The Hollies BBC Sessions

[Zab]

Since many BBC radio sessions have been released over the last 20 years, I am very surprised that there has been no official release of what survives of The Hollies many radio sessions from the 1960s.

I am working alongside some Hollies fans to try and persuade the band and EMI to give what remains a release, but unfortunately, we don't have very much in the way of detail as to what has survived or not. We know of an appearance on "Pop Goes The Beatles" in 1963 which I guess would have been recorded off air by a fan, but sadly all the PGTB bootlegs never feature the guests!

Ken Garners' excellent Peel Sessions book details an October 1967 "Top Gear" session, but apart from a few scraps of info, we have pretty much come to a halt which is a pity since thanks to this forum we have a good idea of waht TV appearances have survived, but not the radio material!

We would be extremely grateful for any info you may have on the radio sessions.

Many thanks.
BAZ

[Peter Chadwick]

I really wouldn't hold out any great hopes, Zab. The only track I've heard with any regularity is 'Bus Stop' from a 'Top Of The Pops' transcription disc from 1966. This is just about your best hope, but I'm not aware of anything else. As for the edition of 'Pop Go The Beatles' that The Hollies guested on, probably the only way their set would survive would be if it was one of The Beatles' radio shows recorded at home by 'Saturday Club' producer Bernie Andrews.

[Stephen Doran]

id love to see one.ihave a totp clip at home hollies-just one look it seems the intro has been cut but still enjoyable though. ;D

[mickcapewell]

Peter said:

I really wouldn't hold out any great hopes, Zab. The only track I've heard with any regularity is 'Bus Stop' from a 'Top Of The Pops' transcription disc from 1966.

**** That track was included in a "BBC In The 60s" Radio 2 Special hosted by Fluff Freeman a few years ago. I have it on tape. Presumably they got it from a Transcription disc then.

[mickcapewell]

Zab said:

We would be extremely grateful for any info you may have on the radio sessions.

Many thanks.
BAZ

**** They appeared on "Saturday Swings" in April 1966, "Easy Beat" in June 1966 and "Saturday Club" in July 1966 and November 1967.

[mickcapewell]

I forgot--they also appeared on "Radio One O'Clock in March 1968.

[Peter Chadwick]

mickcapewell said:

Peter said:

I really wouldn't hold out any great hopes, Zab. The only track I've heard with any regularity is 'Bus Stop' from a 'Top Of The Pops' transcription disc from 1966.

**** That track was included in a "BBC In The 60s" Radio 2 Special hosted by Fluff Freeman a few years ago. I have it on tape. Presumably they got it from a Transcription disc then.

Yes, it was used in both 'The Sixties At The Beeb', hosted by Fluff of course, and also in 'The Saturday Club Story', broadcast in 1998 (for the 40th anniversary of the first edition) in place of the regular Saturday morning 'Sound Of The Sixties' show. Very good it was, too.

[Stephen Doran]

hi peter;do you have the alan freeman shows? ;D

[Peter Chadwick]

stephendoran said:

hi peter;do you have the alan freeman shows? ;D

Ermmmmm...............miiiiiiiight have; actually, it's a two-hour show.

[Peter Chadwick]

stephendoran said:

hi peter;do you have the alan freeman shows? ;D

Ermmmmm...............miiiiiiiight have; actually, it's a two-hour show.

[Peter Chadwick]

Sorry, don't usually repeat myself

[Zab]

Many thanks to everyone who contributed info on The Hollies BBC sessions.

In todays post I received a "Hollies At The BBC" CD from a fellow fan who has collected what he could find over the years. The quality is surprisingly good and on the items that are of lower quality, these could easily be digitally cleaned up and restored. There are a handful of interviews and many intros by the ever present Brian Mathew. A handful of tracks, mainly 1967 material sounds like it was recorded off the radio in a room with a stereo tape recorder.

Some great performances and in one or two cases, alternate lyrics as well. This material does exist and would be very worthy of official release... if we can suffer a double CD of sessions by The Tremeloes then we should have one CD of The Hollies who were much better, sold more and continue to be cherished and popular today.

Sadly, there are no recording details on the tracks on this CD, nor are they in chronological order.

Anyway, heres the songs that are on it.

Shake (totally unique to the BBC) / She Said Yeah / Nobody / Reelin' and Rockin' / Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress / Bus Stop / Look Through Any Window / Sorry Suzanne / Searchin' / Yes I Will / King Midas In Reverse / Games We Play / Charlie and Fred / Jennifer Eccles / Wings (with alt lyrics) / Pegasus / Too Much Monkey Business / Hold On / Somethings Got A Hold On Me / Hey Whats Wrong With Me (the poorest sound) and Keep Off That Friend Of Mine.

Now BBC and EMI... why can't we buy this in the shops? It would be a geat addition to The Hollies catalogue and would make a nice change from yet another compilation of the same old stuff... but since The Hollies have a new album out next February called "Staying Power" its unlikely to happen for some time...

[Peter Chadwick]

Unfortunately, what's 'out there' is probably more than the BBC still have. The main casualty of the BBC's considering of pop music to be unimportant is the vast hole in their session recordings.

[mickcapewell]

Zab said:

Many thanks to everyone who contributed info on The Hollies BBC sessions.

In todays post I received a "Hollies At The BBC" CD from a fellow fan who has collected what he could find over the years.


**** Wow! I don't suppose there's any chance of obaining a copy of this? A trade perhaps?

Cheers, Mick

[Nigel Lees]

Hi guys,an interesting and pertinent thread,a Hollies BBC CD/LP needs to be out! To add [unless I missed something somewhere] ,a November 1968 BBC transcription disc exists with contemporary versions of 'Stay', 'Listen To Me' and 'Just One Look' on it
Cheers
Nigel