The Hollies :: View topic

Although I'm not quite as bitter as he seems to be, Laughing

I must say that for the most part, my position is very similar to that of James Towill. Does that make me less of a Hollies fan than others here? I don't think so. I do know that I consider that Carl Wayne song on the greatest hits CD to be something of a throwaway track. But hey, that's what happens when, for whatever reason, more than two decades pass between releases of new original material albums.

Interesting thread this...

A new album by The Hollies has to be something very special indeed to be a success. Maybe one idea is a 'special guests' album? I'm sure they'd have no trouble finding willing participants, particularly if Alan & Graham could be persuaded to get involved, & Tony & Bobby are highly respected by other musicians of course. I know that most real fans would prefer a new album without other people, but if that was a success there'd be far more future interest in the group.

Jerry Lee Lewis has been recording a 'special guests' album recently, & the list is impressive:

B. B. King
Bruce Springsteen
Mick Jagger
Ronnie Wood
Neil Young
Toby Keith
John Fogerty
Keith Richards
Robbie Robertson
Merle Haggard
Kid Rock
Rod Stewart
Willie Nelson
George Jones
Little Richard
Delaney Bramlett
Buddy Guy
Don Henley
Kris Kristofferson
Eric Clapton
Ringo Starr
Jimmy Page

(more info can be found below):

http://www.jerryleelewis.nl/en/NewAlbum.htm

Now, imagine a Hollies album with members of The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zep, The Eagles, CCR, The Band, as well as Clapton, Springsteen, Neil Young, Rod, etc. Its success would pretty much be guaranteed!!!

I have listened to the sound sample of Rock'n'Roll on the Jerry Lee Lewis site and although I like his work (I only know the '50s recordings) I think that song sounds very bad. Not very well played and badly sung.
The track listing and the guests sound interesting but the "killer" seems to be in a bad shape these days...

James,

Are you saying that Allan wanted to record a new album before he left the group?

Micheal

I always thought that The Hollies themselves gave up on albums after Buddy Holly and What Goes Around and became more of a touring entity doing whatever bits of recording came along their way (the German singles for example).

Micheal

[[/quote]

I always assumed that Allan (& the others) always wanted to continue cutting albums but the record companies lost interest. Or am I wrong?[/quote]

That is how I understand the situation, althought to be frank, from what I have read, I felt that Bobby and Tony were rather indifferent to the notion of laying down new material, preferring just to tour the hits. Then there's these live recordings from the '90's that haven't seen the light of day.

What has suddenly spurred this interest by EMI in the band producing new material? Has someone finally managed to promote the band again or secure some publicity money? No matter how good the new album could possibly be (even if it had been one fronted by Carl or indeed Allan), I won't imagine it will be a large seller at all. Even from the Scottish dates which have been announced, they seem to be overestimating the crowds that might turn up. Scottish fans had been asking for dates here from 1999 (when I saw them at a rather empty Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, fronted by Allan) and this resulted in three dates with Carl (of which I attended the somewhat empty Glasgow Pavillion and very full Stirling Albert Halls), both in 2003. I'm sure many will be keen to hear the hits again in 2006, I'll give it a miss.

Listening to Clarke's Headroom album just now - great Friday evening music...think I'll just Drift Away... Laughing

I also think the Hollies themselves gave up on recording albums because I can't imagine that there is no way to convince a record company to release an album by a band like the Hollies. Although such an album maybe wouldn't be a big success but after a break of 6 to 10 years or more as it's the case now I think a Hollies album would sell to the satisfaction of a record company. They could have chosen a smaller label than EMI, too. There were still many bands from the '60s who recorded albums in the '80s or '90s and for them there was also little chance for commercial success.

Perhaps I'm being naive but I always presumed The Hollies Ltd. financed the recording etc. and then turned it over to the record company or maybe the financial relationship is more two way than that. Given that they were not a big album band I can understand the boys not wanting to sink more and more money into albums.

RE: 2006 Tours. I guess they think that the new album will get them some extra airplay, magazine coverage and few TV spots thus extra advertising for their shows.

Micheal

I'm not going to have great expectations for the new album, so hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised if it turns out OK. I don't think the fact that it's their first album in over 20 years is a negative; it could help get it noticed by the media. I also don't think it was such a bad thing for them not to record very much from '84 onwards. There have been some rather dire things like "This is It" and "Baby Come Back" that no one could possibly want to hear now. As for the Carl Wayne track, I was pleased with it. I think it is better than most of the '80s and '90s things done in the studio with Clarke.

February 20 is the release date for the new CD. I found this out on Ebay, of all places.

That information has been on this website for a couple of weeks now.

News and Press Release.

I will hopefully be able to add an advert from EMI shortly.