To: Dave
Love: Adam
Date Sent: 8/31/2020
The Hollies – Distant Light
Release Date: October 8th, 1971
The #BrosByDayAlbumCriticsByNight thread prevails!! Only a solid six weeks following your Maggie share comes this band that no one has ever heard of–y’all ready for this?!
To preface, there is a reason that I share this album and say that no one knows this band and that reason is in the form of a quick story. While visiting NJ last week, Uncle Gary and I were able to sneak off to LBI for a late breakfast where we walked past a biker. This biker was playing a song from this album–quite possibly the most notable and popular–that both Uncle Gary and I recognized and immediately thought “CCR.” It wasn’t until after a Google search from Uncle Gary revealed it was indeed The Hollies that sing “Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress),” thus prompting me to do some digging and listening to some other songs of theirs.
Well aren’t I glad I called that guy? Although the song that originally drew me toward this band sounds nothing like the majority of the songs on this album, it is exactly because of this reason that makes me enjoy the album even more. The first 6 songs are solid songs that you most likely have heard in some setting or capacity at some point in our lives (i.e., What a Life I’ve Led; Hold On), but never attributed the song’s success to The Hollies. Similarly, after failing to place the true owner of Long Cool Woman, it helped me appreciate my growth as a fan of music and encouraged me to expand my library, if even for a potential one-hit wonder. This being their 3rd studio album, I have to imagine there are even older Hollies songs otherwise forgotten by history. But, back to the topic, the diverse range of this album can only shed light on how awesome The Hollies must have actually been to have influenced other artists–musical & cinematic–to adapt their song/sound for another purpose.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include this point, but I get a similar vibe listening to this album that I do when I listen to either Aerosmith or Boston’s #DebutAlbum. The talent is clearly there, but perhaps undeveloped, or just flat out unappreciated for its time. Eventually, the artists alter their style to a more popular sound that the band was forced to embrace to attain their mainstream success? Maybe even the listener has to alter their style to fully appreciate the music. I’m thinking you’ll pick up what I’m putting down.
Listen away, we’re back!!
Dave’s Reaction:
Okay… OK Hollies. I hear you. Really, really loved this album. Nice find LBI Boardwalk Man. Even the album art is giving me a strong J.R.R. Tolkien vibe with what may be a view of the pond where Smeagol succumbed to the power of the ring and murdered his relative to get his hands on said ring. From now on, The Hollies are known as the soundtrack to Middle Earth. I called it.
If you are still reading, allow me to re-focus on the music now. You are correct in the assumption that I would not have placed Long Cool Woman as a Hollies song. From the first chords, I knew the song and then also thought CCR. So it’s like we are connected or something. I will say that I was wary after hearing the lead singer’s voice on the first track to open the album, but the band came to his rescue as the song continued. I just did a quick search of the band and saw that one of their singers WAS Graham Nash. The Hollies formed in 1962 and Nash left the band in 1968 to form Crosby, Stills & Nash. That alone makes me want to listen to more of their stuff. Distant Light came out in 1971, so this album is post-Nash. What a find Adam. The Hollies continued to make music post-Nash and are still together today in some form or another, having been inducted into the Rock and Roll HOF in 2010. I will now subject my children to The Hollies album catalogue for the remainder of the week.
It is hard to choose favorites on the album because I truly enjoy every song. The album flows really well. Long Cool Woman is great. I do like Look What We’ve Got and Pull Down the Blind. But really, every song delivers, but let’s go with To Do With Love as my favorite. You did it. You impressed me with your album choice!
The Favorites:
Adam: Hold On
Dave: To Do With Love