The Hollies - Listen to Us (1968)

The Hollies released Butterfly, their seventh UK studio album, in November 1967 through Parlophone Records. One of the greatest records to come out of the '60s British psychedelic scene, it came during a period of transition for the Hollies, who seemed to be abandoning their poppier sound in favor of a more complex, self-penned style. This charge was mostly led by vocalist and guitarist Graham Nash, who greatly admired the Beatles and American groups such as the Byrds and the Buffalo Springfield, and wanted to emulate the changes in sound and image that those groups went through, which often clashed with the rest of the band, who were more traditional and didn't partake on the same recreational drugs as Nash. This rift was only intensified when their single "King Midas in Reverse", a song that Graham considered his magnum opus and one that was to signify the evolution that was taking place, failed to become a hit, barely making the top 20 in the UK. Wasting no time, Nash and Allan Clarke wrote the much more traditional "Jennifer Eccles" and recorded it in early 1968, restoring their chart success. But that ended up leaving Graham even more dissatisfied at the failure of this next step creatively for them and the fact that they'd taken a step backward as a response. Throughout the year, they record songs for a proposed eighth studio album, with intra-band issues just intensifying from then on.

Along with "Jennifer Eccles", they record other originals such as "Open Up Your Eyes" and "Wings", both meant for the new record. The Hollies even recorded the backing track for "Marrakesh Express", Nash's drug-influenced song that would later become a hit for CSN, but its themes and the rift between Graham and the rest of the band prevented them from completing it. This clash between the more conservative Clarke and Hicks and the hippie Nash was the main issue tearing the band apart, with the two looking more and more like squares as the 1960s rolled on, and Nash wanting no part in that. It was during the recording sessions for this album that the infamous meeting where Crosby, Stills, and Nash sang "You Don't Have to Cry" happened, but it would take until late 1968 for Graham to work up the courage to leave the Hollies, only doing so when CSN looked like a sure thing. In the meantime, he had the opportunity to record some more originals, such as his "Man With No Expression", as well as being stringed along for a horrible, horrible Las Vegas-esque version of "Blowin' in the Wind", which he absolutely hated and only solidified his desire to leave. By November, Nash had left to join David and Stephen, the band's eighth studio album had been shelved, and the Hollies' Greatest hits compilation had been issued in its place. But what if the Hollies had finished that final album with Graham Nash?

This post is an update to my Listen to Us reconstruction from April 2018. Here, it serves as the final part of a trilogy consisting of David Crosby (1968) and Songs for Judy (1968), which has the goal of answering a very simple question: what if Crosby, Stills & Nash never happened? This time, we will be tackling how Graham Nash's career would've been different, by finishing the album he was making when he left the Hollies in late 1968. He was the only member of CSN without enough songs to fill out a solo album, so this is what most likely would have happened. It would have been twelve songs long, as most Hollies albums were, and with a focus on original songs written by Clarke, Nash, and Hicks, since its predecessor Butterfly was all-original. With one major exception, we will only be considering material recorded by the band itself, and since there aren't enough of those to fill out an album, we were forced to make some very creative choices. We will further be limiting ourselves by not considering any re-recordings, such as the new version of "Very Last Day" they recorded for Colour Me Pop that year. We know a single part of the tracklist was set in stone, as per Bobby Elliot "Relax" was meant to segue into "Tomorrow When it Comes", but other than that, we'll be left to figure out an adequate tracklist on our own too. With that out of the way, here's what our revamped Listen to Us looks like:

Open Up Your Eyes (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

Do the Best You Can (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

Relax (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

Tomorrow When it Comes (Clarke, Hicks and Nash Years)

Lady of the Island (Crosby, Stills, and Nash)

Wings (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

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Survival of the Fittest (Confessions of the Mind)

Jennifer Eccles (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

Man With No Expression (Clarke, Hicks and Nash Years)

Like Every Time Before (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

Marrakesh Express (Over the Years)

Listen to Me (Clarke, Hicks, and Nash Years)

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The Hollies - Listen to Us (1968)

Nash, Clarke, Elliot, Hicks, and Calvert as photographed sometime in mid-1968.

The Hollies, like most 1960s English bands, had the habit of not including songs released as singles on their albums. However, given that we barely even have enough good-quality material to work with here, that wouldn't be practical. Besides, by the time they were recording this, some bands had already moved away from this practice anyway. So, both "Jennifer Eccles" and its b-side "Open Up Your Eyes" and "Listen to Me" and its b-side "Do The Best You Can" are added to this reconstruction, and immediately are some of the highlights of the album. "Wings" had been donated to the World Wildlife Fund album Nothing's Gonna Change Our World alongside The Beatles' "Across the Universe", thus making it out of the vault at Graham's behest. Meanwhile, "Survival of the Fittest" was recorded in August 1968 while Nash was still in the group, but was strangely enough released as the opening track on the band's Confessions of the Mind album from 1970, with Nash's vocal replaced by Terry Sylvester. Were they short on material perhaps? Either way, the fact that these songs were released in any form goes to show us that the band considered them the best of the sessions, and didn't think they deserved being thrown out. Because of that, I thought it would be interesting to use those songs to bookend the album's sides and serve as the main songs on the album, with the two singles opening and closing side two.

With those six out of the way, there are only four good quality, finished songs from the 1968 sessions that were truly forgotten and left in the vault: "Relax", "Man With No Expression", "Tomorrow When it Comes", and "Like Every Time Before". They make for obvious inclusions, and are immediately added to the album's sequence. That means we still have two song slots open, and need to figure out what will be included between sub-par material, unfinished songs, and Nash's rejected originals. "Marrakesh Express" is a mashup of the Hollies' backing track with Graham's 1968 demo of the song, courtesy of the Hollies Rare and Unreleased channel, giving us the closest we can possibly get to an authentic '68 version of this tune. "Lady of the Island" is another song Graham offered to The Hollies sometime in 1968 but that they somehow rejected, alongside "Sleep Song" and "Right Between the Eyes". Given that our only other options for material are an appalling re-recording of "A Taste of Honey" and a cabaret arrangement of "Blowing in the Wind", our best option becomes adding one of those three rejected songs. I ended up choosing "Lady of the Island", as it was the one Graham liked enough to record with Crosby and Stills, and it's a very good song that would work well with a Hollies-like arrangement.

A marvelous collection of slightly psychedelic-tinged 60s pop, Listen to Me is a worthy follow-up to Evolution and Butterfly, taking the forward-thinking sound of those two albums and expanding it thanks to songs such as "Relax" and "Marrakesh Express". Clocking in at 33 minutes with a very short side one, this is a very brief record, and due to its poppy nature, feels really short but sweet. This album would probably sell decently because of the Hollies' sheer size, but doesn't go on to set the world on fire. A shame, but that is also true of many albums that are now revered. The album title is merely a play on what some '60s artists used to do with their album titles, by slightly altering one of the song's titles. It's corny, for sure, but it's fun and something they'd be willing to try. Meanwhile, the cover is simply a recycled version of the Hollies' Greatest album cover. Not nearly psychedelic enough for 1968, but it'll have to do. All songs are originals, except for "Listen to Me", written by Tony Hazzard, which also happens to be the last thing Graham recorded with the band. It points out the direction they'd go in for the 70s, having hits with other people's songs. This reconstruction is particularly interesting because it shows the Hollies could have gone a different and much more interesting path in the 1970s had Graham stayed. But they couldn't put their differences aside, even though they did the best they could.

Sources:

- The "lost" 1968 album and Graham Nash's 1968 demos

- Graham Nash - Wild Tales: A Rock and Roll Life