Greatest Hits - The Hollies

Hollies | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 20, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00008AWNW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,631 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

Notwithstanding the entirely acceptable omission of 1981's rather desperate Stars-on-45-style retro-medley "Holliedaze," this rather definitive Greatest Hits collection contains every single Hollies song that ever tickled the mass fancy of record buyers anywhere in the world, ever. Even the sleeve notes dispense with the scantest of biographical detail to present a veritable almanac of impressive global chart statistics, including mentions of #1 singles in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Holland, South Africa, Singapore, Ireland, and Switzerland, as well as the UK. Of course, the Hollies were nothing if not adaptable. The grinning beat pop and "pap pap she waddy wops" of "Stay" through to the folky overtures of "I've Got a Way of My Own" (like an estrogen-free version of the Mamas and the Papas) were obviously marvelous and yet entirely generic responses to the overriding cultural dominance of the Beatles and Bob Dylan. But much the same thing can be said for the majority of their peers.

Still, the 1960s were a golden age for the Hollies and to hear the Graham Gouldman-penned "Bus Stop", "Carrie Anne" (part Kinks, part Beach Boys, part calypso), or the sweet-shop bubblegum of "Jennifer Eccles" is to be reacquainted with a sunny lost world of short skirts, Mini Coopers, and policemen on bicycles. Even the knee-jerk cod-psychedelia of "King Midas in Reverse"--a full-on trumpets-blaring, cello-charging microcosm of Revolver and Sgt. Pepper-isms--deserves revisionist plaudits. There is one newly recorded track on the album (featuring Allan Clarke's replacement, the former Move vocalist Carl Wayne) called "How Do I Survive". Regrettably, it's a disco-cum-AOR rock thing that sounds like the result of an unfortunate liaison between James Ingram and Foreigner. Still, when faced with the spine-tingling, classic gold timelessness of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" and "The Air That I Breathe," it would matter not one jot if the bonus track was a three-part harmony rendition of a page out of the telephone directory. --Kevin Maidment

Product Description

40th anniversary compilation for one of the best & most commercially successful pop/rock acts of the British Invasion. Features 46 Hollies hits from the UK & the rest of the world, plus one more (final) track which is a brand new recording made at Abbey Road Studios in Feb. 2003. EMI. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ambitious compilation to satisfy whole world, September 13, 2003

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greatest Hits - The Hollies (Audio CD)

The Hollies were one of the best British groups around in the sixties. This anthology attempts to cater for the whole world by including songs that were hits in a variety of different countries. Clearly a lot of research went into the track selection, though a third CD would have been required to do the job comprehensively. Stewball (a huge hit for Peter Paul and Mary elsewhere) was a huge Swedish hit for the Hollies but is not included here. Two minor American hits (Another night, Do the best you can) are also missing, as are minor hits from some other countries.

Despite those omissions, this is an undeniably strong compilation. Of course, their biggest successes were in their home country, where their long list of big hits includes I'm alive, Sorry Suzanne, On a carousel, Look through any window, The air that I breathe, Carrie Anne, He ain't heavy he's my brother, Bus stop, Jennifer Eccles, Just one look and Yes I will. Of these, Just one look is a cover of a song that had been a huge American hit for Doris Troy.

The big UK hits are not the only ones worth hearing. If I needed someone and King Midas in reverse were, by their standards, modest hits but still wonderful. The generally less successful seventies are also well represented, not only by The air that I breathe (first recorded a year earlier by Phil Everly - yes, really), but by Long cool woman in a black dress, Gasoline alley bird and Boulder to Birmingham (a cover of an Emmylou Harris song). A new recording completes the set.

This is as good a collection of Hollies music as you are ever likely to find. If you enjoy British sixties pop music, you will find much to enjoy here.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost The Best Of!, April 26, 2003

By 

Ralph Quirino (Keswick, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Greatest Hits - The Hollies (Audio CD)

46 stand-out songs culled from the breadth and width of the band's lustrous career (and a new song to boot) on 2 brimming discs. No liner notes information yet world-wide chart position listings and amazing photos. Almost all the key moments are here yet sadly missing is "Another Night". Why? Why can't EMI get its act together and release one complete, effectively sequenced anthology? Don't get me wrong: I'm happy I own this set. But I wish that it had given me liner notes, a chronological sequencing of songs and "Another Night" (especially!). To this day, The Hollies are a misunderstood band who never really got their props and this anthology could have righted so many misconceptions! On a sound reproduction level: a glorious and full remaster. Still, for newcomers wanting a solid picture of the group's entire career, a worthwhile purchase.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They ain't heavy, they're The Hollies, March 18, 2006

By 

Peter Reeve (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Greatest Hits - The Hollies (Audio CD)

With 47 tracks, this is a genuine 'Greatest Hits' album, and it is usually available at discounted prices, so if you want one sprig of Hollies in your collection, this is the one to pick. The current alternatives are Sony's single-disc 2002 The Hollies' Greatest Hits, and the Anthology album. The latter looks like the worst choice because it omits the earliest hits like Bus Stop and On A Carousel. That's like a Beatles collection without She Loves You or I Want to Hold Your Hand. The Sony disc has 13 tracks that comprise all the essential songs and sells at about the third of the cost of this CD new, and about half the cost when used copies are compared. The insert notes on the Sony disc are minimal. Go for that only if you are really counting pennies, otherwise opt for this one.

The insert notes incorporate the excellent idea of pictures of every lineup (a dozen) over the years, with names to let you know who's who. In every picture, from 1963 to 2003, Tony Hicks looks just the same! There are also track listings that tell you at least as much as you want to know (Jennifer Eccles reached number 2 in Malaysia).

The group is still going, albeit with no original members apart from the ageless Hicks, although Bobby Elliot is almost original. Actually, the lineup has changed less frequently than most perennial groups but for me, Alan Clarke was the essential member, and during his brief absence in the 70s and since his retirement, they are The Hollies in name only. Clarke's singing is their trademark. Graham Nash got more attention, because of his later association with Crosby, Stills & Nash (& Young). But Nash was never a great singer, in either group.

The Hollies are light and frothy and poppy, but musically good nonetheless. They are very derivative. They are an amalgam of The Everly Brothers and the early Beatles. It is no surprise to see that many of these tracks were recorded at Abbey Road, including a George Harrison song, If I Needed Someone. Their lack of seriousness is most plainly heard in their kitsch, big-band swing version of Dylan's Blowin' In The Wind, which has to be heard to be believed. But they are great fun and very listenable. And let's not forget that He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother is one of the very greatest popular songs ever. That particular song absolutely has to be in your collection.