(Guest review by Gary Pig Gold) (Eagle Rock Entertainment) Never as naughty as the Rolling Stones, nor as pin-up perfect as Herman's Hermits; seldom as musically adventurous as the Yardbirds, nitty-gritty as the Animals, or full-on bombastic as The Who. Of course, as truly no-one was, they just weren't as precociously talented as those Beatles either.
In fact, throughout the entire artistic marathon which was
1960s pop, perhaps their only true competition – in
the vocal department at least – would be from the all-American Beach Boys. And,
like them, it seems the only true "crime" The Hollies ever committed
during their illustrious decades-long career was that they solely concentrated
on, well, just making good records.
For you see without the assist of
a cut-throat manager, cutting-edge studio supervision, wily publicist or even
with-it wardrobe consultant (as late as 1972 the Hollies could still be found
touring North America in the kind of matching cream-colored suits even the
above-mentioned Mike Love & Co. had jettisoned by 1969) Allan Clarke,
Graham Nash, Tony Hicks, Bobby Elliott, Terry Sylvester et al were left more or
less to simply let their own string of absolutely fab hit singles do their
walking and talking for them.
And what's wrong with that, I'd
like to know?
A whopping twenty-two (!) of those
hits and then some now generously fill
Eagle Rock/Reelin' In The Years' two-hour-plus The Hollies: Look Through Any Window, packed alongside enough
behind the scenes reminiscences, vintage newsreel clips (including a
fourteen-minute glimpse inside a 1967 Hollies session at Abbey Road) and even
personal road-view home movies to please the most discriminating British
Invader out there, I'd wager.
Well, then! Our story begins as a
six-year-old Allan Clarke is fatefully seated next to Graham Nash in an
otherwise nondescript Manchester classroom. A decade later, the two pals chance
upon the Everlys' "Bye Bye Love" at a Catholic Girls School dance and
their destinies, both musical and otherwise, are immediately and foreverafter
bonded.
So, as teenagers did throughout
late-Fifties Britain, Allan and Graham began honing their harmonizing in local
pubs and social halls, eventually forming a series of increasingly
sophisticated beat combos which, in the wake of the Beatles' initial success –
and despite Graham having not a single unbroken guitar string left on his
Harmony acoustic during their audition – won a recording contract with none
other than EMI's Parlophone label (RIP).
A flurry of effortlessly
pop-go-lucky Hollies hits follow, each lovingly illustrated within Look Through Any Window via a veritable
goldmine of seldom-seen promotional and performance clips, unencumbered with
annoying voice-overs and left to unspool in their pristine totality.
Watch a Queen Elizabeth look-alike
stroll somnambulantly through what appears to be a flower shoppe for 1963's
pioneering "Little Lover" jukebox video. See the band bravely face
down various Stones, Searchers, and even Beatles at the 1964 NME Poll Winners concert, then see – and
hear – the Hollies meticulously craft
"On A Carousel" in the recording studio (…it seems the Granada TV
crew had just been ushered out of a "Penny Lane" overdub session
being held next door). Clearly, for an outfit so often dismissed as being
image-less and/or less-than-charismatic, we recognize instead five guys who can
more than hold their own against the antics of a Gerry and the Pacemakers or
even the on-stage fury of a Dave Clark Five.
Between these astonishing clips we
hear the tantalizing back-stories told in contemporary interview footage with
Graham, Allan, utterly brilliant drummist Bobby Elliot and wiz-kid
vocalist/guitarist Tony Hicks, the latter of whom actually picks up the nearest
12-string to demonstrate his trademark "I'm Alive" solo, "Look
Through Any Window" Byrds lick, and still-astonishing "Stop Stop
Stop" banjo/balalaika hybrid. The man was, and remains, a disarmingly
soft-spoken yet nevertheless undeniable musical wonder.
Watch closely too and you'll see
various Hollies cavorting around Japan to the accompaniment of "King Midas
In Reverse," discover who "Carrie Anne" really began life as, and even watch Allan Clarke looking for said
song's steel drum band hidden down his trouser leg at Yugoslavia's Split
Festival, I kid you not.
Most unfortunately however, the
fun and games – though thankfully not the hits – began ending circa 1967 as
Graham suddenly got himself all "serious" (as in severely
profound-o-delic); a curious, demoralizing change of attitude, not to mention
altitude, which just didn't sit at all well with his pot-pie-as-opposed-to-pot
fellow Hollies. No matter though: after a bizarre fling with DayGlo menswear
and albums named after holometabolous insects, the man was soon sent packing
aboard his Marrakesh Express to the supposedly hipper climes of Los Angeles
…and into the welcoming arms of Messrs. Crosby and Stills. Good on ya then,
Willy.
Enter ex-Escort/Swinging Blue Jean
Terry Sylvester, straight into Graham's old white suit and bow tie as we watch
the second chapter in Hollie History unfold with the UK # 3 hit "Sorry
Suzanne" through "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (featuring
Elton John's £12 piano part), "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress,"
"The Air That I Breathe" and, twenty-two years too late, induction at
last into that Rock and Roll Hall of, um, Fame.
Consider this entire package then,
including Ben Fong-Torres' studious liner notes for the accompanying 12-page
"Hollies Scrapbook," a (re-)introduction to the deceptively simple
'n' smiling musical magic which continues to be this band's stock in trade. An
admittedly upbeat combo whose music,
in Graham's well-put words, nevertheless remained "serious as a heart
attack," with nary a vocal harmony configuration left unexplored or an
instrumental note misplaced, overlooked, or thankfully overplayed. In short
then, The Hollies exemplify the long-lost art of a band that did only what needed to be done; nothing more, but
hardly nothing less.
Or, as Allan Clarke best sums up,
"We were just a great group who sang great songs and had a lot of
hits." Case closed.
The Hollies: Look Through Any Window is but the latest addition to Reelin' In The Years'
exemplary British
Invasion series, so if you haven't already grabbed the rest of the set,
what on Earth are you waiting for ??
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