a distinctive harmony vocal sound. That's why I love them.

I'm not all too surprised about Tony's comment The Hollies not being a rock'n'roll band because I always had the impression that the members of The Hollies could show more pride about their work in public. They have made great songs they never played in public. "Confessions Of The Mind" is a masterpiece which shows their versatility in one single song that deserves to be played in concert. As far as I know they never did. A good starting point for showing their pride in public about their work could be to play more from their great albums. Paul McCartney does it, Clapton does it, and especially Elton John plays many non-hit album tracks during one concert. Why don't The Hollies do it ? By doing it they could show that The Hollies are many things in one, a rock'n'roll band, a ballad band. a country band, a reggae band, a pop band and a beat band. On many of their tracks they showed that they were great in all those musical areas.

Rythym Guitar Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 486 Location: UK

The current lineup, and that with Wayne certainly seems to have abandoned album tracks (or at least in the case of Howarth and co any that aren't from Staying Power). With Clarke we were treated to such beauties as Not That Way At All (b-side) and Don't Let Me Down et al.

Maybe something which could be reinstated in time?

At least one positive thing with the current lineup is they have brought in hits into the setlist that have not been played live for many years such as Hey Willy and Curly Billy. I think however they should include less numbers from the Staying Power album as in my opinion I feel they are pale in comparison to album tracks like Don't let me down and Not That Way At All. I also hope Running Through The Night gets on to future setlists again that was one of my favourites when I saw them in 1999. Who knows what their next album will bring whenever that may be Wink

I know that Bobby and Tony decide on the contents of their gigs so i think that someone needs to have a word in their shell likes.Go on then Rob!