The Hollies :: View topic - Wanted: More Hollies CD or L.P. "Product"

O.K., it's a cheesy music biz term, but we need more Hollies CD or L.P. "Product" !. It could be any of the following:

1.A new album by the 21st century Hollies (hopefully with some original Tony Hicks or Bobby Elliot songs)

2. More remastered vinyl or High Resolution downloads of 1960's or 1970's Hollies albums. The remasters of "Evolution" & "Butterfly" sounded superb. I opted to buy the vinyl, since the high resolution downloads were priced abnormally high.

3.A 4th Hollies CD boxed set including the recordings after 1988.

4.An archival rarities CD containing the remaining useable unreleased 1960's, 1970's & 1980's unreleased songs and versions.

Whatever it may be, give us more Hollies PRODUCT !

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

most likely you will get another hits compilation....

a concert DVD from any era is my hope.

Bass Guitar Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 85 Location: USA

I vote for a new album. Some of us are absolutely greedy for Hollies' music.

We can't ever get enough.

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

A live DVD of the current Hollies ought to be no problem as plenty of shows are recorded now

a shame that more of the footage of vintage Hollies live performances over the years has not been compiled either to form a retrospective DVD featuring each 'era' of the band in turn - a number of live 'specials' and TV show performances survive and could make up a great collection

while a new studio album by the current Hollies hopefully including more original songs written by the band and a decent 'Rarities 2' CD set, plus a 1981-1993 era compilation covering the latter 'Allan Clarke Years' of studio and a few live tracks would fill an important gap in the group's recording history

All would be VERY welcome indeed by many Hollies fans and I'm sure plenty of the wider public too

but as I said I fully expect more hits compilations are the most likely...(I just hope they prove me wrong !)

Maybe our dreams of more Hollies archival "Product" are going to come true!

Former EMi Records Group/North America compiler/engineer Ron Furmanek is working on some new Hollies projects that will include archive tracks from both the Nash & Sylvester years. These may include CD+LP sets. This would explain why Warner/Parlophone halted Hollies vnyl activity after the (excellent) newly remastered vinyl & download remasters of "Butterfly" & "Evolution. Furmanek was the compiler & remixer of the U.S.A.-only Hollies "30th Anniversary Collection" 3-CD set which featured stereo remixes of most Hollies non-L.P. B-sides, but Furmanek's remixing work with the Hollies and other 1960's EMI artists did not find favor with EMI/UK executives and was released only in the U.S.A.
But, now, under Warner/Parlophone, it is a new day, and Furmanek, who in recent decades had worked with his brother in the business of licensing vintage rock music film footage, has been lured back to the field of CD compiling. What better place to start than with the music of The Hollies? Furmanek has claimed to have more than two dozen unreleased Hollies tracks from the Nash era, and an equal quantity of tracks from the Sylvester era. I had always wondered if there were more instances similar to "We're Through" & "Magic Woman Touch" where The Hollies tried alternate arrangements of a song.
Gimme more Hollies "Product"! YEAH.

Rythym Guitar Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 486

We can hope for some decent new mixes of known unissued tracks such as the original Nash version of 'Survival of The Fittest' from August 1968 and the Sylvester version of 'Wings' from March 1970

in addition there are earlier unreleased sixties tracks with Nash, possibly including some unknown to us tracks (?)

plus the abandoned 'Hollies Sing Country' tracks with Sylvester such as 'The Race is On', 'Kentucky Woman' and 'Dang Me'....

and later seventies tracks such as 'Salvation Band', 'Father Machine', 'Born To Run', 'Is it True ?', 'I'd Like To Be That Man' etc

they also cut 'Angel of The Morning' early in 1969 before Terry Sylvester was recruited probably featuring Allan Clarke on high harmony vocal

from the brief Mike Rickfors era there are a few unissued songs such as 'On The Summer Side of Life'

there are some later tracks from the 1980's / early 90's that have not appeared on CD that could be included too plus the 1986 single that never was the apparently forgotten 'Hard To Forget' !

There's been no further word as to whether Ron Furmanek is still working on Hollies archival projects. Have these projects been abandoned?

Look, we understand that today, musicians derive most of their income from touring and that sales of music recordings (on any format) don't really mean much to most musicians. But would it be too much to ask for Hollies management to tell the fans whatever became of Ron Furmanek's Hollies archival project? Even if the news isn't good, please say something.
This coming Christmas shopping season with see an avalanche of CD boxed sets and archive projects by the biggest and most legendary artists of the 1960's and 1970's. The Hollies deserve to be there amongst those legendary groups and artists. After all, The Hollies were second only to The Beatles in the amount of Top 40 UK hits that they had in the 1960's. In my view, that qualifies The Hollies for "Legendary" status, fully deserving of archival projects similar to those we'll be seeing by other "Classic Rock" legends in the next few months..
With the exception of the (fairly recent) Warner/Parlophone vinyl & download remasters of "Butterfly" & "Evolution", the existing masterings(done in the 1990's by Peter Mew) of The Hollies 1960's recordings don't do justice to the music.

Then, I guess that's the end of The Hollies archival project. There's nothing more to say.

According to another Hollies forum, Ron Furmanek is still attempting to mix and compile Hollies archival material. It appears that the original plan for two 2-CD sets has been reduced to one 1-CD set (all Nash-era material). It will contain only polished, completed recordings. No backing tracks or demos (No "Marrakesh Express")
But don't expect the compilation to be released any time soon. It may be a long (Dark?) road to get every Hollies member to sign off (to give permission), specifically, Clarke, Hicks, Nash, Calvert, Haydock & Elliott.