Search - Hollies :: Staying Power

GREATS SONGS AND SOUND, LITTLE ROCK AND ROLL

Luis Manuel Lostal Piñero | 04/11/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I?m a Hollies fan for ever and ever. I?m very happy with the Hollies come back. The new album "Staying Power" is great. The songs are goods like the sound but my complaints is that "Staying Power" has little Rock and Roll and no songs Hollies owns. Why? The 2006 Hollies line-up is Tony Hicks - the Peter Pan of the Rock - (lead guitar and vocals), Bobby Elliott (formidable drummer) both Hollies originals members, Peter Howarth (great lead vocals similar Allan Clarke voice), Ray Stiles(bass, vocals and ex-"MUD"), Steve Lauri (Guitar & vocals) and Ian Parker (keyboards & vocals). Peter Howarth is excellent singer but I miss Allan Clarke (the classical voice of THE HOLLIES). The album has goods songs: "HOPE" (the most commercial), "SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL" (excellent ballad and new single in England), "PROVE ME WRONG" (maybe the best for me), "BREAK ME" (the most rocker), "SUSPENDED ANIMATION" (experimental track), "TOUCH ME" (the come back to The Hollies rocker sound from the seventies), "EMOTIONS" (pretty good ballad with Hollies harmony vocals), "WEAKNESS" (the most AOR track), "YESTERDAY?S GONE" (formidable Tony Hicks riff guitar in the middle of the song with "I CAN?T LET GO" homage) and the last track "LET LOVE PASS" (wonderful ballad full Hollies harmony vocals). "STAYING POWER" is a good coming back. I wait the next album sooner with more greats songs (owns) and more Rock and Roll similar "LONG COOL WOMAN IN A BLACK DRESS", "LOOK OUT JOHNNY (THERE?S A MONKEY ON YOUR BACK)" or "THAT?LL BE THE DAY". THE HOLLIES: a great band."

Excellent album? Yes."The Hollies"? Not Quite.

Philip A.Cohen | Bay Harbor Islands, Florida United States | 04/05/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Hollies' first album since 1983's "What Goes Around" marks the debut of new lead singer Peter Howarth and new Rhythm guitarist/harmony singer Steve Lauri,who join original members Tony Hicks(lead guitar,vocals) & drummer Bobby Elliott(yes,I know that he didn't join until the 3rd UK single,but he is essentially an original member),and long-time(25 year) members Ray Stiles(bass) & Ian Parker(keyboards).Together,they create an uncompromisingly modern,but rocking,high tech sound,albeit one that is much more guitar-driven than the mushy synth-pop of "What Goes Around".Occasionally,Bobby Elliott is replaced by a drum machine or percussion samples,but not to the extent that he was on "What Goes Around".The new lead vocalist is somewhat higher pitched than Original(now retired) singer Allan Clarke,though when singing in the lower part of his range,Howarth is timbraly similar to Clarke(Those that lament the absence of the now 68 year old Clarke should be made aware that Clarke's voice,fried by old age and smoking wouldn't be able to cut it today).The songs range from good to excellent,and I particularly like the opening song "Hope"(why it wasn't selected as a single is known only to EMI).But my complaints are these:there is no original songwriting.The inclusion of some Tony Hicks songs(or even an occasional lead vocal from him) would have helped to maintain a traditional "Hollies" flavor.In truth,the album doesn't sound much like the Hollies,and the regular Hollies harmony vocal sound is only occasionally present(on "Emotion" & "Touch Me").One song needlessly processes Peter Howarth's voice through a vocoder,a dated and uneccessary touch.He's got a great voice,so why disguise it? Also,this EMI/UK CD uses a copy protection process,though it should be explained that EMI/UK's copy protection was previously only intended to stop copying on computers,that this disc is encoded to stop copying to non-computer digital recorders(I.E. portable or hifi component Minidisc,DAT or CD-R recorder equiped with Serial Copy Management system).This type of copy protection would be blatantly illegal in the U.S.A.,but Britain has no legal protections for consumer recording rights.In order to copy this CD to Minidisc or DAT,you must first create an scms-free CD-R disc on a professional audio CD-R recorder;a machine which ignores SCMS and records without SCMS.The data on this CD has been manipulated so that when you try to copy to an SCMS-equiped consumer audio digital recorder,this EMI CD itself appears to be a copy,and then SCMS blocks a recording.This is a unethical abuse of copy protection.And one more thing,the Japanese pressing adds a bonus track.I can't comment on that song since I haven't heard it."

Doesnt Stick to the ears..

Somewhere in Texas | Planet Texas | 03/20/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I was hoping this would be a great comeback CD, but it fails to impress me.



While there are many strong songs here this album doesn't quite sound like classic Hollies. Peter Howarth has a pleasant and strong voice, but just can't match Allan Clarke's distinctiveness that made the Hollies harmonies soar to the sky. Without Clarke the Hollies wind up sounding like any other Adult Contemporary pop band. (I'm reminded of the Little River Band or America, sorry)



Like so many of the Hollies recordings since 1983's "What Goes Around" the biggest problem is everything is smothered in bland "cheesy" keyboard arrangements and programming. Some of the keyboard sounds are very dated sounding. I doubt anytime during this recording the Hollies were playing in the same room together. During the 60's and 70's The Hollies were a guitar based group first that recorded most of their 60's and 70's recordings "live" in the studio with little overdubbing.



Compared to their older albums "Staying Power" doesn't rock very hard either and plays it too radio-friendly safe. The songs have nice hooks but wind up sounding too generic and bland. I heard the band is working on a new album soon, so I hope they crank up the guitars and really work on making the vocals sounding close to classic Clarke-Hicks-Nash/Sylvester for next time.



I suggest checking out the sound samples here before purchasing. That the CD also has copyright protection to keep you from copying it on your PC doesn't help my opinion either, though I doubt the Hollies had any say on that. Hold down your shift key when putting the CD in to keep it from auto-booting the protecting program, and then "rip" it to Mp3's.



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