Customer Reviews

The Long Road Home - 1963 - 2003: 40th Anniversary Collection

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This boxset in my opinion covers everything.After reading some of the other reviews i had to respond to some of the negative comments about this box.Some reviewers have said that this box is for "diehard Hollies fans only".Well,yes thats true.For the most part only diehards would shell out this much money for this import.Some people have said that it doesnt contain enough of their hits? Then dont buy this boxset and buy a hits collection! Their are MANY to choose from out there! This box is simply an overview of their career-not GREATEST HITS.The set includes many classic lp tracks,lots of their hits,b-sides,live cuts and some unreleased gems.The sound quality is absoloutely stunning! The richness of their vocals stands out more now with the remastering than ever before! The musianship is outstanding.Tony Hicks guitar licks standing out more than ever.If you are looking for a greatest hits of the Hollies,then i would advice you to look elsewhere at the numerous collections out there.Or pick your favorite Hollies lp and buy it,EMI has recently remastered most of their CDs right up to my favorite Hollies lp(Distant Light).All CDs have also been remastered and come in very cool digipack If i was to have "one" small complaint about the boxset,it would be that maybe a couple more tracks from "Distant Light" could have been added.And maybe some more tracks from the Graham Nash era.But heck, i own all of the EMI remasters anyway! So if you are a "completist" like me,and you LOVE the Hollies then this is for you.If you are a casual fan then just get a "Greatest Hits" CD.But for me this boxset is superb.I have MANY other boxsets and the packaging and soundquality of this set ranks up there with the best of them.So once again-buy and enjoy if you REALLY LOVE the Hollies.But to be safe,check the tracklisting first because this box is not their greatest Hits-it is part of their hits and MUCH MUCH MORE!! Cheers!!

Ah, my heart goes pitter patter all over again. Allan Clark was bloody beautiful (those black-haired Brits always have a soft spot in my heart) and wow...this beautiful tribute made me recall that torrid crush! His voice was beautiful, too. But the Hollies were so much more. Graham Nash stood in Clark's shadow somewhat and didn't become a real force until he left and formed Crosby, Still & Nash and then later Young, but he was part of the Hollies sounds, wrote many of their tunes. His harmony with Allan was what made the Hollies so unique.

6 set CD, generally 20 cuts per CD this is the definitive Hollies collection, likely some songs you may not have ever heard. 1-5 are double sided, with rare and unreleased recordings. The 6th CD contains live material from 60s, 70s and 90s including the Swedish Show for 1966, and the completely Hollies Live Hits album recorded in New Zealand in 1976. Also, you get a 60 page book loaded with pictures, showing them recording and a more personal look at the lads (check out Allan in the swim trunks - be still my besotted heart! lol) The inside flaps of the booklet contains pictures of every Hollies' album cover and a breakdown of what each CD contains and information about it.

Serious stuff. This is amazing. Hey, Allan, sorry you retired because I still love you, Graham and the lads and would be willing to have one more ride on the carousel!

The Hollies music was infection. You sense they had a great time singing, and did so with a flair all their own with a wee dram of humour.

There was no group like them. So thank you thank you for this ultimate tribute.

Absolutely worth the price!

This is a great compilation! Yes, I would have been happier if the first disk was in stereo instead of mono, since the tracks are available in stereo, and the great live album from the '70s, The Hollies Live Hits were not reproduced in entirety since it is already available, and, if some of the tracks from What Goes Around were included (perhaps contractual problems prevented that), and if the remaining tracks from the post Graham Nash reunion period were included, like Hillsboro, Naomi, You're All Woman, and Your Eyes. It's easy to quibble about the song selection, when the catalogue is so large, and there are still unreleased songs, nevertheless, this is a WONDERFUL compilation, with numerous unreleased tracks, and out takes. The notes on the track listings are fascinating, and the quality is excellent. I bought my first Hollies album in 1965 (Hear Here) and who would have thought I would be buying their latest release 39 years later!! Get this and the Reunion album, just re-released.

A Big Hollies fan from New Zealand.
This box set is not designed to be a greatest hits collection. Although it does include some of the huge hits from their career. I was excited when I saw that this set was coming out, in fact I didn't wait for it to be released in my country, I bought my copy on line and had it shipped to me. What this box set shows off is a selection of album tracks, basically taken from every album they recorded throughout their career (20 or so in all),plus some rare and unreleased material. The only omission appears to be some tracks from the album "What Goes Around" except for a rare first recording of "If The Lights Go Out" To my way of thinking the Hollies are one of the finest bands the world has known. Everyone has heard about their great harmonies. But they are more than just vocals. Bobby Elliot would surely rate as one of the all time great drummers, just listen to his playing from the first recordings through to the later ones. Tony Hicks lead guitar work is like a vintage wine, he gets better and better with age. I think this is a wonderfull collection and shows off a side of this band that has been sadly missed by far too many people. Their albums are wonderfull, so here is a great chance to get a taste of their style & flavour of music aside from most of the hits. Listen in awe, the songs & arrangements, the playing & vocals are superb. Very satisfied buyer.

Fist of all, I admit my five star rating is being overly generous, but I was happy to see this box set released. My dissatisfactions are similar to those of the previous reviewers in that too many studio versions of thier best songs have been omitted. With Carrie Ann, Just one look, and Bus Stop we only get the live versions. On a Carousel, Jennifer Eccles and Do the Best You Can are not included at all.
That's the bad news, good news is lots of excellent material here and all freshly remastered and sounding sparklingly wonderful.
This was not really designed as a greatest hits box, it's more of a 40 yer spread of this, that and sometimes the other.

