THE HOLLIES/WRITE ON 2442-141 (-76) UK

For me their previous "Another Night" LP ( https://monolover.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-holliesanother-night-2442-128-75-uk.html ) was a kind of come-back after a couple of rather uninteresting albums. Most of the tracks self-penned with enjoyable melodies and tophole vocals. This is almost as good - all cuts but one composed by the band with quite a few catchy moments, the vocals as fine as ever and you get some really nice Tony Hicks guitars. All presented with a large portion confidence and a feeling that takes me back ten years or so. Listening closely you can hear a multitude of contemporary styles - rock, sweet ballads, country pop and even some minor psych interludes - but in the end it's all signature Hollies. Only downer is the audio. While "Another Night" had dream sound - loud and big yet natural - this comes through a lot more confined, never muddy but certainly less separated. Don't know if that had to do with Ron Richards was gone and they produced it themselves, or new ways of engraving. Disturbes me a little as I know a bigger more separated outcome would have made it more enjoyable. Favorite tracks - "I Wont Move Over" and "Stranger". Contemporary issues in Germany, Holland and downunder. French 1999 CD on Magic Records (5244142) came with five bunus tracks. For some reason not released in US though some of the tracks showed up on the 1977 Epic album "Clarke, Hicks, Sylvester, Calvert & Elliot". Premiere UK had label as shown here, thin glossy cover with guilded fonts on front and picture/lyric inner. (HÖLY*)