A Look at the Hollies

I seem to be getting more and more excited about the Hollies. Therefore I decided to watch a DVD called Look Through Any Window 1963–1975. I got this DVD years ago but noticed that I never actually watched it from beginning to end with all the interviews and stuff. This is part of the British Invasion series, although this one wasn't shown on TV at least in Finland.

The DVD is a nice cross-section of the Hollies style and TV live performances from the early days of channeling the Everly Brothers to their last major hits such as Long Cool Woman and The Air That I Breathe in the 70s. Some of the most interesting footage includes Clarke, Hicks and Nash doing three-part harmonies in the studio, apparently captured by George Martin's film crew.

Clarke, Hicks, Nash and Elliott give wonderful interviews in which they describe the joy, creativity and innovativeness of the Hollies, and how fantastic songs they wrote and realized in the studio and live. The self-praise is clearly justified. The Hollies wrote songs for instance about memorable events (Stop Stop Stop), women they adored (Carrie Anne), and sometimes beautiful words would just magically appear out of nowhere (Wings). In the arrangement section the Hollies were always trying to come up with something different, otherwise they would have gotten bored. The guys didn't even regard material such as King Midas in Reverse as “pop” which reflects the ambition of pushing the boundaries of their music.

The guys also give a rather positive impression on Nash's sad departure from the band in late 1968 and how the change after all turned out for the best for everybody. Nash found his place among Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Hollies continued their streak of hits (including no less than the overwhelming beauty of He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, 1969) with Terry Sylvester replacing Nash.

All in all, a very nice DVD, even though many of the songs aren't actually played live. The guys do look like they are having fun (even though the following video is of more serious character).

Walkermania! Part Two

Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers came out in December 1965. However, I now intend to talk about the Walkers' music from that period in general, based on CD 1 of the box set Everything Under the Sun (which I felt compelled to buy).

Given that the Walker Brothers were mostly famous for big ballads, the music on their first album is not very much dominated by ballads. There are actually only a couple of songs that are clearly ballads. Mostly it is comprised of midtempo songs that aren't even particularly gloomy despite Scott Walker singing lead almost all the time. The Walker Brothers' music comes across as very classy, aurally massive, a bit melancholic but definitely more uplifting rather than dark.

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore was originally performed by Frankie Valli without any huge success. The Walkers version could have suffered the same fate if Scott hadn't demanded it to be recorded once again after the first attempt. The end result was a huge classic, a track to cherish from now to eternity. Despite being rather dark in the lyric section, the overall feel you get from it is something completely different. It is a great song, great arrangement and performance by both Scott and the studio band.

Randy Newman's I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore is one of Scott's most fantastic vocal performances. It seems almost unbelievable that with this kind of power, style, emotion and flawless phrasing he is still pretty much a self-learned singer. And even though Scott is just as great as he is, he also sounds fantastic when singing together with John Walker. John's background vocals appear in many songs, and the lovely female choir also plays an important role. Therefore, don't forget to check out the Walkers' take on the Everly Brothers song the Seventh Dawn which was the b-side of the Love Her single. There we have probably the most heavenly, uniquely beautiful harmony ever recorded by Scott and John. And speaking of great harmonies, also check out their version of Bob Dylan's Love Minus Zero!

Even though Scott sang lead on almost anything, John got one lead vocal on the debut album. His performance on Dancing in the Street may sound even a bit too cool but is in fact very good. John's talents were at this point largely overshadowed by Scott's amazing performances on songs like The Girl I Lost in the Rain (chilling!), There Goes My Baby (probably Scott's best uptempo number here) and, obviously, Make It Easy on Yourself. One Engel composition is even included on the debut album, You're All Around Me. More of his compositions appeared on b-sides.

An interesting thing is that at times the Walkers seemed to be very much drawn towards soul and funk music. However, when it comes to the funk part, the results rarely were very commendable. Songs like Tell The Truth and Everything's Gonna Be Alright were great live numbers but not really Scott's strongest area. Land of 1000 Dances was included on the debut album and was also a very popular song but I think it just sounds bizarre when Scott Walker sings it – especially when you think about what was to come.

Take It Easy with... was certainly a worthy debut but if you're interested in hearing the singles and b-sides, which are all very, very good and not included on the album, I recommend checking out the extended version as a whole. You don't want to miss the uplifting beauty of songs like I Need You, After The Lights Go Out, and Young Man Cried. One of my personal favorites is My Ship Is Coming in, which will probably always amaze me. Scott and John make quite a theatrical opera duo!

Here are some samples:

The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (promo video - now that's what I call Marketing! And by the way, can you imagine they also performed it live)

My Ship Is Coming in

I Don't Want to Hear It Anymore

The Girl I Lost in the Rain

Devoted to Don and Phil

The Everly Brothers rock. I had known about their existence for quite some time but it wasn’t until last summer when I finally started to realize their true greatness. I call it “a personal breakthrough”: that moment, those one or two days of your life when you feel you’ve finally found the essence of a band/artist and suddenly enjoy listening to it more than ever. The artist has become more familiar to you, which enables you to enjoy the music more and more... I found the essence of the Everly Brothers thanks to a release called It’s Everly Time & A Date With The Everly Brothers, a CD that contains the duo’s third and fourth album. The albums were originally released in 1960 and 1961.

These brothers are a perfect answer to anyone (like me) who hungers for sugary 50s/early 60s teen idols – and harmonies! Although the Everlys aren’t regarded primarily as teen idols, almost everyone knows that they are probably the most ear-melting male duo ever. Something about them is in fact different from most other harmony singing groups and duos…

The Everly Brother’s roots are in rock’n roll and country music. Therefore many of their songs have a slightly country-tingled rock’n roll feel, and the steel guitar has an effect, too. The Everly Brothers are, as far as I know, probably most famous for gentle and absolutely stunning ballads like All I Have to Do Is Dream. Love songs form a considerate part of the duo’s catalog. The Everlys sing a great deal about girls. As we all know, girls usually lead to either bliss (You Thrill Me (Through and Through); Always It’s You) or misery (Sigh, Cry Almost Die; Love Hurts). While the brothers sing happily about happiness, in the sadder songs they express themselves melancholically but not bitterly. The peacefulness of this music makes it suitable for relaxation, and of course for those moments when you hunger for sweet...

Being one of the most delicious vocal duos ever the Everly Brothers influenced many groups that sang harmony vocals, such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. The Everly Brothers’ harmonies differ from the usual harmony singing, where the different vocal parts would sound strange if they were separated. However, when listening to the Everly Brothers, you might notice that both Don’s lower and Phil’s higher melody line could stand on their own.

The Everly Brothers had their biggest hits around 1957-1964. During that time they recorded dozens of songs that became Billboard hits. When the British Invasion hit, it became significantly more difficult to reach audiences with traditional American pop. By the end of the 60s the Everly Brothers lost their hitmaker status to Britpop bands and other new phenomena. Don and Phil split in the early 70s and pursued solo careers but were reunited in 1983. More recent years have brought the Everly Brothers various awards, such as Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and introduction to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

When it comes to the musical situation of 21st century… People just don’t make a lot of music like this anymore. Sometimes I feel like I’m 70 years old. None of my friends really listens to this kind of stuff. Can you blame me for enjoying classic, traditional pop songs that focus on melody, songwriting, vocals and vocal harmonies? I guess you can’t. I bet you enjoy the exact same thing, and so would also my friends if they gave the early 60s a proper chance.

The Everly Brothers at YouTube
The Everly Brothers Fan Club - The Beehive