High Bias refreshed

THE HOLLIES
Greatest Hits
(Epic/Legacy)
The name may be merely a footnote in these modern times, but in the 60s the Hollies were one of Great Britain's biggest hitmakers. Today's audience is probably most familiar with the 70s incarnation of the band, when it scored with the CCR homage (or rip-off, depending on your perspective) "Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress" and the ridiculously over-the-top ballads "The Air That I Breathe" and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (all included here). During the prior decade, though, the band, led by singers Allan Clarke and Graham Nash, was a dependable source of sweet, jangly pop confections that pushed the artistic envelope in subtle ways; this collection, originally released in 1973, wisely leans on that work. The koto-like licks on "Stop, Stop, Stop," the steel drum solo on "Carrie-Anne" and the Middle Eastern tonalities of "Bus Stop" were pretty dang adventurous for a mainstream pop group prior to the Summer of Love, and it doesn't hurt that all those tricks come attached to some damn catchy tunes. "Dear Eloise" and "King Midas in Reverse," recorded after the creative explosion precipitated by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band, absorbed some of the fripperies of psychedelia without delving into its excesses, and hold up quite well today. Regardless of the band's attention to trends and innovations, its greatest strength was its peerless harmonies and way with a strong hook; as such, straight pop tracks like "On a Carousel," "Pay You Back With Interest" and "Look Through Any Window" stand up just as well as the more experimental tracks. Arguably, modern pop groups that rely on vocal harmonies owe as much to the Hollies as to the Beach Boys and the Beatles. This reissue is a treat and a valuable history lesson for contemporary power pop fans. Michael Toland [buy it]

For fans of: the Cryan' Shames, the Monkees, the Raspberries