THE HOLLIES/THE HOLLIES GREATEST SMO 74 236 (-67) GERMANY

Should you ever for some reason need a reminder what a great group they were this is a nice place to go. A blend of picks from a couple of early LP:s and ones at the time 45 only. Either simpler garageish or somewhat later psych pop/rock it's so well done with deep melodic feeling and tophole vocals. Listening now I'm genuinely surprised they aren't more saluted or sought after today. The Beatles may have been the most high quality British band back then, but these guys were not far behind. Plausibly one of the reasons they aren't appreciated enough now is larger part of their recordings were primarily mixed in mono and many of the corresponding stereos coming out the same unattractive way - all vocals in one channel and either all instruments in the other or balanced inbetween. Twelve of the fourteen cuts here are made that way, while two - "Look Through Any Window" and "Stop Stop Stop" - sounds like slightly re-channeled mono. Luckily it's a next to perfect compatible so if you're blessed with a mono button, just push it and enjoy. Favorite tracks - "Very Last Day", "Bus Stop", "I'm Alive" and "Stop Stop Stop". Also issued like this in Israel (Parlophone SMO 74 236) and in Holland with a totally different sleeve design (Odeon SOPXH 1011). Premiere German had label as shown here in a fully laminated cover. (GÖXÄ*) (HÖLY*)