Discs 1 through 5 are studio recordings in chronological order. Disc 6 is comprised of live recordings.
Discs 1,2 and 3 are all chock full of catchy, appealing and harmonicly rich tunes. By the second half of disc four we're hitting the mid/late 1970's which was a pretty stylistacly bland time for most veteran bands and the Hollies were no excepetion here. The 5th disc is 80's through 2003 little of which is of interest due to strick click-track drum beats, digital keyboards and over-glossed production.

On to disc 6 (Live) which dare I say is the true unveiling of a band that can play (and sing!). The live recordings are all of surprisingly good audio quality.
In the included book origal bassist Eric Haydock mentions having a 6-string tenor guitar/bass. On the first three live cuts (from 1966) you can hear Eric playing that six-string bass doubling some of the riffs with Tony Hicks guitar, but you have to listen close to catch it.

The package itself is first rate. Not a box per se, this is a double fold out digipack hard case. The 80 page book has track by track breakdown of when and where the recording was made, session dates, record sleeve artwork, a running history of the group and a generous supply of photos.

If a potential customer looks at the description along with the track listing then they will know what is and isn't included here.
I know this collection is not cheap $ (being an import only). I recommend getting this set along with the 2003 remastered 2-cd "Hollies Greatest Hits" which will will cover all the essential studio cuts.

I can understand the question of who exactly Long Road Home was compiled for (?) but I'm quite pleases with it's contents (aside from the 80's/90's material)

By the way, the vocals throughout are positivly superb!

First off, I love the Hollies. I really can do without the 2000 era stuff but that's not the real crime here. The wizards at EMI (where do they find these guys - whew) decided to omit the studio versions of Bus Top (huh??), Just One Look, He Ain't Heavy, etc' for live versions from the 70's. That could be the most inane box-set decision I've ever seen. You spend all that cash and don't get those essential songs!! Then to top it all off you get that musical vomit bag Purple Rain. I can see the excitement melt off of some thrilled fan's face upon opening this as a gift. "WOW!! The Hollies.....uh, Bus Stop and Stop, Stop, Stop are live from the 70s, oh, uh, OK no studio versions? Uh, Purple Rain? Do they do any Shalamar covers on here"? There is a ton of great stuff on this, but Duh?? Find this used. This, by the way, is the company rumored to be discontinuing CDs. Thanks for your loyalty old chaps.....Hello EMI........Goodbye. Pffffft !!!!!

Holy Toledo. I was tired when the last disc stopped spinning ! What a bunch of stuff to digest. Great moments throughout , is going to take a lot of repeated plays to appreciate it all ! Some selections I had never heard that were truly fantastic. A thorough overview.

my introduction to the hollies was the epic anthology cd. loved that album. then i graduated to this boxed set. there are a lot of great tunes on this record that aren't on 'anthology'or any of the single disc 'hits' packages. the hollies are great singers w great harmonies but tony hicks' guitar playing and bobby elliot's drumming are stellar and underrated in the annals of rock n roll history. there are a few live bbc rarities and a live rendition of prince's purple rain that sound pretty cool. definitely have no regrets about picking this set up

The Hollies are one of those bands that have had so many albums(cd's) over their long career that it was rather difficult to know where to start. However, if you are more than just a casual fan and you want to dig a little deeper than just the big hits this 6 cd box set is a fine place to start. Beginning with the Hollies earliest recordings form 1963 and continuing through the 1990's you can listen to every phase of their their career.

The long road home is not a greatest hits package. Many of their big hits are left off which really is not a big deal since you can find them on a single cd at most any musical outlet for about $8.00 - 10.00. Instead we are treated to many of the Hollies album cuts, b sides of singles and some unreleased material which will show that the Hollies were more than just a pop singles band. Most of these great tunes will sadly never be heard on the radio.

One of the great advantages that many bands from the 1960's and early 1970's had over groups of today is the use of great vocal harmonies. The Beach boys. Mamas & papas, Moby Grape, Beatles, Buffalo Springfield, Fifth Dimension, Eagles & America to name just a few bands were all groups that featured multible singers as opposed to many of today's groups that make use of one singer only. The hollies were arguably the best of all of these groups for great vocals(and that is saying a lot my friend). However the Hollies instrumentation was also second to none featuring a drummer and lead guitarist that were at least 2 cuts above most other bands from the 60's and 70's. The proof of their prowess can be heard on the 6th cd included in this box set which features the Hollies live from the 60's & 70's, long before sound effect boxes were used to enhance the sound that bands use today, e.g "chorus boxes, harmonizers, flangers, etc.
For me the one regret is that they left off one of my favorite Hollies deep cuts which is "Have you ever loved Somebody", but I guess you can't win them all. For the 32.00 bucks that I paid for this box set it was a steal.

I don't want a boxset with greatest hits on it. That's for greatest hits discs really , I like rarities and other stuff. This one has lots of rarities but the live disc is actually 'live hollies' which is already out. Still it's a great set here on the rest of this and even the new music is decent. I have every hollies catalog cd and many packages this is one of the better ones. It never came out over here in the u.s. though so I had to buy this as a import. Here on amazon you can still buy this and get alot of great harmonies and great musical playing from a REAL band. This is a band that could soar on their releases and even their weakest have lots of good songs , this one has many awesome songs but greatest hits buyers look elsewhere.