Search - Hollies :: At Abbey Road 1973-1989

Great Sampler of Late Period

Randall E. Adams | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Hollies have been mercilessly exploited in terms of anthologies and reissues. Most of them retread the same old hits. This set covers the mostly neglected period from Allan Clarke's return to the fold in late 1973 to the late 1980s. Included are relatively obscure releases such as "Son of a Rotten Gambler" and the Eagles-esque "Layin' to the Music" as well as late creations such as the rather good "Find Me a Family" and the thoroughly salty guitar-rock "No Rules" created by the troika of Clarke, Hicks and Elliot at the tail end of a session for another song. The unreleased tracks are all quite good. "Tip of the Iceberg" hits the same raunchy rock feel as "Curly Billy." Indeed, you can tell from the fantastic vocal phalanx created by Clarke, Hicks & Sylvester on this track recorded shortly after Clarke's return that they were all glad to be working together again. "Come Down to the Shore" is a pleasant if insubstantial piece of ersatz caribbean charm. "Samuel" is an absolutely anthemic Allan Clarke ballad that would have beefed up the relatively weak "Write On" album considerably. Tony Hicks finishes the track with some terrific acoustic guitar fills. "Lovin' You Ain't Easy" is a great Hollies ballad from the sessions for the 5317704 album in 1979, at least as good as the material that was officially released. In addition to the above treasures that are really essential for any Hollies fan, the balance of the material highlights some of the group's 1970s era tracks in a new context that really shows them to advantage. This is the period when the Clarke, Hicks & Sylvester vocal blend was honed to perfection. The Hollies had pretty much passed their commercial peak by the time of most of the recordings on here but in fact their craftsmanship just continued to grow and this set makes that point convincingly. The sound is excellent."

Great compilation

Eriko Sugo | California | 05/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a terrific album. It actually had some songs that I hadn't heard before so I'm really glad I got it. It's got some of their 70s hits like, "Curly Billy", "The Air That I Breathe", "Sandy", "I'm Down", and some of their singles that didn't get much attention like "Find Me A Family" and "No Rules". I really love the songs "Give Me Time" and "Come Down To The Shore" (which has some talking from the recording studio) so I'm pretty happy I bought this. I recommend it to all-- buying these Hollies at Abbey Road albums all separately (and used) is a lot cheaper than buying the three in one collection, by the way."