The Hollies (1976) Samuel LOST 70s GEMS

The unreleased Write On album of 76 is a secret cave of hidden Hollies gems; OK don't know what I mean then let me start from the top. The album Epic Records eventually passed on starts with Star; which begins with an soaring Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western styled motif on a tin whistle that is played through a synth or a flanger of some sort. The song is your average stacked harmony bubblegum tune, but the solo returns the Morricone flute motif with a heavy tremelo effect; a strong underwater ripply effect that sounds so unique! The title track is up next with a slow building piano strings and acoustic strum ballad and a fine but forgettable melody; in the middle a funky clavinet bass enters but it doesn't animate this track enough, though Tony Hicks' overdriven wailing solo is Southern blues mania! I Won't Move Over features all the 70s Hollies trademarks; the steady hard acoustic rock beat, coursing harmony vocals with a bubblegum lightness, wah wah squelchs and a heavily filtered strained solo by Hicks. Narida is simultaneously light Latin Jazz, acoustic Disco and a salsa workout while Allan Clarke sings a story about a 'sweet Narida', while the harmonies take on the bewitching smooth vocals of Santana while an elegant piano plays underneath the whole song; and once again another fantastic, tastefully conciseand precise solo that doesn't divert you from the song's original context.

 Stranger is a delight to the ear with a low frequency organ line spookily leering over the track while a wah wah guitar rocks over the top, the clavinet also works giving a pulsating propulsion to a standard AM pop song. The slippery wah wah synth that drips over the track is also another audio splendour that the mid 70s Hollies loved to indulge in; probably so no two songs would sound exactly the same, they all had unique instrumental sounds. Crocodile Woman (she bites) is a pure Sweet/T-Rex early 70s Glam Rock Boogie with 50s throwback feel, breakneck piano, revved up guitar and aglorious chorus; the biscuit box drumbeat could've been played by Mick Tucker for all we know it sounds just like his standard drum sound while the spacey-echo-delay vocal effect in the chorus recalls Fox on the Run.

 My Island is a highlight with it's calming mix of twinkly windchimes, congas and mellow Oberheimer lines dancing alongside a jazzy strum, while the choral vocals are soothing. The next album highlight is There's Always Goodbye with it's meowing and deranged slide fuzz guitar orchestra before a more romantic folk yacht rocker enters, pianos, harmonies, strings etc all play a part but the central melody is more engaging than the ones that came before. The last songs critically bring up the rear, their cover of Emmylou Harris' classic Boulder to Birmingham is sung to tersely, while it's deeply felt, it's over done even though it should've suited their country soft rock voices it just doesn't match the authentic mourning of the song's author; though as always the intro is another delight with grindingly slow dual slide guitars drawling away similar to the track before it. Samuel starts with more twanging bottleneck sitars and delicately plucked Italian mandolin runs before a strong folk pop tune enters with harmonies reminiscent of the Nash years. And well the attempt at the Springsteen classic Born to Run, well let's just leave it at they bear all the instrumental and production prowess but none of the grit n soul, sounding more like Elvis impersonators than some great rock n roll messiah.