Greatest Hits

The Hollies' Greatest Hits, released on EMI in 2003, has 47 songs spread over two discs. It covers the band's career from hitmaking beat group all the way up to a new song recorded expressly for this release. The one thing that has remained a constant in the group throughout is its incredible harmonies. Expect to be regularly blown away as you work your way through the disc, although you may wonder at the track list. The criteria for inclusion on the collection is that the song had to chart somewhere in the world, hence the inclusion of songs that don't seem like hits but actually were, like the band's cover of Peter, Paul & Mary's "Very Last Day" from 1965, which reached number one in Sweden, or "Write On" from 1975, which reached number 31 in Germany. The majority of the collection consists of songs that made the U.S. and U.K. charts, so alongside the questionable inclusions are many big worldwide smashes like the number one hit "Bus Stop," "Stop Stop Stop," "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," "Carrie Anne," "Look Through Any Window," "On a Carousel," and "The Air That I Breathe." You may also wonder about the collection's running order. Instead of compiling the tracks chronologically, the compiler, Tim Chacksfield, chose to go the illogical route and throw the tracks together somewhat randomly. This leads to such jarring juxtapositions as the heavy heavy ballad from 1969 "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" leading into the frothy pop of 1966's "Bus Stop," or the ringing country- psych pop of "What's Wrong with the Way I Live" from 1966 butting up against "Lonely Hobo Lullaby," a ridiculous Neil Diamond-esque ballad from 1974.