King Midas In Reverse (1967) #20
Speaking of favourites. King Midas In Reverse always was one of mine. Some psychedelics come into The Hollies' sound. The Beatles influences may never have been more apparent than here. The flourishing arrangement of violins and horns are huge. The dark violins, 'A Day In The Live' huge, the horns 'Penny Lane' all over. The vocal arrangements extremely intricate as far more subtle and wide ranging. The tough bass played by Bernie Calvert is really bad ass. The song was written by Graham Nash and he was its driving force, trying to push the band in a more serious direction. Commercially the song did not do as well as had become a standard for The Hollies and that was the end of it, and ultimately the reason for Nash's departure from the band.
Looking back, the song must make all the members proud anyway. The song really stands out, with impressive depth and width. From the guitar intro to the finger clicks, the bass and drums coming in in the second verse, the song is built up, musically and vocally, becoming bigger and bigger, interrupted by the bridge section with its flourishing arrangement, to end in a huge orchestral ending. Music and vocals are exceptional. It may not have been a great hit, it's the band's most memorable song as far as I'm concerned.
The fact that all can members a can look back with pride today on this achievement, is something worth mentioning as well. All five members of this line up are alive in 2022. Only original bass player Eric Haydock has passed away, in 2019. Being a Holly was far healthier than many other bands must have been.
A top 10 hit that is not found on international compilations is Dear Eloise. The Hollies' most psychedelic single. The intro and outro are totally far out for the band. Everything in between is more straightforward but not everything as you can hear. Dear Eloise is also from the 'Butterfly' album, just like 'King Midas In Reverse'. One to check out I notice in 2022. I loved the song at the time, especially because of the intro, it seems. When I heard the song again decades later, I had hardly any recollection of what happened in between. In 2022 I still love the song and now the whole song. The vocals on Dear Eloise are so strong. The band is really at its peak here. Again the bass is huge here. Calvert is so prominent and really drives the song in combination with Elliot's drumming and Nash's rhythm guitar. The bass as lead instrument. Would Mike Dirnt have learned his chops from a song like this? Dear Eloise is also The Hollies' hardest rocking single of this era. This is a loud song, not just a pop song. The fact that it reached the top 10 in NL makes me feel proud in hindsight, although I had nothing to do with it.
The band left 'King Midas In Reverse' and went back to business with its most poppy single. It is also the dumbest song they released. With the whistle as gimmick, it doesn't really work for me. But, then comes the "One Monday morning" break and I'm sort of sold any way. This part shows exceptional songwriting skills! What follows is a bit too cheerie for me. Jennifer, Clarke's wife and Eccles, Nash's wife, is simply not my The Hollies song and never was. They have done better in the past with "simple" songs like this. Except for that part showing the great writing team The Hollies still had at this point in time.
This single was the first by The Hollies that I recognised as a hit, as I had discovered the Top 40 in October 1968 for myself. And The Hollies were in there, of course, knowing a few of the other past hits already. Listen To Me is the last one to feature Graham Nash and not written by The Hollies. That did not really matter. This is a The Hollies single alright. One that stands out as far as I'm concerned. The vocal melody is so strong, the music so driving. The band manages to hit the perfect pop button once again. The song also contains an organ, which is quite exceptional for The Hollies. I simply love this song and think it to be exceptionally good.
It is also the only single with a double a-side. I can't remember hearing the song ever before (and I have the single!) and know why, after having found it on Spotify. It's a country thingy with a banjo and a harmonica. Not my thing really. Listen To Me is the song that has gone into posterity and rightly so. Perfect pop, as I already wrote.
As an aside. Not speaking English, as a kid I thought the title was Listen To Me The Best You Can. Singing it that way, with lots of la-la's after it. Only to discover they were two songs perhaps past my 40th or even 50th year.
And notice the sleeve, Do The Best You Can is mentioned first. Boy, what a mistake that was on the side of either the band or the record company. it just does not compare.
Sorry Suzanne is another single that I know from the very moment it was released. It were The Hollies, so I liked it for sure. This has changed somewhat over the years. It has an element within it that we in NL call "truttig". See if you can find a good translation for it. Not that I dislike it, far from. Nostalgia certainly kicks in here. In hindsight, Sorry Suzanne is a single of a band in transition. We do not have many more singles to go, but from the last one onwards, several heavy ballads come into The Hollies' mix of music as well as true rock songs a bit later. Sorry Suzanne is still pure pop but containing a balladry streak. Perhaps this is the biggest influence of Graham Nash's leaving and the entering of Terry Sylvester who would stay until 1981 and leave in the same week as bassist Calvert. Also Sorry Suzanne is not self-penned. What was the reason? The record company pushing songs on the band, the leaving of Graham Nash as co-composer? Did the new line up have to find its confidence in writing? Or just better songs from other authors? Calvert's bass is, once again, very audible. As a final comment, besides the piano, it is the first The Hollies hit single here containing a Tony Hicks guitar solo.
Another NL top 10 hit, perhaps exclusive even, is Blowing In The Wind. The Hollies recorded a whole album of Dylan covers, containing Blowing In The Wind. I'm fairly sure I was oblivious of that bard called Bob Dylan in 1969. He had a hit at around the same time, 'I Threw It All Away', but I have no recollection of it being on the radio. 'This Wheel's On Fire', 'Mighty Quinn' proved to be Dylan songs, later. Those I did know. The Hollies turned Blowing In The Wind into an extremely cheerful event. "Blow-ow-ow-ow-ing in the wind". Trumpets shouting out. An orchestra and a lot of ah harmonies. The band shows, once again, to have great harmonic talents when singing and Ron Richards as producer made the most of blowing up the song. Okay, it may be a little kitschy but, let's face it, this is simply done very well. Take the ending, slowly fading out to return once more in full force. The orchestra throws its all at it, as does the band. Just listen to Bobby Elliot ramming the ending in.
As an aside, this is the first single to run up over 4 minutes. Nearly all the hits in the above clock in under 2.30 minutes. Very effective with their time and quality these The Hollies are. Here it is the producer who got his go, it looks like.
Again a piano, and it's the Elton John playing it. Most people had not heard of Reginald Dwight's alter ego late in 1969. This was not a major hit here. In the U.K. twice, and in 1988 it even made it to first spot after a commercial for some lite beer.
This is a beautiful song. There are no other words available. The effect is great, the singing beautiful. The harmonica solo has exactly the right, melancholy mood. The Hollies are doing something they had never done before, release a ballad as a single. And although not extremely successful here, it proved a good choice, as it would score many more hits like it in the years to come. Everyone playing the song will notice the orchestration. It is a feature the band comes to rely on more and more, moving away from the five piece with perhaps an exotic instrument added as a gimmick. It is the band as vehicle of the producer also and not just a pop band any more. All that said, this is a beautiful single.
When a former, close colleague passed away a few years back, his brother sang this song for those present at the memorial. Alone, one acoustic guitar, one voice, and the song is just as strong and impressive.
1970s
The Hollies went on to score many more hits that fall out of the scope of this series. The hits ended with 'Daddy Don't Mind' which I love and even the disco-y 'Wiggle That Wotsit' I truly liked. Do I have many The Hollies albums? No, and the ones I have, second hand, are all not extremely good. As a singles band, The Hollies are near undefeatable.
And my top 5, which I forgot after the Bee Gees 1960s hits, is:
5. Dear Eloise
4. Listen To Me
3. Look Through Any Window
2. King Midas In Reverse
1. Bus Stop
Yes, a bit of a surprise. Up front I would have put #2 on 1 but having heard it all once again and very closely, I changed my mind and put Bus Stop on top, today.
Wout de Natris
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