In 1968 Graham Nash departed The Hollies, a band he had co-founded over five years previously, for a new life in California. He left behind not only a successful career but also his country of birth and his first marriage. Fortunately, for Graham it all worked out. One of the oft cited reasons for his departure is The Hollies decision to record an album of Dylan covers. There seems to have been some internal tension within the group over whether to pursue a more experimental direction or to stick to the commercial path and focus on giving the public what they wanted. The Hollies as a group would grow somewhat in the coming years but, perhaps, not at a pace fast enough for Nash.
The idea of a Hollies Sing Dylan album was not a bolt out of the blue. For years they had been doing a live cover of The Times They Are A Changing patterned after Peter, Paul And Mary one of their great influences. They had also recorded and released a swing style Blowin' In The Wind with Nash in 1968.
The band began to work on the Sing Dylan project in earnest from November '68 to the Spring of '69. The high harmony parts would eventually be added by new Hollie Terry Sylvester. Once released the album would prove a big success for the group reaching number 3 in the UK charts helping them to re-confirm their position after losing a key group member.
What of the record itself? If you are objective about your music. It's hard to say that the Hollies ever made a truly bad record, especially in this period, they could sing and play to well to make a mess of something. It should also be remembered that they were really at the top of the music scene in Britain. This was largely due to talent, many beat groups had come and gone between '62 and '69 but the Hollies had what it took to achieve real longevity.
So, The Hollies Sing Dylan is a good record. To listen to any of the individual tracks is to be entertained. Blowin' In The Wind may seem slightly ridiculous with its big band, swing arrangement but it is also highly imaginative re-working, pre-dating a trend for swing style music adopted by popular acts such as Robbie Williams and Westlife decades later. When The Ship Comes In is lively and makes great use of banjo to drive the song, giving it a slightly rural revival-ish feel which works very well with the sermon like lyrics. The Mighty Quinn closes off the record with some banjo picking growing to a full orchestral rag time arrangement. It works very well. The drumming is generally very good through- out.
My criticism of the record is that taken as a whole it becomes rather boring. A lot of the songs, such as I Want You, are played very straight and lack imagination. By and large the only innovation on Dylan's songs comes with the occasional flourish of orchestra, banjo, marimba and electric sitar. The Times They Are A Changing, in particular, adds nothing to the original. The harmonies are also very "straight" and at times the mechanism of the Hollies approach is laid bare and makes their usually entertaining vocals seem repetitive. Even though the album wasn't rushed, it appears rushed. Perhaps, they saw it a training ground for new harmony vocalist Sylvester. The harmonies do work well on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and My Back Pages.
The real star of the show is undoubtedly lead singer Allan Clarke. The album is very much a showcase for this vocal talents and he frequently rises to the occasion. His Just Like A Woman is something special, as it is in the live performance version linked to this blog. However, the dependence on Clarke's voice serves to add to the overall uniformity. They could have broken things up a bit by given the odd line or verse to one of the other singers in the group.
If you choose any one song on the album and listen to it, you'll be entertained. However, if you listen to all 12 tracks at once, you may question the point of the record good and all as it is. I can imagine why it was successful upon it's release. I'm sure many folks (particularly parents!) liked Dylan's tunes but found his delivery off putting. They needed the Hollies to come along pop-ize the songs and make the music more accessible.
The idea of a Hollies Sing Dylan album was not a bolt out of the blue. For years they had been doing a live cover of The Times They Are A Changing patterned after Peter, Paul And Mary one of their great influences. They had also recorded and released a swing style Blowin' In The Wind with Nash in 1968.
The band began to work on the Sing Dylan project in earnest from November '68 to the Spring of '69. The high harmony parts would eventually be added by new Hollie Terry Sylvester. Once released the album would prove a big success for the group reaching number 3 in the UK charts helping them to re-confirm their position after losing a key group member.
What of the record itself? If you are objective about your music. It's hard to say that the Hollies ever made a truly bad record, especially in this period, they could sing and play to well to make a mess of something. It should also be remembered that they were really at the top of the music scene in Britain. This was largely due to talent, many beat groups had come and gone between '62 and '69 but the Hollies had what it took to achieve real longevity.
So, The Hollies Sing Dylan is a good record. To listen to any of the individual tracks is to be entertained. Blowin' In The Wind may seem slightly ridiculous with its big band, swing arrangement but it is also highly imaginative re-working, pre-dating a trend for swing style music adopted by popular acts such as Robbie Williams and Westlife decades later. When The Ship Comes In is lively and makes great use of banjo to drive the song, giving it a slightly rural revival-ish feel which works very well with the sermon like lyrics. The Mighty Quinn closes off the record with some banjo picking growing to a full orchestral rag time arrangement. It works very well. The drumming is generally very good through- out.
My criticism of the record is that taken as a whole it becomes rather boring. A lot of the songs, such as I Want You, are played very straight and lack imagination. By and large the only innovation on Dylan's songs comes with the occasional flourish of orchestra, banjo, marimba and electric sitar. The Times They Are A Changing, in particular, adds nothing to the original. The harmonies are also very "straight" and at times the mechanism of the Hollies approach is laid bare and makes their usually entertaining vocals seem repetitive. Even though the album wasn't rushed, it appears rushed. Perhaps, they saw it a training ground for new harmony vocalist Sylvester. The harmonies do work well on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and My Back Pages.
The real star of the show is undoubtedly lead singer Allan Clarke. The album is very much a showcase for this vocal talents and he frequently rises to the occasion. His Just Like A Woman is something special, as it is in the live performance version linked to this blog. However, the dependence on Clarke's voice serves to add to the overall uniformity. They could have broken things up a bit by given the odd line or verse to one of the other singers in the group.
If you choose any one song on the album and listen to it, you'll be entertained. However, if you listen to all 12 tracks at once, you may question the point of the record good and all as it is. I can imagine why it was successful upon it's release. I'm sure many folks (particularly parents!) liked Dylan's tunes but found his delivery off putting. They needed the Hollies to come along pop-ize the songs and make the music more accessible.
Just Like A Woman:
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