Biography
The Hollies are an English pop/rock group, best known for their pioneering and distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. The Hollies became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s (231 weeks on the UK singles charts during the 1960s; the 9th highest of any artist of the decade) and into the mid 1970s. It was formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in 1962 as a Merseybeat type music group in Manchester, although some of the band members came from towns north of there. Graham Nash left the group in 1968 to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash. They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries (at least 60 singles or EPs and 26 albums charting somewhere in the world spanning over five decades), although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966 with “Bus Stop”. The Hollies had over 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, with major hits on both sides of the Atlantic that included “Just One Look”, “Look Through Any Window”, “Bus Stop”, “I Can’t Let Go”, “On a Carousel”, “Stop Stop Stop”, “Carrie Anne”, “Jennifer Eccles”, and later “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress” and “The Air That I Breathe”. They are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s, along with The Rolling Stones, that have never disbanded and continue to record and perform. In recognition of their achievements, The Hollies were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollies
Album & Cover
Romany is the first not to feature tenor lead singer Allan Clarke, who had left to try a solo career and was replaced by baritone Swedish singer Mikael Rickfors, prompting a somewhat radical reshaping of their trademark vocal harmony style. It was also the first Hollies album to feature only one song written or co-written by lead guitarist Tony Hicks, a member of the band’s two in-house songwriting teams, Clarke-Hicks-Nash and Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester. Hicks was the only member of those teams to contribute a song to the album; Rickfors was the only other band member to contribute an original composition to it. The U.S. Epic version which reached #84 on the Billboard 200, omitted the track “Lizzy and the Rainman”, and has a slightly altered side one track order. “Courage of Your Convictions” was the one song that sounded most like their previous smash hit “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress”, but was inexplicably never issued as a single. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romany_(album)
The cover of Romany shows exactly the same scene as the previous album, Distant Light, but in the winter time as opposed to the summer scene on Distant Light. Hipgnosis were never happy with these album covers which according to Aubrey Powell they were stars-truck as the Hollies were hugely famous at the time but Colin Elgie who did the illustration did a great job.
Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Illustration – C. Elgie. Cover Design – Hipgnosis/The Hollies
Label: Epic KE 30958(US), Parlophone PAS10005(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell
Tracklist
| Side One Won’t You Feel Good That Morning Touch Words Don’t Come Easy Magic Woman Touch Lizzy And The Rainman Down River |
Side Two Slow Down Delaware Taggett & The Outlaw Boys Jesus Was A Crossmaker Romany Blue In The Morning Courage Of Your Convictions |
Credits
Engineer – Alan Parsons, Peter Bown
Producer – The Hollies
